Parliament’s Environment Committee has opened its Inquiry into Climate Adaptation.

The inquiry is considering options for community-led retreat – how communities could be enabled to relocate from areas at high risk from climate change. It is also looking at how the costs of adapting to climate change could be met.

The inquiry is open for public submissions until the new Parliament reconvenes, after the election.

Community-led retreat and adaptation funding – issues and options paper

To support and inform submissions, the Ministry for the Environment published an issues and options paper. It looks at the current system and what new powers, roles and responsibilities might be needed to support community-led retreat, as well as how the costs of adaptation could be met.

It also considers how a Te Tiriti-based adaptation system could work for iwi, hapū and Māori communities, and how lessons learned from past severe weather events and natural disasters might be considered for recoveries in the future.
Find out more and read the Community-led retreat and adaptation funding – issues and options paper.

DPA submission about Climate Adaptation

DPA will be making a submission for the Inquiry into Climate Adaptation and would like to hear your thoughts and feedback to inform our submission.

Submissions close 1 November 2023 – please send us your submissions by 17 October 2023.

To contribute your thoughts on the Inquiry into Climate Adaptation, email our policy team: policy@dpa.org.nz.

Make your own submission

We also encourage you to also make your own submission for the inquiry so that the voices of disabled people are captured by Parliament's Environment Council.

Anyone can share their views on who should make adaptation decisions, how they could decide, how the community could be involved, and how the costs could be shared.

To read the terms of reference and for information on how to make a submission see Inquiry into climate adaptation - Parliament website.