March 11, 2026

#national: Calls for National Shift Toward Prevention as Climate Risks Intensify for Māori Communities

Dale Husband Posted On March 11, 2026

Dale Husband #national: Calls for National Shift Toward Prevention as Climate Risks Intensify for Māori Communities

Nearly four decades after the devastation of Cyclone Bola and three years on from Cyclone Gabrielle, experts say Aotearoa must urgently rethink how it approaches disaster risk as Māori communities continue to face increasing threats from climate-driven weather events and unstable land.

Distinguished Professor Christine Kenney, Aotearoa’s inaugural Professor of Disaster Risk Reduction and Director of Te Toi Whakaruruhau o Aotearoa, says the country must move beyond responding to disasters after they happen and instead commit to long-term strategies that prevent harm before communities are placed in danger.

Regions such as Wairoa and Te Tairāwhiti remain among the most exposed in the country to landslides, flooding and infrastructure failure during severe weather. Repeated storms in recent years have highlighted the vulnerability of communities where forestry debris, unstable hillsides and aging infrastructure combine to create significant risk.

Despite growing scientific evidence and repeated warnings from researchers, some proposed mitigation projects have struggled to gain traction in national decision-making processes. In Gisborne, a landslide-prevention proposal developed to reduce the risk of future catastrophic slips was ultimately rejected, raising questions about whether the country’s disaster planning frameworks are adequately prioritising prevention.

Kenney says the challenge lies not only in recognising risk but in translating evidence into action. That means ensuring that scientific modelling, engineering advice and local knowledge are integrated into government planning and funding decisions before disaster strikes.

For many Māori communities, the issue is becoming increasingly urgent. In parts of the East Coast, iwi are already making difficult decisions to relocate marae, urupā and homes away from areas that are becoming unsafe due to erosion, landslides and flooding.

Kenney says adaptation efforts of this scale require coordinated support from across the country, including scientific expertise to understand environmental risks, financial assistance to fund relocation and infrastructure changes, and policy frameworks that recognise the cultural significance of whenua and wāhi tapu.

She says a national disaster risk reduction strategy must properly weave together multiple knowledge systems. Mātauranga Māori, community experience and local environmental understanding should sit alongside scientific data and engineering expertise to guide planning decisions.

Such an approach would allow communities to design solutions grounded in both cultural values and technical evidence, while also ensuring local voices are central to decisions that affect their future.

Experts say the repeated disasters in regions such as Te Tairāwhiti reveal deeper structural vulnerabilities that cannot be solved through short-term recovery programmes alone. Long-term planning around land use, forestry management, infrastructure resilience and climate adaptation will be critical if communities are to be protected from increasingly severe weather events.

Kenney believes Aotearoa now faces a clear choice: continue reacting to disasters as they occur, or invest in prevention that reduces risk before the next storm arrives.

For communities still rebuilding after Gabrielle and still carrying the memories of Bola, the urgency of that choice is becoming clearer with every passing season.