Science Media Centre

The extent to which climate change threatens New Zealand’s coastal housing will depend on insurance options available to homeowners, according to a new report. Insurance, Housing and Climate Adaptation – commissioned by the Deep South National Science Challenge – investigates the different challenges climate change will present to homeowners, insurers and government. Possible policy solutions suggested […]

A mere week after the tail end of Tropical Cyclone Debbie hit the North Island, another cyclone is on its way. The MetService is warning Kiwis that Cyclone Cook could bring heavy rainfall especially to areas already saturated from last week. The SMC gathered expert reaction on the cyclone and flood risk, please feel free […]

Disaster risk is escalating and coastal communities are on the frontline of the Anthropocene, writes Professor Bruce Glavovic – EQC Chair in Resilience and Natural Hazards Planning at Massey University. An excerpt (read in full): Human activities have made such a significant impact on the Earth since the 1800s -and post-World War 2 in particular […]

Reclaimed land in South Dunedin might be sinking faster than other areas, GNS Science researchers have found, coinciding with a push by the regional council to decide how to handle natural hazard risk in the region. Satellite data from ground stations around Dunedin show land might be sinking about 1mm a year – according to […]

The impacts of climate change are already visible in New Zealand and will get worse unless drastic action is taken to reduce global emissions of greenhouse gases, warns a new report from the Royal Society of New Zealand. The report identifies key areas of risk including: coastal margins; flooding from rivers; availability of and competition […]

Society needs to act now to build resilience to increasingly common extreme weather such as floods, droughts and heatwaves, says a new report. The report from the UK Royal Society, ‘Resilience to extreme weather’, outlines the current understanding of the future risk posed by extreme weather events and how policy makers can adapt to and […]

Heavy rainfall has caused extensive flooding across southern New South Wales and North East Victoria, forcing several communities to evacuate. Widespread, and persistent recordbreaking rainfall was recorded across southeast Australia between 27 February and 5 March 2012, leading to heavy flooding across southeast Australia.  So far, 13,000 people are reported to have been evacuated from […]