News

In recent years, the policy landscape for climate adaptation in Aotearoa has shifted dramatically. There is also growing recognition that stakeholders and end users require methods and tools that help them make decisions despite uncertainty about the future. 

The Deep South Challenge: Changing with our Climate is humbled and excited that its Kāhui Māori have agreed to share their knowledge with the Antarctic Science Platform, and to act as its Kāhui Māori (Māori advisory group) as well.

We in the Deep South Challenge have established a critical new position, the "Climate Change Knowledge Broker". This person will play a critical role in the Deep South Challenge as a translator between disciplines, enabling connections between different research programmes for maximum impact. In particular, the Climate Change Knowledge Broker will focus on making the outputs from the New Zealand Earth System Model (NZESM) and associated climate models, accessible to research in other programmes within the Challenge as well as to external stakeholders. Applications close Monday 11 May.

New research released by the Deep South Challenge: Changing with our Climate supports decision-makers to map out how decisions can be made now for ongoing climate change impacts, by starting with the future we wish to avoid. The research report, Supporting decision making through adaptive tools: Practice Guidance on signals and triggers, has been a multi-disciplinary and multi-institute effort, with team members from Victoria University of Wellington, Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research, and NIWA.

Weather-related hazards have already cost the EQC $450 million in (inflation adjusted) payouts since the year 2000. New research by Jacob Pastor-Paz, Ilan Noy, Isabelle Sin, Abha Sood, David Fleming-Munoz and Sally Owen has found that climate change, and the expected increase in intensity and frequency of extreme weather-related events, is likely to translate into higher damages and thus an additional financial liability for the EQC.

New research projects a significant seasonal shift in pasture production and changes to wine grape flowering across New Zealand under future climate conditions. Long-term adaptation strategies must be adopted at a faster pace across all primary sectors.

Unique among the NSCs, the Deep South Challenge has a research programme dedicated to understanding the nature of engagement, as well its practice and evaluation. Its major research project looks at the way culture influences people’s decisions about adapting to climate change. This May 2019 Q&A with researchers leading the Culture & Climate Change project foreshadows the team's research results, due out next month.

A full suite of research papers has just been released looking at the broad question of liability for damage caused by sea level rise. The reports are the work of legal researcher Catherine Iorns (Victoria University of Wellington), whose Deep South Challenge project “Sea level rise, housing and insurance: Liability and compensation” arose from a 2017 “Deep South Dialogue” between researchers, the insurance sector and local and central government.