Guidance on climate change
The Ministry for the Environment provides a range of guidance and information to help local government and other key stakeholders better understand and take into account climate change effects in their policy and decision-making.
In particular, the Ministry prepares technical guidance manuals on preparing for climate change along with shorter publications aimed at a broader audience. These publications are popular references on best practice guidance to help local government and engineers in assessing and managing the impacts of climate change on their planning and decision-making processes as well as infrastructure and asset management.
The range of guidance available in this series includes:
- Climate change effects and impacts assessment and its summary publication Preparing for climate change.
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.
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.
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.
The Ministry for the Environment also has a climate change impacts and adaptation reference list of useful resources.
Last updated: 26 October 2010
