Adaptation and Mitigation to climate change

An example that New Zealand is taking to adapt to climate change is that the goverment is aiming to have 90% of the country's energy to come in the form of renewable energy by the year 2025. This will help to lower emissions. A second way is the government is looking into ways to lower the country's #1 source of emissions which is methane from the huge agriculture presence. They established a domestic Centre for Agriculture Greenhouse Gas Research. Their hopes are to help reduce emissions from agricultural production and improve its potential for soil carbon sequestration, while safeguarding food security (information taken from http://unfcc.int/resource/docs/natc/nzl_nc5.pdf).   Per the IPCC I found their planned adaptation opportunities for water to be interesting. They hope that better use of storm and recycled water can help augment water supply. Installing rain water tanks is another option that would help this (http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg2/en/ch11s11-5.html).   New Zealand has ratified the Kyoto Protocol, the international treaty to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. They signed May 22, 1998 and entered into force February 16, 2005 and have reduced emission by 0.2%.   Being that New Zealand signed the Kyoto Protocol and is working towards implementing more renewable energy sources I would say that they are taking efforts towards mitigating climate change. I feel most if not all countries should be both mitigating and adapting to climate change. It seems that reguardless of what is being done that climate change is among us. It's better to be prepared.  


Wind turbines are a useful source of renewable energy. http://c21.phas.ubc.ca/article/wind-turbines-betz-law-explained 



Impacts of Climate Change

According to the IPCC New Zealands temperature is likely to rise over the next 85+ years. Being that it's located in the southern hemisphere the highest temperature changes will be notice on the North island as it's closer to the equator and we will see limited temperature change on the South island as it's closer to Antarctica. As for precipitation the only area that will really see and increase would likely be the western part of the South island.

With there being minimal increase in precipitation we will see that directly impact evaporation. Pretty soon there's bound to be conflict over who owns the rights to certain water. In taking a Colorado History class I found out that it can create quite a stir. Touching back to my first paragraph, with the increase in temperature this leads to more polar ice caps melting thus making the risk of coastal flooding more prevelant. Being that New Zealand is an island surrounded by water, the IPCC predicts that by 2050 New Zealand will be at a great risk for sea-level rising and coastal flooding.

Here are four maps of New Zealand that show projected changes in temperature and precipitation in the next 50 & 100 years. http://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/climate/nz-fifth-national-communication/page7.html 



The IPCC's Third Assessment Report confirms what was said above. "Since 1950 there has been 0.4 to 0.7°C warming, with more heatwaves, fewer frosts, more rain in north-west Australia and south-west New Zealand, less rain in southern and eastern Australia and north-eastern New Zealand, an increase in the intensity of Australian droughts, and a rise in sea level of about 70 mm" http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg2/en/ch11s11-es.html. The Earth is warming and there are signs all around us indicating this. Droughts are happening more frequently thus leading to an increase in wild fires and also leading to a decrease in agricultural production.

I would say the biggest threat to New Zealand is sea-level rise combined with coastal flooding. This poses huge threats to the nations people who live near the coast. In taking oceanography prior to this class I learned that nearly 40% of the USA's population lives on the coast. To no surprise New Zealand also has 65% of their population living near the coast. With statistics indicating that we in store for an increase in temperature, more and more sea ice will be melting. This will in effect raise the level of the oceans. All of these people living near the coasts will be forced to re-locate. Being that New Zealand is a country of two islands this doesn't leave people with a lot of options. If the sea level rises too much theny coastal flooding will also occur. This will affect certain areas of agricultural production. There is such a snowball effect from sea-level rise, that is why I figured it was the biggest threat to the island nation of New Zealand.

New Zealand's contribution to climate change





Keeling Curve for Carbon Dioxide Concentration in parts per million from the late 1950s to the early 2010s for Mauna Loa, HI.

 








Total fossil fuels emission from 1900 to the early 2010s for 6 countries across the globe. Data collected from http://cdiac.ornl.gov/trends/emis/tre_coun.html#K.