Waihemo residents and businesses are being surveyed before a seminar to discuss and then plan for challenges their community will face in the next decade.
Organised by a new organisation, the Waihemo 2020 convening reference group, the seminar is bringing a high-powered team to Palmerston on October 10 to discuss "maintaining productivity, profits and energy in an uncertain climate".
Auckland climate scientist Dr Jim Salinger, Otago University Associate Prof Bob Lloyd and business journalist Rod Oram will look at the issues and questions raised in the survey, then put them in the context of climate, energy and economic changes which will affect health, properties, the environment and rural industries.
Dr Salinger, along with a team of specialists, has been touring New Zealand giving seminars on how farmers can maintain productivity and profits in the face of climate uncertainty.
They were invited to Palmerston, but with a different slant: to respond to the concerns of the local community.
A spokesman for the Waihemo group, Pat Shannon, said the visit was a unique opportunity for the community to take stock, considering not only the good things in the district but also what might be done to improve it.
"Strategies might, for example, include upgrading community facilities, strengthening self-organising and adaptive capacity or improving local employment opportunities," he said.
To help address the issues, every household, farm and business in the district would receive a survey questionnaire so everyone had their ideas included in the discussion.
Irrespective of what people's views were, the reference group was keen for everyone in the district to get involved and contribute their ideas in the survey. They were unlikely to have such an opportunity to consider these important matters together again.
Mr Shannon said the Waihemo community had a range of economic sectors: mining, forestry, agriculture, tourism and fishing.
"To be really effective, good representation from all these sectors is important. If there is sufficient interest after the seminar, we hope attendees will get involved in putting together an action plan for their areas of interest," he said.
The Waihemo district's most important stakeholders were the next generation.
East Otago High School year 10 pupils had been studying climate change during the year and their findings would be presented to the seminar along with survey results before the formal presentation.
Members of the Waihemo group are Mr Shannon, Kirsten Buchanan, Chris Cox, Kelly Gillan, Bill Harvie, Jean Hesselin, Dugald MacTavish, Trevor Norton, Rod Philip and Patrick Tipa.