Desk Report
Publish: 02 May 2022, 10:30 am
Auckland, which with 1.7 million residents is New Zealand's largest city, is especially vulnerable || PHOTO: REUTERS
The sea level is rising twice as fast as previously forecast
around parts of New Zealand, according to research published on Monday (May 2),
putting the country's two largest cities at risk decades earlier than expected.
Government-backed data amassed from around the country's
coastline found some areas are already sinking 3mm to 4mm per year, speeding up
a long-expected threat.
The projections, labelled "a bit terrifying" by
one expert, are the result of an extensive five-year, government-funded
research programme - NZ SeaRise - that was the combined work of dozens of local
and international scientists.
Their prognosis means authorities have much less time than
expected to introduce climate adaptation plans, including relocating coastal communities.
NZ SeaRise co-leader Tim Naish, a professor at Wellington's
Victoria University, said while the global sea level is expected to rise about
half a metre by 2100, for substantial parts of New Zealand it could be closer
to a metre because the land is sinking at the same time.
It is stark news for the capital city, Wellington, which
could expect a 30cm sea level rise by 2040 - a level that had not been expected
before 2060.
With that rate of rising, Wellington residents can expect once-a-century
flood damage every year on average.
"We have less time to act," Naish said. "You
are going to see the impacts of quite damaging sea level rise much sooner than
we thought. Roads and properties will be inundated.
"Yes, it is a bit terrifying but there is still time and
I think that is the way to look at it." Data shows the southeast
coastline of the more-populated North Island is the most exposed, but numerous
seaside communities and towns will be hit.
Auckland, which with 1.7 million residents is comfortably
the country's largest city, is especially vulnerable.
It is predicted that the sea level will rise 50 per cent
faster in the city's downtown waterfront and in several central-city suburbs,
with wide-ranging implications for house prices and insurance rates.
NZ SeaRise has developed an online tool to let residents and
authorities check forecasts for their own stretch of coast - allowing them to
assess the risk of flooding and erosion.
"We still have time, but we don't have time to sit on our
hands anymore," Naish said.
"If you're a council representative or you're a
developer, or you're a decision maker in the coastal areas of New Zealand you
need to start thinking right now about what the plan is for adapting to that
sea-level rise."
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said adaptation planning was
already underway, including budgeting for the relocation of some communities
and infrastructure away from vulnerable coastlines.
"The first port of call isn't necessarily managed
retreat because there is a range of options that can be used," she told
Radio New Zealand.
"We're working alongside local government and insurers
to work through who bears the costs of some of these options. The cost that
needs to be borne, won't fall on one party."
Ardern said New Zealanders shouldn't accept that sea level
rises are inevitable beyond those predicted for the near term and that every
citizen should do all they can to reduce emissions and diminish the impacts of
climate change.
Global sea-level rise is caused by thermal expansion of the
ocean, melting land-based glaciers, and the melting of the Greenland and
Antarctic ice sheets._AFP
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