Inadequacy revealed and the transition to adaptation as risk management in New Zealand

Abstract

Climate change risk is rife with uncertainty. Most planning frameworks and their practice focus on the societal need for certainty in space and time, to enable investment decisions to be made and activities to be undertaken with some stability. This means risk is framed in a static manner using time-bound planning methods, such as lines on maps and zoning. However risk changes through time and space and the consequences of this static approach are being increasingly revealed globally. The risks require institutional and governance frameworks that are adaptive and tailored to such a dynamic environment.

Current decision-making frameworks in New Zealand have been revealed as inadequate. We discuss how practice under the existing planning framework has exposed people and assets to greater risk, and the challenges in the transition taking place in New Zealand toward an anticipatory adaptive approach. We chart the course of this transition and suggest how current law and practice can support and embed an adaptive direction within the institutional reforms underway for more effective climate risk management.