Kia ora - Meri Kirihimete

2024 has been a busy and distracting year for the Community Board so the Climate Network has not received the attention it deserves/ needs. Thanks to those core members who kept things going.

Notwithstanding - there has been a lot to consider and we have made some progress. I'm not involved in a lot of the groups who are carrying out important and successful environmental work in our community and outside it - it would be great to promote these groups and highlight your work, so please feel free to send me information to publish both in this newsletter but also the more general community news.

For me the major projects have been the Community Resilience Expo at the start of the year, successful for those that attended, and a good example of why community networks are so important.

The submission to the Environment Committee was also an important action (thanks to John Horrocks), we will see if Eastbourne has any further involvement.

The Tetrapak and battery recycling trials have been (too?) successful, we hope to see HCC picking these up in 2025, but in the mean time we will continue.

Hopefully the Community Board will get a reprieve and continue past the next local body election, otherwise we may have to reinvent it, something to ponder.

Please take some time over the break to consider what we as a community and individuals can do to create a climate responsive and resilient community, and as always, if you have anything you'd like to share (even anonymously) let us know.

- see you 2025

Bruce Spedding (for Eastbourne Community Board)

Stormwater modelling

Hutt City Council has a statutory responsibility to manage risks from natural hazards, including flooding.  Stormwater modelling is one of the tools we use to help assess and manage flooding hazards.

As part of preparing the new District Plan we have engaged Wellington Water to update the stormwater model for the city to reflect the latest guidance from the Ministry for the Environment and the latest climate change predictions from NIWA.

Wellington Water has prepared this on-line tool so that that this information can be made publicly available:

https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/789b67f52c1d409682d6f853e336bd31

Hutt City Council is making this information publicly available so that it can be taken into account when people are thinking about subdividing or designing a new development, such as the minimum floor levels to apply.

The online tool also includes a lot if information about how the modelling has been done, what it will be used for, FAQs and who to contact for more information.

Video available https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0EPxIV38Yk

Latest news from Community Governance Aotearoa.

On Fri 06 December, we held our final Board Talk for 2024, ‘Climate change and community resilience’.

Our expert panel guests were Florence Van Dyke and Georgina Morrison with the conversation led by Rose Hiha-Agnew. Watch the recording here.

Board Talks for 2025 are announced! Check out the topics, and register here. And, if you’d like to join us as a panelist you can put yourself forward!

Remember - you can catch up on all past Board Talks on our Spotify and YouTube channels.

https://communitygovernance.org.nz/

Policy Quarterly  Vol. 20 No. 4 (2024): VUW

Articles

Assessing Aotearoa's latest 'war on nature' or 'Goodbye Freddy' Jonathan Boston

Going with the Grain of the Landscape: rethinking our approach to environmental policy Simon Upton, Geoff Simmons, Nora Lanari, Matt Paterson

Property Rights versus Environment? A critique of the coalition government’s approach to the reform of the Resource Management Act Ben France-Hudson

Navigating Murky Waters: characterising capture in environmental regulatory systems Marie Doole, Theo Stephens, Geoff Bertram

Legislating for Gene Technologies: a Māori view of the hazardous substances and new organisms act Sara Belcher, Raine Hananui, O. Ripeka Mercier

Drawing upon Covid-19 lessons to equip Aotearoa New Zealand to take bolder climate action Heather Peacocke, Linda Major, Taciano L. Milfont

In the mix: managing policy complexity in climate change mitigation David Hall

A Sea Change is Needed For Adapting to Sea-Level Rise in Aotearoa New Zealand Tim Naish, Judy Lawrence, Richard Levy, Rob Bell, Vincent (Billy) van Uitregt, Bronwyn Hayward, Rebecca Priestley, James Renwick, Jonathan Boston

Supporting justice in Local Government: Climate Response in Aotearoa New Zealand Gradon Diprose, Sophie Bond, Janet Stephenson, Merata Kawharu

Enhancing Climate Decision MakingInsights from early adopters of climate risk disclosure Sara Walton, Sebastian Gehricke, Tess Hazelhurst

A Just Transition for Aotearoa New Zealand’s Dairy Sector  Milena Bojovic

The Missing Ingredient in New Zealand’s climate policy: food Paula Feehan

Eastern Bays Climate Response Network on Facebook. Feel free to comment or post on topics related to the goals of this group on the Facebook page.

EBCRN is focussed on the need to act now to both mitigate the causes of accelerating climate change as well as prepare for the impact on our community. You can find out more about Eastbourne and the Network here. If you have climate related events, resources, requests, suggestions or any other information you would like to share please send it to us.

 Note: we create this newsletter "on the fly" as information and events come to our attention. Sometimes short notice of event dates mean the event passes before we send this out, so each email may be triggered but an upcoming event rather than a reasonable interval since the last release. Please feel free to give feedback on content and frequency of news, and send through items you might feel are of interest to the group.

You can forward this to someone if they would like to  join the Eastern Bays Climate Response Network and/or subscribe to the email updates