UR22 Wellington

Being a good ancestor is reflective of a Māori way of understanding risk and resilience. Underpinned by a worldview that sees people as interconnected with the land, this plenary will discuss some indigenous foundational concepts and how they manifest as indigenous perspectives of risk, resilience and adaptation.

The objective of this session is to share perspectives, experiences and lessons on NAP process in Pacific SIDS and New Zealand. A Pacific regional perspective on NAPs will be introduced followed by a more in-depth ‘talanoa’ of NAP journeys in Tuvalu, Kiribati and Tonga and looking at community engagement and cross-sector coordination. The session will conclude with an overview of what Pacific SIDS and Aotearoa New Zealand can learn from each other to advance NAP processes.

Recording not available. 

One of the four key priorities in the Sendai Framework is to understand disaster risk. Risk tools, that model the impact of natural hazards, can be used to quantify risk from disaster events and inform risk management strategies.

This plenary will provide an overview of two risk tools that have been developed in Aotearoa-New Zealand; RiskScape and MERIT and highlight through case-study examples how they have been used to inform disaster risk management. The plenary discussion will then provide an opportunity to discuss the suitability of such models to inform risk and resilience decision making.

This panel will discuss the opportunities and challenges presented by financial disclosures to better adapt to climate change, showcasing how disclosures are to be addressed in New-Zealand. The New-Zealand Government has passed legislation making climate-related disclosures mandatory for some organisations. The requirement will apply to large publicly listed companies, insurers, banks, non-bank deposit takers and investment managers.

The majority of large New Zealand financial organisations provide limited to no information on what climate change might mean for them or are reporting in inconsistent ways. This lack of information causes what the Productivity Commission termed in their Low Emissions Economy report “an ongoing and systemic overvaluation of emissions-intensive activities”.

The goal of mandatory climate-related disclosures is to:

1. ensure that the effects of climate change are routinely considered in business, investment, lending and insurance underwriting decisions.
2. help climate reporting entities better demonstrate responsibility and foresight in their consideration of climate issues
3. lead to more efficient allocation of capital, and help smooth the transition to a more sustainable, low emissions economy.

Mandatory climate-related disclosures will help New Zealand meet its international obligations and achieve its target of net zero carbon by 2050. By improving transparency and revealing climate-related information within financial markets, our financial system will become more resilient and climate change risks outlined in the National Climate Change Risk Assessment will be addressed.

In the Sendai Framework, it is noted that Disaster Risk Reduction requires a multi-hazard approach guided by science-based information to support decision-making. But what are the priorities for disaster risk science over the next 10 years? In this session we will hear from science providers, science funders and decision-makers about what they consider to be the key gaps in our knowledge that would support the greatest improvements to DRR. The panel will discuss how we might prioritise the work that will make the most difference in a range of contexts. (Recording not available)