29 August 2024

Representatives from local council, port officials, Department of Conservation and local tourism operators today had some unexpected guests at their pre-cruise ship season meeting at the Edgar Centre.

Climate Liberation Aotearoa supporters dressed in high vis gear declared the meeting cancelled due to the Climate Emergency and began putting away chairs and asking people to leave.

“Luxury Cruises are incompatible with the Climate Emergency” said Climate Liberation Aotearoa spokesperson Annabel Hankin

“This week’s flooding in the Kapiti region is a reminder of the Climate Emergency in action.

“We are here to cancel this pre-cruise season meeting. It is the only sensible response to the greatest threat humans have ever faced.”

Last week United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres said at the Pacific Islands forum that rising seas “will soon swell to an almost unimaginable scale with no lifeboat to take us back to safety”.

According to the peer reviewed paper The Mortality Cost of Carbon the 92 cruise ships scheduled to visit Ōtepoti Dunedin in the 2024-25 season will produce enough CO2 emissions to cause the death of around 800 people.

“We do not want meeting participants to be complicit in the deaths of 800 people” said Hankin.

“Instead of promoting luxury cruises for a few, we suggest meeting participants join with the Small Pacific Island Nations and sign the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty to manage a global transition to a safe, renewable and affordable future for us all.

“It’s time Dunedin’s economy was based on long term climate-sustaining ventures rather than those that bring short term profit for a few while helping destroy the future for the rest of us.”

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