Crown challenged on slow climate change response

Activist Mike Smith is suing the crown for failing to do enough to protect Māori from the likely impact of climate change.

He says he's doing it not in his role as chair of the Climate Change Iwi Leaders Groups but on his own behalf and on behalf of his children, mokopuna, and generations of Māori children.

He says crown seems to be ignoring the fact Māori are particularly vulnerable to climate change effects including rising sea levels, coastal inundation, storms, warming sea temperatures and acidification leading to a loss of traditional food sources, and so on.

"The government has duties under Te Tiriti o Waitangi to actively protect us and that means doing everything they can to stop these harmful impacts, so I've instructed my lawyers to file proceedings contending that the crown's duties under Te Tiriti o Waitangi and general law require it to be doing more and doing it now," Mr Smith says.

He says the Government is setting too many distant targets without doing anything now to achieve them.

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