Press Release from Waikato Climate Action

The government’s lack of commitment to action on climate change was top of the agenda for a meeting between delegates from Waikato Climate Action and M.P. Tim Macindoe on Monday 7.

“In 2013 we experienced a drought which was the worst in 75 years,” said Julie Marshall from WCA, “Climate scientists from Victoria University tell us there is a 95% probability that the severity of that drought was due to climate change. It wiped $NZ1.5B off the New Zealand agricultural export sector. So climate change is happening here and now. This is about our people and our economy.”

Macindoe was keen to stress the positives of where money is being invested, but as delegates pointed out, NZ’s carbon emissions have increased 42% from 1990 to 2013. Camilla Carty-Melis, from Sustainable Business stressed the inadequate research contribution dedicated to the agricultural sector given the significance of this sector to our overall carbon emissions. The 78 redundancies in AgResearch, particularly those at the Crown Research Institute’s Grasslands Campus in Palmerston North in September, demonstrate a lack of will to harness New Zealand’s brightest and best to confront this issue.

Macindoe expressed the view that it was difficult to act when other countries like India were not prepared to make a contribution to the process. WCA delegates spoke of the urgent need to demonstrate leadership. Daphne Bell drew attention to New Zealand’s inadequate commitment to the Green Climate Fund. The fund is designed to enable countries in the developing world to access renewable energy technology and participate in global action against climate change. The United States has pledged $3 billion, which is about $9.81 per person in America. Australia has pledged $187 million, around $7.96 per citizen. For us, the Government has pledged $2.56 million, or 57c for each Kiwi, to help solve the most critical environmental issue ever.

Elisapesi Havea, Pacifica representative and academic said, “Sea level rise, extreme weather events and increasing temperature directly affect the people of the Pacific island region. Islands such as Kiribati, Tuvalu and Ha’apai in Tonga will be soon forced to evacuate the islands and New Zealand will possibly be the first destination of the climate refugees.

“The question now is whether we will have the courage to act. As a Pacific islander, as a mother, I’m here to say we need to act, for a sustainable future and for the sake of our children. In Tongan we say, Pikipiki Hama kae vaevaemanava. In Maori they say, "Na to rourou, na taku rourou, Ka ora ai te iwi." You and I, the WCA and the Government of NZ - we say: “With your food basket and my food basket, the people will thrive.”

Waikato Climate Action represents many organisations and individuals in the Waikato with a shared commitment to act on climate change. We call on the government to step up to the challenge which we are faced with. We call for a cross-party working group to develop a comprehensive plan of action to drastically reduce our carbon emissions. The pathway forward to a sustainable future is there if we choose to walk it.

ENDS

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