Engineering related publications
New Zealand literature
Climate change effects and impacts assessment and its summary publication Preparing for climate change – May 2008
This guidance provides the latest projections of the expected physical impacts of climate change, both at the national level and for regions around New Zealand. It is designed to help identify and quantify opportunities and risks that climate change poses for local authorities’ functions, responsibilities and infrastructure. It also demonstrates how to incorporate climate risk assessment into local government regulatory, assessment and planning processes to reduce vulnerability to the impacts of climate change.
Coastal hazards and climate change and its summary publication Preparing for coastal change - July 2008
This guidance highlights the impacts that climate change is expected to have on coastal hazards. It details the climate change impacts that are expected not only through sea-level rise but also through storm surge, wind and waves. The publications also discuss a risk management framework in which to consider the consequences of these hazards.
Tools for estimating the effects of climate change on flood flow and its summary publication Preparing for future flooding - May 2010
This guidance details the key effects of climate change on flooding and presents methods for estimating changes in rainfall, flow rates and inundation. It also includes some best practice case studies to illustrate these methods. The summary publication also provides good practice information, guidance and examples to help local authorities incorporate climate change impacts into flood risk assessments.
NZ Transport Agency Research Report 378: Climate change effects on the land transport network 2009
This two-stage project (undertaken in 2008/2009) aims to identify and assess the impacts climate change may have on New Zealand’s land transport networks (road, rail, ports and coastal shipping), and provides recommendations, including adaptation options, to address identified information gaps and risks.
Transit NZ – climate change and the state highway network – May 2008
Transit NZ – climate change and the state highway network is a two-page case study on incorporating consideration of climate change impacts into the design and planning of long-lived roading infrastructure. Risk analysis has shown that the biggest climate change risk to highways is likely to be sea-level rise. The current approach to planning encourages consideration of existing natural hazards likely to be exacerbated by climate change.
Incorporating climate change into stormwater design - Why and how? – March 2005
A paper produced by H. Shaw, A. Reisinger, H. Larsen and C. Stumbles for the 4thFourth South Pacific Conference on Stormwater aAnd Aquatic Resource Protection (Auckland, May 2005). The paper outlines information on climate change impacts available to stormwater infrastructure designers, and discusses simple as well as more complex ways of incorporating climate change effects into stormwater design, illustrating the process with a case study undertaken in North Shore City, and a number of different climate change scenarios.
Climate change and infrastructure design case study: Wairau Catchment, North Shore City – August 2004
This case study investigates the impacts of both climate change and different modelling approaches (design storm model vs time series/dynamic model) on stormwater infrastructure design within the Wairau Valley stormwater catchment in North Shore City.
Sustainable construction - BRANZ
This website provides several reports which address climate change adaptation and vulnerability in the built environment in New Zealand. More research is underway identifying flexible, integrated climate change responses for the building and construction industry. The ultimate aim of this work programme is to design and build a carbon-neutral and climate-adapted building for the New Zealand context.
Further information
More information on engineering is available at Engineering Lifelines and Emergency Management
More information and resources is available at climate change impacts and adaptation.
Last updated: November 2010
