Infrastructure New Zealand is calling for the establishment of a single, central authority to coordinate climate adaptation and recovery efforts in New Zealand.

Based on the successful Queensland’s Reconstruction Authority (QRA) model, a specialised national entity could unify adaptation planning, streamline recovery and response efforts, and improve resilience measures across the country.

“Currently, New Zealand’s climate change recovery system is ad hoc and inconsistent, with unclear guidance and a lack of national-level leadership,” says Infrastructure New Zealand Chief Executive Nick Leggett. “This leaves local councils and communities struggling to navigate post-disaster recovery and prioritise long-term adaptation considerations alongside other local needs.”

“A central coordinating agency supported by a suitable national adaptation framework would bring consistency of policy, clarity and a cohesive strategy to assist local adaptation and recovery efforts. Such an agency would also enhance certainty around post-disaster funding and enable better coordination across levels of government.”

Infrastructure New Zealand is also recommending that the Government set national level resilience standards to inform local government planning and enhance data collection and standards to improve the assessment of risk.

“The role of Central Government is to set and enforce principles and standards so that local government can make decisions about local issues such as land use changes and the provision for community-led recovery funding,” says Leggett.

“The absence of a standardised, national approach to data collection, quality and usability limits our capacity to assess risks and future threats. Ultimately it also impacts our ability to make difficult but necessary decisions such as when communities must consider managed retreat.”

In summary, the key recommendations of Infrastructure New Zealand’s policy paper are:

• Establish a single entity to coordinate recovery and adaptation planning based on the Queensland Reconstruction Authority model.
• Establish a national adaptation framework.
• Develop Central Government led resilience standards.
• Improve data collection and governance and implement data standards work to improve the quality of data underpinning risk assessment.

“Lloyd’s of London ranks New Zealand as the second riskiest country in the world for natural hazards, yet we remain woefully ill-prepared to either adapt to our changing world or effectively and efficiently recover from challenging events,” says Leggett.

“Together, these actions would build a far more climate-resilient future for Aotearoa New Zealand and ensure that our communities and essential infrastructure are better protected from the inevitable impacts of climate change.”

Climate Adaptation is a new position paper released by Infrastructure New Zealand and is available here.

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