Situating Māori Ecological Knowledge (MEK) within traditional environmental knowledge (TEK) frameworks, this book recognizes that indigenous ecological knowledge contributes to our understanding of how we live in our world (our world views), and in turn, the ways in which humans adapt to climate change. As an industrialized nation, Aotearoa/New Zealand (A/NZ) has responsibilities and obligations to other Pacific dwellers, including its indigenous populations. In this context, this book seeks to discuss how A/NZ can benefit from the wider Pacific strategies already in place; how to meet its global obligations to reducing GHG; and how A/NZ can utilize MEK to achieve substantial inroads into adaptation strategies and practices. In all respects, Māori tribal groups here are well-placed to be key players in adaptation strategies, policies, and practices that are referenced through Māori/Iwi traditional knowledge.

Climate change policy has typically emphasized mitigation, calling for reducing emissions and shifting away from fossil fuels. Yet while these efforts have floundered, floods, wildfires, droughts, and other disasters are becoming more frequent and potent. As the risks escalate, we must ask how to adapt to a changing climate. How might farmers modify their practices to maximize food security? Can coastal cities protect their infrastructure from rising seas? Are there strategic ways for developing countries to combine climate resilience with economic growth and poverty reduction? For people and societies around the world, these questions are not theoretical: adaptation is already underway. This book offers a concise overview of climate adaptation governance. In clear, accessible language, Lisa Dale describes key strategies that governments, communities, and the private sector are now deploying. She presents the theory and practice that underlie climate adaptation efforts at local and global scales, providing illuminating case studies that foreground the problems facing developing countries. Dale analyzes the effectiveness of a range of policy interventions, drawing out principles of good governance and discussing how practitioners can navigate complex tradeoffs. She emphasizes equity and inclusion, considering how climate adaptation policy can account for the needs of historically disadvantaged groups. Written for a wide audience, this book is an invaluable introduction for all readers interested in how societies can meet the challenges of an altered climate.

It is now widely accepted that adaptation will be necessary if we are to manage the risks posed by climate change. What we know about adaptation, however, is limited. While there is a well established body of scholarship proposing assessment approaches and explaining concepts, few studies have examined if and how adaptation is taking place at a national or regional level.

‘I am 29 years old. I was born just before the Kyoto Protocol was signed, and since then global mean temperatures have risen by an estimated 0.2°C per decade . . . in my lifetime I am likely to experience a world that is 2°C warmer, perhaps as much as 4°C, and has more droughts, fires and floods.’ Sylvia Nissen Climate crisis is upon us. By choice or necessity, New Zealand will transition to a low-emissions future. But can this revolution be careful? Can it be attentive to the disruptions it inevitably creates? Or will carefulness simply delay and dilute the changes that future people require of us? This timely collection brings together eleven authors to explore the politics and practicalities of the low-emissions transition, touching on issues of justice, tikanga, trade-offs, finance, futurism, adaptation, and more.

The debate on the science is over. Climate change is real; it is happening even faster than previously thought and it is powerfully influenced by human activities. As events like Hurricane Katrina, the shrinking of the ice-caps and the calamitous 2003 European heatwave remind us, climate change is not a future threat: it already profoundly affects the world we live in. Scientific evidence shows that dangerous climate change can only be averted through concerted global action - not in 30 years' time, but over the coming decade. Bold policies, informed public debate and decisive political leadership are critical, yet many countries - New Zealand among them - have been slow to act. With contributions by more than 30 leading scientists and policy experts, from New Zealand and elsewhere, this book will increase public understanding about climate change and help to develop robust, effective policies. It presents the latest scientific evidence, examines the likely impacts of climate change on New Zealand and the Pacific, and outlines a range of policy solutions. It is based on a major Climate Change and Governance Conference held in Wellington in March 2006. The overwhelming message is one of urgency, but also optimism: it is not too late to make a difference.

What does climate change mean for New Zealand? Will we fry and starve, or bask and thrive? Using the latest evidence from the International Panel on Climate Change’s Fourth Assessment Report, Gareth Renowden puts climate change into its New Zealand context. He examines how the science suggests New Zealand’s climate will change, what current and future governments can do to address the problem, and how individuals and businesses can respond to the challenge.'Hot Topic' explains the science of global warming in a clear and easily understandable way. Renowden looks at New Zealand’s options for adaptation and mitigation in a scrupulously non-partisan manner.BackgroundGlobal warming is an issue that has driven a huge amount of media and political debate in the last year. Al Gore’s movie 'An Inconvenient Truth' and Tim Flannery’s book 'The Weather Makers' are just two of the more visible international signs that climate change is becoming a defining item on the political agenda. This debate will intensify over the coming year, as the IPCC publishes its Fourth Assessment Report – which concludes that global warming is here, and likely to be damaging and dangerous as it progresses. 'Hot Topic' is the first popular science book to put global warming into a New Zealand context, and will play a key role in defining the national debate on how to deal with the problem.

Through its exploration of the spatial dimension of risk, this book offers a brand new approach to theorizing risk, and significant improvements in how to manage, tolerate and take risks. A broad range of risks are examined, including natural hazards, climate change, political violence, and state failure. Case studies range from the Congo to Central Asia, from tsunami in Japan and civil war affected areas in Sri Lanka to avalanche hazards in Austria. In each of these cases, the authors examine the importance and role of space in the causes and differentiation of risk, in how we can conceptualize risk from a spatial perspective and in the relevance of space and locality for risk governance. This new approach - endorsed by Ragnar Löfstedt and Ortwin Renn, two of the world's leading and most prolific risk analysts - is essential reading for those charged with studying, anticipating and managing risks.