2019: A Question of Resilience

Aotearoa New Zealand is a dynamic and changing land (literally) — we have earthquakes, tsunami, volcanoes, landslides, cyber-attacks, pandemics, climate-induced events and more.

In addition to this, our cities and regions are having to adapt to rapidly changing communities, ageing infrastructure, and fluctuating economies (here and overseas).

As the future generation and leaders of Aotearoa New Zealand, you have the opportunity to create, imagine, rethink, explore and grow our resilience.

Following an introduction by the Governor General HE Rt Hon Dame Patsy Reddy;

• Forum attendees listened to presentations from climate scientist Dr James Renwick (Victoria University of Wellington),

• the Head of Resilience Strategy and Research (EQC) Dr Jo Horrocks and

• PhD student at the joint Massey University/GNS Science Centre for Disaster Research Lisa McLaren

Participating teams were set a key challenge to define resilience.

What ideas do you have for building resilience? What are the enablers helping develop resilience? What are the inhibitors?

Things to think about: Community resilience, Inner resilience, Economic resilience, Infrastructural resilience

Each group reported back on their key recommendations and a rapporteur (Veronika Meduna) drafted a Report and Summary of the recommendations for the Eureka! Trust to submit to key affected parties.

Feedback

The team leaders reported back that there are several factors that make New Zealanders more resilient in the face of challenging events. These include heightened awareness or direct experience of natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods, a pioneering spirit and “can do” approach to problems, an innovative culture and willingness to learn from failure and, most importantly, a sense of kotahitanga and solidarity as a nation at times of tragedy such as the Christchurch mosque shootings on 15 March 2019.

The discussions then moved on to a definition of resilience, which was generally seen as a sense of preparedness, physically and emotionally, to anticipate change and to do what we can to plan for events that disrupt everything we know. Students described resilience as the ability to prepare for change, adapt to it and to develop the capacity to recover quickly from difficult situations.

Optimism and hope, and the wish to make a better future for everybody, were also seen as part of a resilient culture. An overarching theme across all discussions was a call for diversity and an openness to listen to, and incorporate, different community voices.

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Summary of Recommendations

The participants discussed what would need to happen to make people, communities and infrastructure more resilient. There was significant overlap in ideas, particularly between economic and infrastructural resilience and between community and inner resilience, respectively.

Fundamental requirements include access to unbiased, reliable information that is freely and widely available, vetted, fact-checked and provided through both educational programmes and the media. Better support for mental health was also mentioned frequently.

Another essential aspect was direct participation and input from a diverse group of people to make sure that decision-making processes incorporate different views. Having backups for essential systems and introducing regular community resilience practice sessions. And finally, all participants stressed the urgency of a fair transition to a low-emissions economy.

Economic Resilience

Participants noted that in order to increase economic resilience, New Zealand should:

• redefine some core values, such as sustainability and equality;

• diversify the economy to reduce dependence on the primary sector and tourism

• invest more in research and development in New Zealand, make it the world’s “capital of ideas”

• work to reduce inequality and to increase equity in access to education,

• ensure that a transition to a more diverse and low-carbon economy is just, leaving nobody behind.

Infrastructure Resilience

Participants noted that in order to increase infrastructural resilience, New Zealand should:

• look towards nature for answers to major ecological and environmental issues

• increase awareness by involving schools in restoration projects and sustainability initiatives

• encourage innovation towards sustainable technologies

• strengthen community structures so that people have networks to help each other during times of infrastructural breakdown

• use mobile networks as emergency communications tools

Community Resilience

Participants noted that in order to increase community resilience, New Zealand should:

• focus on building interconnected and diverse communities

• empower youth to participate in public affairs

• incorporate mātauranga Māori in policy development

• take advantage of the benefits of a small population which should make it possible to implement change more quickly

• uplift community values, strengthen community cohesion and reward community leaders

Inner Resilience

Participants noted that in order to increase inner resilience, New Zealand should:

• establish stronger mental health support

• develop educational initiatives to teach skills and character strengths to cope at times of adversity

• listen to younger generations, acknowledge that they need to be part of planning their future

2018: The Agriculture Dilemma

Following an introduction by the Governor General HE Rt Hon Dame Patsy Reddy;

• Professor Juliet Gerrard set the scene and described how leaders make decisions in the complex world where competing advice, limited knowledge and competing interests and risks must be weighed;

• Dr William Rolleston discussed the role of an evidence-based advocate;

• Dr Stephen Goldson explained the role of a trusted advisor.

The Challenge - The “Agriculture Dilemma” - Agriculture is suffering from a growing dilemma: it needs to contribute to feeding a growing world population, and conserve biodiversity and manage natural resources of an increasingly depleted planet. In addition it agriculture is the economic life blood for many nations.

Have we got the balance just right and if not, what steps do we need to take to optimise the balance in the future?

Participants were asked to:-

• address this question

• recommend changes or steps that could be taken to change the balance, and

• consider the impact(s) of their recommendations      

Each group reported back on their key recommendations and a rapporteur (Veronika Meduna) drafted a Report and Summary of the recommendations for the Eureka! Trust to submit to key affected parties.

Feedback

There was agreement that agriculture is not currently in balance, and therefore its future is a major challenge. There was a sense that the forces acting on farmers are largely economic, and that the way agriculture is practiced currently is dominated by profitability and productivity, while environmental and social factors don’t yet carry equivalent weight.

It was also agreed that primary production is part of New Zealand’s cultural identity and that it should remain so. Most specific suggestions were about how to make a shift towards more sustainable agriculture – or other uses of land and marine resources – for the people who draw their livelihood from it as well as all of us, as we depend on the primary production sector in one way or another. With primary production (including fisheries) making a significant contribution to GDP, participants saw the main challenge as increasing production while at the same time decreasing environmental impacts.

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Summary of Recommendations

Economy

Many recommendations focused on how farmers could either increase their yields without causing more damage to the environment, shift production to higher-value products to sell to elite markets, or transition to other types of landuse without losing out financially.

Technology

There was agreement that science, technology and innovation will be required for making current agricultural methods more sustainable as well as to explore new types of landuse or marine resources. Areas of focus:

• Greenhouse gas emissions

• Alternative sources of protein

• Waste treatment

Education

Participants stressed that education and communication are crucial tools for a transition to a more sustainable agriculture. Listening to a much wider community and to bring different groups together – from farmers to private sector to citizen science groups and matauranga Māori

Societal change

Participants felt that changes in consumer behaviour will drive some of the necessary changes in agriculture.

Impact of recommendations

Participants were asked to consider how any of their recommendations would impact on the primary production sector. Some of the suggested changes went beyond adjusting current practice and called for a more radical reset.

• Recognition that the primary sector is very different from other industries;

• Individual farms operate within specific conditions, but their product is marketed and sold by corporate organisations;

• Agriculture is an export business and any change needs to happen in a global context;

• Consumers are international, whatever NZ produces has to remain attractive to international markets.

Implementation

Participants came up with a range of initiatives for what the government and the industry itself could do to implement change.

• Regulatory reform – to be more accessible, more willing to take experimental risks in contained environments, test things out rather than shutting the door;

• Increased funding support for innovation as well as subsidies for transition;

• Develop national strategy to coordinate government support;

• Emissions trading scheme to act as an incentive to reduce emissions from agriculture;

• Develop auditable farm systems and a certification process;

• Protect IP in green tech;

• Set target for 100% renewable energy, electric road transport;

• Support mental health of farmers;

• Reduce food waste from supermarkets and other food producers;

• Legislate for environmental stewardship;

• Invest in training, upskilling;