thousands of properties in the South Island’s largest city is likely to become uninhabitable, as thousands of properties continue to face extreme climate effects.
Starting today, residents in Christchurch and Banks Peninsula will be able to see how rising sea levels will affect their individual properties using the new online tool launched by the Christchurch City Council. It uses the latest data from a Coastal Hazard Assessment report by Tonkin and Taylor, an environmental and engineering consultancy company which has discovered that about 25,000 properties across several parts of the city and the Peninsula are facing the risks of erosion or flooding over the next 120 years as a result of rising sea levels.
Accordingly, the council has launched several efforts to determine how to adapt the area to the crisis, which included a five-week public consultation on two documents focused on managing the situation.
Certain regions of New Zealand have already launched managed retreating from areas which are facing increased risks of flooding and the government has issued a Coastal Policy Statement requiring the Christchurch City Council consider this as a potential course of action for the city as well. “That is not us saying there is a predetermined outcome of retreat, that is absolutely not what this is about. We’re simply saying we can’t knock that out and dismiss it as an option,” Council principal programme advisor Jane Morgan told councillors at a meeting on Thursday (7 October).
“In reality, there will be some areas we will have to retreat from in the future,” she added. “We can’t afford to kick the can down the road and make this a problem for our children and grandchildren and their children. We need to take a more responsible approach.”
