Enabling Coastal Adaptation

Coastal areas of Aotearoa New Zealand are experiencing major impacts from rising sea levels and worsening storms which cause our coastal areas and rivers to flood. Traditionally used adaptation strategies that ‘protect’ and ‘accommodate’ are becoming increasingly ineffective, short-lived and expensive to maintain. Decision-makers in Aotearoa New Zealand urgently need new adaptive planning approaches, policies and tools that address coastal changes and allow for the uncertainties surrounding the magnitude and rate of sea-level rise.

Our research will provide decision-makers with the guidance and tools they need to proactively plan for successful coastal adaptation, resulting in positive outcomes for community wellbeing and safety, and resilient infrastructure, in the face of ever-changing risk conditions.

To achieve this, we are working with central and local government, hapū and iwi on four closely related sub-projects to:

• Map exposure to sea-level rise and flooding risk, linked to demographic, social and economic indices.
• Develop Aotearoa New Zealand based guidance and training materials for the implementation of coastal vulnerability assessments.
• Develop flexible, adaptive approaches for enabling, evaluating and implementing Dynamic Adaptive Pathways Planning in coastal and estuarine areas.
• Develop adaptation approaches for coastal infrastructure incuding roads.

Our goal is to provide Aotearoa New Zealand with the guidance and methodologies for proactive and flexible adaptation to support effective coastal planning.