Natural hazards

Issue

The Waitaha/Canterbury region faces escalating natural hazards made worse by climate change that may significantly impact communities, ecosystems, and infrastructure.

Causes

The region's natural hazards primarily arise from geographical and climatic conditions, worsened by climate change. These hazards are further complicated by development and the adverse effects of mitigation efforts (such as flood control measures like stop-banks, or land stabilisation methods like tree planting or retaining walls).

Why it matters

The increasing threat of natural hazards poses substantial risks to infrastructure, biodiversity, and the overall health of the region, while also affecting social, economic, and cultural wellbeing. Inaccurate risk assessments can lead to inappropriate development, while efforts to mitigate the risks from natural hazards can inadvertently cause environmental damage and offer a false sense of security. Additionally, climate change is exacerbating these hazards, making proactive planning and risk management even more crucial.

Our current goals

Our Regional Policy Statement includes some direction that must be implemented and other direction that should be implemented. We have included these in two categories below:

1. Things we must do

This is very strong policy direction that is required to be implemented:

  • Avoid development in areas where the potential risk from natural hazards is too high. This includes areas prone to severe or rapidly flowing floods during an extreme flooding event, an event that has a 1 in 500 chance of occurring in any given year.
  • Mitigate the risks of development in areas that could be affected by a natural hazard event, such as a flood event with a 1 in 200 chance of happening in any given year, by implementing measures such as raising floor levels or employing other flood mitigation strategies.
  • Manage the adverse effects of natural hazard mitigation works, including ensuring that mitigation works do not negatively impact the environment or the social, economic, and cultural wellbeing of the community.
  • Incorporate the impact of climate change on natural hazards into all planning and decision-making processes.

2. Things we should do

This policy direction is strongly encouraged:

  • Develop and implement strategies to manage the risks associated with natural hazards.

Should we change our goals?

When we consider changing goals, we need to keep in mind that other on-the-ground changes will be required to meet them. We also need to keep in mind that some of our must-do policy direction was necessary to meet the national legislation requirements of the time. Some new must-dos will be needed to meet more recent legislation.

Potential impacts of changing our policy direction

We have outlined some of the potential consequences that could result from changing our policy direction. These are high-level examples, just to illustrate that each change will have flow-on effects.

For example, implementing comprehensive risk management strategies for natural hazards may require significant resources. However, it's important to remember that while these strategies require an upfront investment, they can help prevent much larger costs in the future associated with damage from unmitigated natural hazards. Therefore, we must balance our immediate needs with the long-term sustainability and safety of our community.

We are using feedback we received in July and August to draft more detailed policy options, including detail about the consequences of change. You will get another opportunity to tell us what you think about those options in October this year.