Climate change is no longer just an environmental issue.
For many Māori communities, it is becoming a cultural, financial and intergenerational challenge that threatens the very places where whakapapa is celebrated, tikanga is practised and whānau gather in times of joy and sorrow.
For this week’s edition of Te Kaupapa, we examine one of the lesser-known consequences of climate change: the rising cost of insuring marae.
Across Aotearoa, insurance premiums are climbing as severe weather events become more frequent and more destructive. Cyclones, flooding, storm surges and coastal erosion have fundamentally changed how insurers assess risk.
Increasingly, insurance companies are pricing policies according to the environmental risks facing individual properties rather than spreading those risks across the wider customer base.
For many marae, that shift is proving costly.
Many of Aotearoa’s ancestral meeting places are located beside rivers, estuaries or coastlines. Their locations reflect generations of whakapapa and connection to whenua and wai, but those same locations are now among the most vulnerable to climate-related hazards.
The result is rising annual premiums, higher excesses and, in some cases, the possibility that insurers may refuse to provide cover altogether.
For marae trustees and hapū committees already operating on limited budgets, the financial pressure is becoming increasingly difficult to manage.
Unlike commercial buildings, marae cannot simply relocate to lower-risk areas.
Their cultural significance is inseparable from the whenua on which they stand.
The challenge is compounded by the rising cost of rebuilding.
Construction materials, labour and transport costs have all increased significantly in recent years, meaning that repairing damaged buildings now comes with a much higher price tag than it once did.
For insurers, higher replacement costs translate into higher premiums.
For communities, they create difficult decisions about how limited resources should be spent.
The implications extend well beyond individual buildings.
Marae are often the first places communities turn to during emergencies.
They provide shelter, food, coordination and support when floods, storms or other disasters strike.
Throughout Cyclone Gabrielle and numerous other severe weather events, marae became emergency response centres, housing displaced whānau and serving as vital hubs for recovery efforts.
If those same marae become uninsured—or unable to recover quickly after disasters—the resilience of entire communities is weakened.
Another challenge lies in the way insurance products are designed.
Many standard commercial or residential insurance policies do not adequately reflect the unique nature of marae.
Buildings, carvings, tukutuku panels, wharenui and taonga often carry cultural and spiritual value that cannot be measured solely in financial terms.
Replacing physical structures is one thing.
Replacing generations of history, identity and connection is impossible.
As the risks grow, some iwi and hapū are beginning to explore new approaches.
Rather than relying solely on commercial insurers, some are investigating collective self-insurance funds or disaster resilience reserves that allow communities to respond more independently when damage occurs.
Others are investing in practical adaptation measures designed to reduce future risk.
Improving drainage, strengthening flood protection, elevating critical infrastructure and identifying vulnerable areas through detailed hazard mapping are among the strategies being considered to reduce exposure to increasingly frequent extreme weather.
Climate adaptation is becoming just as important as climate response.
For Māori, however, adaptation must also recognise the cultural importance of remaining connected to ancestral lands.
Moving away is rarely a realistic or desirable option.
Instead, the challenge is finding ways to protect communities while preserving the deep relationships between people and place.
Climate scientists have long warned that extreme weather events are likely to become more frequent and more severe.
What is becoming increasingly clear is that the financial consequences of those events are already being felt.
Insurance may once have been viewed as a routine operating cost.
Today, it is emerging as one of the most significant climate adaptation issues facing marae across Aotearoa.
The conversation about climate change often focuses on carbon emissions, renewable energy and rising sea levels.
But for many whānau, the hidden cost is measured differently.
It is measured in whether the marae can afford next year’s insurance bill.
Whether the wharenui can still stand after the next flood.
And whether future generations will continue to have a place where their whakapapa, tikanga and identity remain firmly grounded in the whenua of their ancestors.
For Māori communities, climate resilience is about far more than protecting buildings.
It is about protecting the heart of the community itself.
#Tags:
#RadioWaatea #WaateaNews #TeKaupapa #ClimateChange #Marae #Whānau #Kaitiakitanga #Insurance #ClimateResilience #MāoriCommunities #ExtremeWeather #CycloneGabrielle #TeAoMāori #Hapū #Iwi #Whenua #Environment #DisasterPreparedness #ClimateAdaptation #Aotearoa #CommunityResilience
