March 28, 2023
Wakatu seeks partner for climate response
Organisations in Te Tau Ihu have partnered with the Danish climate resilience centre Lemvig Klimatorium in a bid to come to grips with some of the challenges ahead for the region and the country.
Miriana Stevens, a director of Nelson-based Wakatu Incorporation, says as part of its 500-year plan the incorporation looked for the places and people who were world-leading on issues like climate change.
It found some of that thinking coming out of Denmark, which like Aotearoa is a country surrounded by sea.
It has also set itself a national goal of being free of fossil fuel by 2050, and it has access to investment and research funding to make it happen.
“Central Denmark and that’s our partner, Lemvig, were given money to set up a klimatorium and in simple terms that’s a climate change centre where business, researchers, communities and central and local government come together to solve the big challenge for their country and climate change,” she says.
Wakatu, Ngāti Rārua Te Ātiawa Iwi Trust and Nelson City Council supported the opening of the Klimatorium virtually, and they have worked with it to develop projects and way they can work together.