At last week’s Environment Southland strategy and policy committee meeting, the revised Regional Climate Change Strategy (phase one) was adopted.
Environment Southland councillor and climate change working group co-chairman Phil Morrison said in a statement after the meeting it was encouraging that the five agencies involved were aligned on the region’s response to the issues and opportunities a changing climate presented.
"The purpose of the strategy is to help identify opportunities, align communications and engagement efforts and activities between the four Southland councils and Te Ao Mārama in the climate space," he said.
Gore District Council adopted the revised strategy at its council meeting on August 20. Three councillors voted against doing so.
Invercargill City Council unanimously adopted it in late August, while the Te Ao Mārama board endorsed it in late September. Southland District Council adopted the strategy at a meeting on October 2, with one councillor voting against.
Mr Morrison said some key themes that arose during these meetings were concerns about the cost implications of adopting the strategy; the length of time that it had taken to produce the strategy considering the need for action; and the need for much broader engagement with relevant communities.
"These matters are foremost in our minds as we work on developing a regional framework for action on climate change in Murihiku Southland," he said.
The working group was looking in depth at possible financial implications alongside developing priority actions around how best to support people and organisations to adjust to actual or expected climate variability and its effects, as well as emissions reductions, Mr Morrison said.
The strategy has been in development since early 2023 as a collaborative inter-agency undertaking, via the Regional Climate Change Working Group.
People were asked for feedback on the strategy, the aspirations, Southland becoming a net zero region by 2050 or earlier and what local climate change impacts they were most concerned about. Submissions were heard in May, and the strategy revised as a result.
There was both support and scepticism around the councils’ plans, including questions about whether climate change action in Southland would make a difference, and some mistrust of the science. Other submitters wanted equity considered, as the impacts of climate change on communities would not be experienced equally.
— APL
