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Conclusion

Climate change will not introduce any new types of coastal hazards. Yet it will exacerbate existing coastal hazards by changing some of the hazard drivers (ie, sea level, waves, storms, tides and sediment supply). In addition to causing sea-level rise, climate change will exacerbate coastal erosion and inundation in many parts of the New Zealand coast. This further increases the risks for coastal developments.

Coastal hazard risks are increasing and more of New Zealand’s urban development and infrastructure is being located in coastal areas. Therefore, it is important that coastal hazards are managed in a proactive and timely way. Planning is more effective and less costly over the long term, than reacting to events when they occur.

The RMA provides an array of options for managing coastal hazard risks, from raising public awareness through the use of building consents to setting rules in the land-use planning framework. The best solutions will consider the needs of future generations and not lock communities into a future of increasing risks from coastal hazards.

By responding to climate change impacts now, councils can help their communities to be better placed to cope with risks from coastal hazards at present and into the future.