An Interesting Approach to Combat Climate Change in the South Pacific

New Zealand initiative named “Climate Shift” is a three-tiered approach being proposed to combat local climate change and in turn contribute to the global reduction plan to help protect our entire global environment. It focuses on addressing environmental issues on three fronts.

climate action in new zealand

The obvious and essential first step is to tackle the actual emissions with significant reduction. The next front is to engage with and seek support from independent organizations and governmental bodies while reaching out to the people of the land to get more engage and take responsibility. The final front is working with nature itself ensuring the sustainability of the natural environment, restoring and rewilding areas cleared for capitalistic development with no consideration for the long-term biodiversity and protection of native species of both flora and fauna.

Let’s take a closer look a each of these fronts to see the types of approaches that are being proposed by interested environmental conservation organisations and community members. There will be proposals set before government to move away from our traditional energy from coal, oil and gas industries. Obviously, the country cannot simply close down our current energy producing industries. But there is much incentive to end oil, gas and coal exploration, not to initiate any new fields either on land or out at sea. The trend being to transition off fossil fuels and embrace more sustainable energy sources.

Pacific Ministers of Energy and Transport from southern Pacific nations drafts up the Port Vila Call to Action for a fossil fuel free Pacific and triggered an initiative for a regional ocean energy program. The aim is to achieve a fossil fuel-free Pacific.

To move toward such a goal, there is a push to move from government owned to public and locally owned, nature-friendly renewable electricity by providing grants-based and equitable finance to renewable projects. Urban development will be required to target higher density developments with overall lower emissions through more inclusive public transport infrastructure and transport systems.

Agricultural practices may undertake a make review and shift in how the land is used. This would entail a move away from the present intensive dairy farming to a more sustainable practice with much lower emissions. This would also consider phasing out synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, reduction in herd size, phase out imported feed stock and phase out the current large scale irrigation systems presently in operation. This would also require a harsh review of emission trading schemes already in place.

how climate change is impacting Kiribati

Other measures that need urgent attention relate to community development in flood-prone areas and coastal regions that are in close proximity to river mouths, etc. The island nations that tend to have very limited land elevation are being severely targeted with sea level rise. As these scenarios are not manageable by human intervention, communities need to be relocated to viable and acceptable new territories.

All the south Pacific communities whether small island nations or more substantial landmasses but still island based territory need to review methods of “restoring and rewilding” natural areas. Mangrove areas, marshlands, lagoons and other wetland areas need to be preserved and protected. These areas need to be restored to their historical size or expanse before settlement colonisation. These areas all help to mitigate the impact of extreme weather events. With the ever increasing air temperatures, the warmer atmosphere holders greater quantities of water and so rain events are more commonly destructive in nature due to the excess amounts of precipitation.

By protecting nature, the tendency will be to provide greater protection for the people in their respective communities whether expansive urban spreads or small isolated communities. Native forests are a natural means of protecting the environment as they are massive carbon storage reserve. Low-lying native grasslands and flaxes help to stabilise the land and reduce erosion and manage flooding more effectively. This does require the management of introduced species of bird and animal creatures as they end to over-populate and eradicate native species to near-extinction.

As the region is populated by islands rather than large landmasses, fisheries is a primary industry for all the south Pacific island countries. To preserve the natural balance in the great expansive oceans, it is proposed to adopt an ecosystem- based fisheries management approach to harvesting the fish stock. This would entail banning bottom trawling operations. As well as restoring mangrove areas between low and high tidal zones, the kelp forests that line the immediate deep water coastlines need to be protected and restored.

Overall, it is possible to mitigate climate change in the south Pacific region but it requires both harsh decision making and drastic change in current energy producing systems as well as needing prompt action following the prompt decision making. There is less and less time to deliberate as the time to act is now.

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About Claire Cosgrove

Dr Claire Cosgrove, Ph.D., is an independent Environmental Scientist and Educator. Looking to establish a consultancy company: “Cultural Awareness, Environmental Mindfulness”. Formerly a Professor of Environmental Sciences in the College of Engineering at AMA International University, Salmabad, Kingdom of Bahrain. Before moving to the Middle East in 2009, Dr Claire was a Research Scientist based in the USA at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville and at Georgia Institiute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr Cosgrove has lived and worked in a number of countries such as South Africa, USA, New Zealand and the Middle East. Her research work has covered air pollution, weather modification /cloud seeding, rainfall modelling and simulation and flood forecasting, to name a few areas of interest.

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