Who is the man leading the environment ministry amid an escalating climate crisis?
The ministry tasked with rolling out some of the biggest environmental shifts amid the climate crisis has a new captain at the helm , keen to translate legislation and policy to work on the ground. Last month, James Palmer stepped from CEO of Hawkes Bay Regional Council, to a recovery volunteer, with Cyclone Gabrielle hitting three days after he left the role. Theres nowhere Id have rather been, the new Ministry for the Environment (MfE) chief executive said. The Secretary for the Environment started his new job soon after, with a long to-do list for the MfE already set out from government front-footing emissions reduction , climate change adaptation , waste reform , while juggling its part in the RMA overhaul . We have a fairly diverse portfolio of work to do, he said. READ MORE: * Hawke's Bay farm business make flood recovery app for farmers * MP labels environment ministry outrageous and hypocritical over flight use * Climate programmes delayed after failed Budget bid We are getting a major flood event somewhere in Aotearoa New Zealand about every eight months at the moment. We need to develop consistent approaches for that. Its not his first time working for MfE seven years ago he was the deputy secretary for sector strategy. Palmers career also saw him spend time working for the former deputy prime minister, the late Jim Anderton and at the Ministry for Primary Industries. Born and raised in Hawkes Bay, Palmer developed an interest in the environment at a relatively young age. I spent a lot of time tramping around various parts of New Zealand as a young person and grew up in the outdoor environment. I was also proximal to primary production in Hawkes Bay the fruit bowl of New Zealand. I was lucky in my career, first of all to study political science and took papers in environmental politics, and eventually got the opportunity to work alongside the Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Jim Anderton). His biggest environmental concern was the challenge of reconciling...our impacts on the environment, and then the choices that we make day-to-day in how we consume, how our economy produces, our use of natural resources and its effect on the environment. Climate change mitigation, hitting the ambitious targets that our country is seeking to achieve in emissions reduction, and adaptation was a big focus for the ministry. Climate change is accelerating, it is having an adverse effect on our communities, as we are seeing, and that is all forecast and predicted to get more severe. Palmer said there was no time to lose on adaptation. There was already work underway on the legislation to help New Zealand better deal with climate change , with Cyclone Gabrielle and the Auckland flooding events presenting an opportunity to start building our adaptation policy while we are responding. There are choices that the communities are going to be facing around rebuilding locations, he said, using an example of increasing flood protection, so communities could stay put, or relocation. Those choices will be confronted in the coming weeks and months. He said despite a need to play catch up in some areas, it did pose opportunities for central and local government to test out approaches and develop more durable solutions in terms of how we respond to these events. We are getting a major flood event somewhere in Aotearoa New Zealand about every eight months at the moment. We need to develop consistent approaches for that. Asked if the ministry had enough resource to roll out what was needed to tackle and adapt to climate change and other environmental plans, at a pace that met government expectation amid an escalating climate crisis, Palmer said the ministry had a significant increase in resource in recent times. At the moment were well resourced. The question that I turn my mind to, as we shift from implementing legislation and policy, to implementing on the ground, have we got the right skills and capabilities to do that? Most crucially, have we got the right relationships and partnerships? What will deliver the emissions' reduction, what will deliver adaptation, what will implement the new resource management system will be the work of others, particularly local government, iwi Maori and also industry. We've been through a period of significant policy development... Now the job that lies ahead, which really is my job to do as a new secretary, is to translate all of that into action on the ground. He said there had been a significant surge in the last five to six years on things like fresh water, all the framework we have the climate change with the zero carbon act, budgets for emissions reductions along with the climate change commission and now this huge body of work... around the resource management system. He said his experience and expertise of driving that next chapter to work on the ground was raised during the recruitment phase of the role.