Green Party MP Teanau Tuiono says recent reports showing sea levels are rising faster than thought highlight the need for Māori voices to be heard in the climate discussion.
Wellington could expect a 30cm sea level rise by 2040 - a level that had not been expected before 2060 - and Auckland, Coromandel, Banks Peninsula, Hawke's Bay and Marlborough-Nelson are also particularly vulnerable. Scientists are predicting the new data could lead to severe 1 in 100-year floods occurring every year.
The news is particularly concerning with parts of the country, particularly the East Coast of the North Island, and the West Coasts of the South Island both having suffered damaging floods in the past year. The damage has seen coastal, and low-lying communities cut off, as well as wāhi tapu and urupā being decimated by flooding.
"Māori need a voice in all policies about the climate. The Department of Conservation has an arm called Te Rau Ora. Māori needs a voice in that space. There are two plans at the moment, one is to reduce carbon emissions, that's a political battle. The second is on climate change which impacts our families living in coastal areas," he told teaomāori.news
Tuiono says he was shocked to read the latest data by NZ SeaRise - Te Tai Pari o Aotearoa, which showed sea levels were rising almost twice as fast as earlier thought.
"We're unique in our land as we are on tectonic plates and because of this, our tides are rising. In 10 years it's risen faster than expected at 20 years. Earlier predictions stated it will rise in 50 years. So it's quickly rising. It's dangerous but we have to prepare."
He's is buoyed by the number of councils that will have Māori wards established at this year's local elections but says there is still a lot of work to do to avoid catastrophe within the next two decades.
"They're at the forefront because they have the by-laws about moving houses, our rivers and oceans. Councils need to listen to Māori because for a long time tribes have lived on the coast so they're experts in that. That's another role Māori knowledge and indigenous knowledge play in the world."