Preparing Southland for climate change
The words ‘‘School Strike 4 Climate’’ were scrawled in chalk on a wall near my Invercargill office back in September 2019 and, protected from the elements, they’ve remained there to this day.
The words serve as a reminder of the voices of local young people calling for urgent action on climate change.
Since then we’ve experienced major floods in Mataura and Fiordland, and drought and fires in the Awarua-Waituna Wetlands.
We’ve also seen the Zero Carbon Act 2019 and the Emissions Trading Reform Act 2020 passed into law, and the Government has recently opened consultation on a Draft National Adaptation Plan to help communities across the country adapt to the impacts of climate change.
As a city situated only a few metres above sea level, adaptation will be increasingly important for Invercargill in the years ahead, with the Ministry for the Environment predicting sea levels will rise nationally by 0.5 metres between 2060 and 2110.
These projections highlight the importance of the flood protection work already underway across the south, the timing of which was made possible following the receipt of ‘‘shovel ready’’ funding from the Government back in 2020.
Driving out to the airport each week I’ve been watching the progress of the Stead Street Stopbank Upgrade and was pleased to see the road to Otatara will re-open to two way traffic later this week as the project nears completion.
The upgrade, which include installing a sheet pile wall along the Stead Street stopbank and widening and raising the height of the adjoining Cobbe Road stopbank will help protect Invercargill and the airport from inundation during extreme weather events.
The Waihō pai River, Otepuni Stream and Kingswell Creek stopbanks will also be upgraded to complement this work.
Reducing our emissions, however, remains vital for us to avoid the worst of the sea level rise projections.
And so, it was fantastic to see two Southland-based businesses receiving funding in the third round of the Government Investment in Decarbonising Industry Fund.
Blue Sky Meats will receive $377,250 towards a new high temperature heat pump at their processing facility in Invercargill, while Ravensdown Ltd will receive $511,074 towards a new combustor at its lime manufacturing facility, which will burn biomass instead of coal. Across their lifetimes these projects will see an estimated abatement of 64,000 tonnes, building on other Southern investments made in the fund’s April and September 2021 rounds.
Similar Government investments across the public sector include $2.8 million towards replacing Invercargill Prison’s coal boiler with a wood pellet boiler.
Due for completion before winter next year, this will reduce current emissions by 97.5% and remove the last coal-fired boiler for the Department of Corrections.
Several Southern schools have also received Government funding in recent years to replace or convert their coal boilers to clean energy alternatives.
These include the Murihiku Young Parents’ Learning Centre, Newfield Park School, Invercargill Middle School and Edendale Primary School.
Jobs for Nature has also funded many projects across the South, including Te Tapu o Tāne and the Bluff Hill/Motupohue Environment Trust, who each received funding towards native replanting.
Southland is already very familiar with the impacts of extreme weather events. As a community we will need to take collective action to prepare for the impacts of climate change, while also doing everything we can to reduce our emissions.
If you haven’t already done so, I’d encourage you to read the Draft National Adaptation Plan on the Ministry for the Environment’s website and make a submission.