Nelson declares climate emergency
Nelson has officially declared climate change an emergency situation. The decision came just hours after Environment Canterbury declared climate change an emergency for the Canterbury region, with the Nelson City Council (NCC) passing the declaration 10 votes to three. The decision was witnessed by several members of the activist group Extinction Rebellion, who filled the public gallery and gave a standing ovation when the motion passed. Nelson Mayor Rachel Reese said she did not bring up the declaration lightly, saying it was "late, but not too late" to begin addressing climate change. READ MORE: * Environment Canterbury applauded for declaring region-wide 'climate emergency' * Climate change emergency popular in Nelsonian's public submissions * Thames-Coromandel District Council vote against climate change declaration "It's about setting up a process, starting a conversation with our community to hear the concerns." "Councils around the country are listening, and they are hearing a very different voice than what they heard even two or three years ago, certainly they're hearing a different voice from five years ago." She said there was a distinction between declaring an emergency, and declaring a crisis. "Crisis is throw your hands up, emergency is roll your sleeves up," she said. "It was a tough start to the year. We had a civil emergency in this region like I'd never seen before. Last year we had another emergency like I'd never seen before. "Climate change is affecting the emergencies we're seeing in this region, and they're only going to get worse. This is unsustainable." The official declaration does not carry with it any "statutory or legal weight for future Council decisions", however NCC CEO Pat Dougherty said it was "starting on a path". "Climate change has been an issue for 30 years, certainly for the past 10 years, we're all saying 'we must do something, when will we start'. This is the day that we start," he said. "Because it's a long-term campaign, there's not a sense of urgency. The use of the word emergency is conveying that for goodness' sake we must start ... climate change is already here, this is just a call to arms." He said that effectively, the declaration would mean that every future activity plan developed by the council would have to address climate change. NCC group manager of strategy and communications Nicky McDonald said an action plan was set to follow the declaration, giving options for what the council can do in the future. "If you want to turn it into real action that's something that you need to make happen," she told councillors. Councillor Luke Acland said the council needed to "make sure this is a sea change". "It's no good making promises and not following through." Councillors Ian Barker, Bill Dahlberg, and Mike Rutledge were the only councillors to vote against the declaration. Dahlberg said the declaration looked like "a symbolic gesture process with not a lot of teeth in it", and wanted the declaration delayed. Rutledge and Barker both said the decision was "rushed", with councillor Rutledge saying the process felt like a "shot-gun wedding". "I've heard everything from 'let's hunker down to war time mentality', through to 'actually it'll be status quo, but the words are nice'," Rutledge said. "My concern is that making a declaration today will be a lightning rod for division, and not a rallying cry for unified action. Despite my personal belief that reacting to climate change is of significant importance, I can't support what we have in front of us today." Councillors Gaile Noonan and Stuart Walker agreed that the process was rushed, and tried to have the declaration delayed, but when that failed both supported the declaration. Councillor Kate Fulton said climate change was "the most important issue in our lifetime". "We're 30 years late, but we're not too late." Councillor Matt Lawrey said the declaration did not go far enough, but said it was a good place to start. "At the very least, it's going to make it harder to do new things that are damaging for the environment. If it's going to have any meaning, then it's going to be up to you [councillors], to Extinction Rebellion, to all the kids who went on the climate strike, to hold us accountable." Deputy Mayor Paul Matheson said the declaration was the start of a journey. "I didn't expect, in my term on council, to be talking about climate change so quickly. But this has happened in the past couple of years, and suddenly you wake up and realise you've got to do something." The declaration was supported by Minister for Climate Change, James Shaw, who submitted to the council's annual plan by phone. He told councillors that making the declaration would "send an important signal to the community and to officials". "We're already seeing the impact of climate change in New Zealand ... we've always had storms and droughts and fires, we now have clear evidence that the frequency and severity of those issues is increasing." He said that though the word 'emergency' might seem "very alarming", it was in his view an accurate description of climate change and its effects. "Humans have demonstrated in our history that we're quite good at dealing with short term emergencies, but were not very well set-up, and tend not to handle very well, slow-moving crises and climate change is one of those that occurs over decades." * Comments on this article have closed.