Timaru

Healthy ecosystems will better withstand climate stress. Forests and wetland plants are carbon sinks – natural systems that help to use photosynthesis and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Coastal wetlands also help to store carbon.

The Canterbury mudfish (kōwaro) is the most threatened of New Zealand’s native mudfish species. Environment Canterbury is working with landowners in South Canterbury to improve mudfish habitat in Taiko Stream. Efforts have focused on removing willows, fencing and riparian planting, and monitoring the mudfish population over time through surveys. This work helps Environment Canterbury, landowners and the Pareora Catchment Group to identify and prioritise future locations for habitat protection and restoration.

Local charity Sustainable South Canterbury Trust has opened South Canterbury Eco Centre at Redruth, with support from capital investors including the Community Trust, EnviroWaste and the Timaru District Council. It has provided a venue for recent public workshops on climate change strategy and future activity on biodiversity protection and energy-efficient, warm and dry homes.

Climate projections from NIWA show that Timaru District can expect more intense rainfall and an increased frequency of flooding.

The District Infrastructure Team/Water Unit is strengthening flood resilience through investment at Opihi River intake by monitoring and maintaining river channels to direct water away from intake infrastructure during high river flows. In the case of flooding the intake’s critical infrastructure has been built on elevated earth platforms out of the flood channels.

The new Washdyke trunk water main is buried under flood channels instead of using overhead pipe bridges, to mitigate any above-ground failure. Additionally, pipe materials used on this project by Timaru District Council are polyethylene which has the ability to move under extreme events. Previously-used more rigid products may fail in the same situation.

As part of the recovery from the 2019 Rangitata flood, Environment Canterbury received a climate resilience grant for new flood protection, erosion control infrastructure and tree planting. This will include a natural infrastructure programme focusing on planting, weed control, and wetland and mahinga kai enhancement.

It is important to note however, stop-banks may not offer long-term protection to coastal communities due the recession of our District’s coastline as a result of greater and more frequent storm surges. In some places the retreat is two metres per year.

The Timaru District Council’s Proposed District Plan 2022 takes into account vulnerability to both river flood and coastal erosion in maps guiding future land uses.

The Council’s Long Term Plan 2021 committed a budget to climate response work, employing staff and beginning a district-wide Climate Change Strategy. A September 2022 public meeting in Timaru with many well-informed contributors (which you can watch here) launched the process. Subsequent topic workshops in January to March 2023 have engaged the public on coastal inundation and erosion, domestic food resilience, lower emission transport, and water resilience, followed by a repeat session on coastal inundation and resilience in commercial food production.

The strategy focus is on district-wide adaptation to effects of accelerating climate change and additional work by staff will look at effects on Council infrastructure and in-house mitigation, starting with measuring carbon emissions from Council activity and looking at how we can reduce this footprint.

One way we can reduce greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide from burning fuels, which are key contributors to climate change, is to shift how we get around and into our towns. Using public transport more often and taking fewer solo car journeys can help reduce your household’s carbon footprint.

Walking and cycling are great zero-emission options in our relatively compact towns. Recent funding to Timaru District Council from the government’s Transport Choices Fund (part of the Climate Emergency Response Fund) has supported design of safer traffic-separated routes to link up the cycle network across town, and also to create a stopping bay and seating in Stafford Street to encourage bus users.

Environment Canterbury provides public transport in South Canterbury. The MyWay service is a ground-breaking trial of on-demand public transport servicing Timaru urban areas. In addition, community bus and car services with volunteer drivers are available in Geraldine, Temuka and Pleasant Point.

Examples in 2023 of Timaru District Council reducing its carbon footprint are enhancement of the composting facility to divert more organic waste from landfill, where it would otherwise decay without oxygen to create methane. Secondly, installation of a flare to burn landfill-produced methane gas into carbon dioxide, which is 80x less damaging per molecule than methane (although still an unwanted and persistent ‘greenhouse warming’ gas in the Earth’s atmosphere).

Learn more about Timaru District’s climate action.