New Zealand needs an urgent rethink on how it involves the public in adapting to climate change’s ever-worsening impacts – with a status-quo approach risking making the problem bigger, researchers say.

A new report, released by the Helen Clark Foundation and engineering consultants WSP, argues community engagement will be just as important as getting the right engineering solutions for threats like rising tides and more intense storms.

“With the Auckland floods in January, followed hot on the heels by Cyclone Gabrielle, the reality of climate change has now really hit home for many,” said the report’s author, WSP fellow Kali Mercier.

“With a few notable exceptions though, it still feels like there is a general lack of urgency in preparing for the impacts climate change will have.

“We really don’t want to be in a position where all our efforts go towards costly recovery efforts from ever-worsening disasters.”

The scale of the climate threat to New Zealand – some 750,000 people, 500,000 buildings and billions of dollars of infrastructure are already at risk from extreme flooding – is now relatively well understood by policymakers.

The hairier issue is how to meet it – and the Government’s response so farhas come with a 120-point National Adaptation Plan, proposed bottom lines for councils stopping development in risky areas, and years of groundwork toward long-delayed legislation.

With the change in Government, it’s unclear what happens next.

While National has signalled support for new laws to tackle the vexed issue of managed retreat – and working with players like councils, insurers, banks and communities on an adaptation framework – its support partners went to the election with their own policy positions.

Mercier argued a business-as-usual approach couldn’t continue, especially when it came to the decades-old processes through which decision-makers deal with communities.

Passing the Climate Change Adaptation Bill, or similar legislation giving clear guidelines for meaningful community engagement, should happen “promptly”, while other amendments in laws like the Local Government Act should be made to clarify councils’ responsibilities.

“Whereas in the past councils have tended to make the big decisions fairly unilaterally – perhaps with some light-touch ‘consultation’ thrown in – that won’t work for climate change.”

At the same time, councils were struggling with competing demands, alongside serious funding pressures in some places.

“Smaller councils may have just as many, or more, issues to deal with as some of the bigger cities, but their rates base to fund this will be far smaller – think about the West Coast as one example,” she said.

“This strongly suggests that some level of central funding is called for, and this will need to be allocated in a fair way, according to urgency of need.”

Though we still weren’t yet seeing adaptation occurring consistently across New Zealand, Mercier pointed to some encouraging local case studies.

At the seaside Bay of Plenty settlement of Maketu, for instance, an iwi collective-led process resulted in a holistic plan that went much wider than physical solutions, with planned actions ranging from food gardens and wetland restoration to a local emergency response plan.

Failing to get the approach right, Mercier said, risked stoking division – and she worried the polarisation that came with the Covid-19 pandemic could be a “taster” of what lay ahead with adjusting to climate change.

It could also lead to “maladaptation” that only deepened the problem, be it through costly but short-term engineering solutions, or widening social inequality.

“This would include things like prioritising the interests of advantaged groups – perhaps listening to the needs of landowners but not hearing from people in rental properties, for example – or putting in place protective measures to stop flooding that help some people but make things worse for others.”

Māori were particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts, she said, with much important Māori land on low-lying or coastal land, and subject to erosion and floods.

The report recommended adaptation efforts honour the spirit of partnership set out in te Tiriti, meaning councils should be proactively working with iwi and hapū.

WSP technical principal for engagement Gemma Greenshields ultimately saw public buy-in as “essential” for effective and lasting solutions – even if the issue could be messy, challenging and time-consuming.

“However difficult it may be at times, it’s much easier to have those bold conversations when people are in a warm, dry home than when their houses are full of water, and no one has showered for a week.”

Jamie Morton is a specialist in science and environmental reporting. He joined the Herald in 2011 and writes about everything from conservation and climate change to natural hazards and new technology.