New Zealand - Environmental Crisis & Solutions

According to the WWF, New Zealand is facing horrific events as a result of global warming and climate change. Stated by the WWF, they claim that Over the next 30 – 100 years, temperatures will continue to rise. In the future, projected impacts include: More droughts for areas like the East Cape and Northland. More floods for other areas, particularly the West Coast. Worse erosion – and possibly inundation – of coastal areas. Introduction of new pests and diseases, affecting both health and agriculture. It’s also likely that our lives and livelihoods will be significantly affected by global impacts such as immigration, food shortages, and political instability." This means that basically all aspects can and will change in the projected 30-100 years. With habitats worsening, plant and animal life are sure to be damaged heavily and many animal species could go extinct due to the rapid-changing landscape. This could ultimately mean less for people as well. Less clean water, less places to live safely, and less reliable food sources. According to WWF, "ice volume in the Southern Alps down 11% in the past 30 years." as well as "A rise in sea level by 16cm on average across New Zealand's four major ports in the past 100 years." These changes affect large areas of land and drastically change the environment.

While climate change is a major threat of destroying life in New Zealand, all hope is not lost. In wellington.govt, they propose a plan to become a "zero carbon capital" by the year 2050. In New Zealand's "Te Atakura" or "first to zero" plan, they have main focuses on transportation, building energy and and urban form, advocacy, and the council. With these four focus points, New Zealand has an approach for each way to tackle the damaging effects of climate change. While 87% of emissions come from transportation and stationary energy (energy use in buildings), they have a plan of attack to reduce it. Targets for 2020 at 10% emission reduction, 2030 at 43%, 2040 at 68% and 2050 at 100%, they have impressive claims, but with a four-leveled approach, New Zealand is taking this matter very seriously.

New Zealand - Sylus Krall

Resources:

https://www.wwf.org.nz/what_we_do/climateaction/new_zealand_impacts/

https://wellington.govt.nz/environment-and-sustainability/climate-change