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A new climate adaptation report is warning Aotearoa must urgently build the workforce needed to help communities prepare for floods, storms, coastal erosion, rising seas, and other climate-related risks.
The Aotearoa Society of Adaptation Professionals says the latest Ministry for the Environment report highlights a major gap in climate adaptation training and professional capability.
The group says New Zealand will need more people with the skills to plan, design, manage, and deliver local adaptation work as climate impacts become more frequent and costly.
For Māori communities, the issue is especially urgent. Marae, urupā, coastal whenua, papakāinga, and food-gathering areas are already exposed to climate pressures, while many iwi and hapū are leading local resilience planning with limited resources.
Adaptation work can include flood planning, infrastructure redesign, managed retreat, emergency preparedness, community engagement, environmental restoration, and protection of cultural sites.
The report points to the need for stronger training pathways, clearer professional standards, and better support for councils, iwi, hapū, community organisations, engineers, planners, scientists, and policy workers involved in climate resilience.
Climate advocates say adaptation can no longer be treated as a future issue. Recent severe weather events have shown how quickly communities can be disrupted, with long-term impacts on homes, roads, businesses, schools, farms, and whānau wellbeing.
The Government’s National Adaptation Framework is aimed at setting out how the country prepares for and responds to growing climate risks, including information-sharing, responsibilities, investment, and cost-sharing.
But sector leaders say those plans will only work if Aotearoa has enough trained people on the ground to turn policy into action.
The call is also being framed as an opportunity to create new jobs and career pathways, including for rangatahi Māori interested in environmental protection, planning, science, engineering, emergency management, and kaupapa Māori climate leadership.
Supporters say building an adaptation workforce must include mātauranga Māori, Te Tiriti-based decision-making, and recognition of iwi and hapū authority in protecting whenua and communities.
As climate risks continue to grow, the message from adaptation professionals is clear: Aotearoa needs to invest not only in infrastructure, but in the people who will help communities survive and thrive in a changing climate.
