Climate Change: The Cascade Effect

As the effects of these changes become more frequent through flooding, coastal inundation and drought, we’ll have less time to recover and there will be cumulative consequences. In addition, as different sectors respond to the changes, there is potential for impacts to compound through the economy.

The Deep South Challenge focusses on four major climate-related impacts: extreme weather events, drought, changes in average weather patterns and sea level rise. The flow-on effects of these changes and their interactions raise many interrelated questions for decision makers and planners at all levels of decision making and across all sectors, such as:

• How will sea level rise affect transport links regionally, coastal communities and the infrastructure on which they depend?
• How will changes in seasonal temperatures affect fruit growers, their business, their access to ports and airports, and how will this in turn impact local and national economies?

The interconnected – or cascading – social and economic impacts are the focus of this research, which builds on the Climate Change Impacts and Implications (CCII) work completed in 2016. Working with local government, infrastructure and financial sectors, our researchers will use climate modelling information and socio-economic scenarios, alongside the realities of representative regional communities, to better understand the scale of climate change implications for Aotearoa New Zealand.

By understanding the cascading nature of the impacts of climate change, decision makers will be better able to plan, adapt and manage risks.

This project in the media:
Government lacks 'coordinated plan' for climate change, withheld report shows Stuff
Hotter weather will change New Zealand forever, RadioNZ
The cascading impacts of climate change, Newsroom

Research and findings:
Cascading impacts and implications for Aotearoa New Zealand, Paula Blackett, Deep South Symposium