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conferenceseries LLC Ltd
6th World Congress on
Climate Change and Global Warming
April 24-25, 2019 | Vancouver, Canada
Find More Information @ April 2019 Conference Series LLC Ltd 18
Vulnerable: The quantum
of local government
infrastructure exposed to
sea level rise
Local government New Zealand
(LGNZ) released a report on
31 January 2019 measuring
the replacement value of local
government-owned infrastructure
exposed to sea level rise. The
report details the type, quantity
and replacement value of assets
at intervals of MHWS+0.5, 1,
1.5 and 3.0meters using LiDAR
and DEM analysis. Data is
drawn from a survey of 62 of
New Zealand’s coastal councils,
with a 97 percent response
rate. This is the first time that
a coordinated national analysis
- exclusive to local government-
owned infrastructure exposed to
the effects of sea level rise- has
been performed. LGNZ’s study
finds that the greatest amount
of vulnerability is in three glasses
of water infrastructure (storm,
sanitary and drinking) followed by
roading and buildings/facilities. In
total, more than$14billion of local
government-owned assets are
exposed at a 3.0meter increment
of sea level rise.LGNZ will use
the empirical evidence gathered
to create greater clarity about
the quantity, cost and location of
local government infrastructure
to premise discussions with
central government, businesses
and private property owners
about how to address impending
impacts. Additionally, LGNZ intends
to assist councils to fill identified
knowledge gaps and set in place a
process and procedure for future
analysis to deliver greater precision
in long- term adaptive asset and
investment planning. Importantly,
LGNZ’s report outlines a number of
recommendations for stakeholders
to better align with each other
to ensure long-term resilience of
essential infrastructure. At its core,
this analysis is about turning a
challenge into an opportunity.
Biography
Thomas Simonson moved to from the US to
New Zealand in August 2014 to joint LGNZ
as a Principal Advisor. He and has been a
portfolio manager and advocate in the areas
of climate change, housing, roading and
transport and local government funding, He
also has considerable experience in working in
the private sector with more than a decade of
experience in land planning and development
and five years as a consultant to the US
federal government in land and environmental
planning. Tom has Masters degrees from
California Polytechnic State University – San Luis
Obispo in City and Regional Planning and the
London School of Economics in International
Housing.
Thomas Simonson
Local Government New Zealand
New Zealand
JOURNAL OF EARTH SCIENCE & CLIMATIC CHANGE, 2019 VOLUME 10 | DOI: 10.4172/2157-7617-C1-055 KEYNOTE FORUM |DAY 1