Climate change our problem

Monday 28 March 2011

Climate change our problem

Organisers of a climate change forum being held in Wellington this week say recent earthquakes and tsunamis are a stark reminder of the need to manage risks associated with changes in the environment.

“We have lived with the threat of earthquakes for a long time but are still caught out when big ones hit,” says Professor Martin Manning, Founding Director of the New Zealand Climate Change Institute at Victoria University.

“The increasingly serious effects of climate change, however, are not yet fully appreciated even though it is starting to be seen as an area of rapidly escalating and worldwide risk.

“We are really in unchartered waters here. Typically our plans for the future are based on what happened in the past but that doesn’t work with climate change. We are in a new and rapidly changing environment.”

Professor Manning is one of a number of internationally respected speakers who will address Climate Futures – Pathways for Society, a two day forum designed to generate debate on how to prepare for the effects of climate change. Each half day session will feature opening speakers followed by round table discussions involving all delegates.

Professor Peter Barrett, Acting Director of the New Zealand Climate Change Institute, says the Forum is a call to action for New Zealanders.

“Climate change is no longer an issue just for scientists—ultimately it’s what people think and do about it that really counts,” he says.

“We need this opportunity for informed discussion among a cross-section of Kiwis, but especially involving young people because there’s a better than even chance that decisions made or not made now will profoundly affect our lives, even in the next decade or two.

“My personal hope is that out of the forum we all make a stronger commitment to reducing our carbon footprint at home and at work. This is not a problem we should be leaving to our children.”

The Minister for Climate Change, Hon Nick Smith, will open the forum which will include addresses by researchers, authors, journalists and commentators from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.

One of those coming from overseas is Dr David Frame who will take over as Director of the New Zealand Climate Change Institute later this year. Dr Frame, a New Zealander who is currently at Oxford University in the UK, has expertise in one of the areas the forum will focus on—bridging the divide between climate science and climate policy.

Professor Manning says there is a growing awareness that scientists must clearly and effectively communicate what they know about climate change.

“Some countries, particularly developing ones, are thinking long term about this issue. China, for example, has a 30 year plan around climate change and has decided that any new roads built must be three metres above sea level. But many developed countries, including New Zealand, are not looking that far ahead.”

The final conference session will focus on durable decision making that addresses the climate challenge.

The event is being held at Te Papa on Thursday 31 March and Friday 1 April and includes two sessions open to the wider public—a café session chaired by writer Ian Wedde on the Thursday evening and a breakfast hosted by Chris Laidlaw on the Friday.

On the Friday evening, the British High Commission and the United States Embassy will host three authors, Fred Pearce (UK), Erik Conway (USA) and Gareth Renowden (NZ) to discuss climate issues from their different perspectives in the Soundings Theatre.

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