Mayor sits on ‘climate fence’
Waikato District mayor Allan Sanson says he’s a fence sitter on the reasons behind climate change and does not feel qualified to make a judgment on it.
But mayoral candidate Simon Thomson holds a different view, believing climate change needs to be dealt with as an emergency.
Victoria University climate scientist James Renwick said there’s no place for political leaders to fence sit, when that could be putting communities at risk. The topic of climate change has recently emerged in the district, with significant erosion at Port Waikato forcing residents to leave two homes and making the community hall officially condemned.
In the past 16 years, the sea has eroded 50 metres of shoreline.
Waikato Regional Coastal scientist Jim Dahm told Stuff the rapid erosion is down to a combination of climate change and shifting patterns of complex coastal sand systems.
He said there have been decades where the shoreline moves forward, followed by decades when it picks up its feet and moves on. But he also stated rising sea levels will contribute significantly to erosion at the coast.
Sanson said he accepted the view of regional council scientists and felt for people who have been forced from their homes.
But Sanson said he was a fence sitter when it came to climate change causes.
‘‘I struggle with the view of human induced as a phrase for a start. As I said climate is changing: is it human or it is natural? I’m not an expert. For every person I read that says its human induced versus somebody who writes that it’s not human induced and it’s a natural phenomenon, I don’t know where to stand on this.
‘‘The only thing I do know is we do have to give effect to climate change – we do need to take into account any hazards it’s causing and give effect to that.’’
He said council is working on the District Plan’s review on natural hazards and is looking to where they can allow future building in coastal areas. He admitted more and more people were saying it was human induced. But he wasn’t supportive of declaring a climate emergency. It’s a catchphrase which belittles the term emergency, he said, when you have people out there dealing with emergencies every day.
Mayoral candidate Simon Thomson is a farmer from Ruapeke who takes a different position on climate change.
‘‘I do believe the consensus from scientists that climate change is human induced. Looking at the changing weather patterns and changing nature of the landscape it is evident it’s happening’’, Thomson said.
He said the issue needed to be dealt with urgently, and favoured the council declaring an emergency. If elected, Thomson wants to see whether the land could be used in different ways – with less reliance on animal farming to growing different types of crops and vegetation.
Renwick said the science on climate change was irrefutable and the vast majority of climate scientists agree.
‘‘There’s no space for fence sitting, there’s no question human activity is driving the change in climate and all you have to do is look at the observations’’.
As I said climate is changing: is it human or is it natural? I’m not an expert’’. Mayor Allan Sanson