We’re following the Ministry for the Environment’s Coastal Hazards and Climate Change Guidance for Local Government [PDF, 11MB](external link) which sets out a ten-step process for how we can adapt to the actual and expected changes from climate change.
It’s a process that puts community engagement at the centre of decision-making. It takes into consideration everything from our natural and ‘built’ environment to our cultural values, and community aspirations and expectations.
It also gives us a way to progress things and make decisions, even when there is uncertainty about the rate and effects of climate change.
We have identified our coastal and low-lying communities most at risk from coastal hazards.
At the end of this process, we’ll have community-led adaptation plans for these coastal and low-lying communities that provide us with a way of managing the risk of sea-level rise for at least the next 100 years.
These plans will identify pathways for how different communities could adapt. The pathways will have options and triggers (the local signals and observations) for when these pre-agreed options will need to be implemented.