The Waitaki District Council could address climate change "explicitly" in its coming 2030 district plan.
In 48 pages of community feedback on its district plan review, released to the Otago Daily Times late last year, the term "climate change" appeared 19 times.
While submitters’ names were removed by the council when it provided the information, one submitter called for the issue to be addressed as an "individual topic" in the plan.
The district plan review engagement summary report, available online, noted "support for council to carefully plan for the effects of climate change and make this issue more explicit in the new plan".
In the discussion document used in the public consultation in August last year, climate change was listed as one of six "key issues" facing the district’s ecosystems and indigenous biodiversity.
Climate change "causing increased drought frequencies" would have an effect at all levels of the ecosystem, the discussion document stated.
"The key responses for the natural environment section are all good first steps but they are just that. 'Identify', 'investigate', 'consult', 'encourage' — these alone will not result in the [protection] listed in the key strategic issues area. The direction needs more emphasis on enforceable legal protection," another submitter wrote.
In its discussion document, the council said "Waitaki’s remaining indigenous biodiversity is fragmented and indigenous species continue to decline. A direct cause of indigenous biodiversity and habitat loss is vegetation clearance".
One submitter, who stated they were submitting on behalf of the Waitaki Branch of Forest & Bird, wrote "climate change will effect vulnerable species negatively" but that regeneration of forests could help reduce the effects of climate change.
The council said it received 34 responses to the discussion document summary flyer it deliver to letterboxes, 33 individual feedback forms and emails, 28 agency responses, 59 responses to its district plan review online survey and 151 responses to its housing amenity and preference survey after consultation on the discussion document closed last year.
The estimated $3.63 million district plan review will set rules for subdivisions, the protection of the environment and heritage, and urban development, as well as rules for land use in rural areas until 2030.