Adapting for climate adaptation; how mana whenua and councils are innovating for more robust and just decisions making. A seminar by Janet Stephenson *ONLINE*

Date/Time
Date(s) - Mon 30 May
14:00 - 15:00


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Presented by Janet Stephenson
Adapting for Climate Adaptation – how mana whenua and councils are innovating for more robust and just decision-making, presented by Professor Janet Stephenson, Centre for Sustainability.

Climate change adaptation is an unprecedented challenge for governance and management decision-making for both mana whenua and local authorities.

Given the new demands it makes of all parties, it will involve multi-faceted organisational change, both internally (e.g. new skills, new funding and infrastructure decisions, new strategies) and externally (e.g. new forms of engagement, new collaborations, new partnerships).

We have been engaging with mana whenua organisations and regional and city councils in 3 regions of Aotearoa, and plan to track their innovations and experimentation with novel governance and management arrangements.

Using examples, I will outline their shared interest in robust and just decision-making in the face of current and ongoing uncertainties.

About the speaker
Janet is a research professor at the Centre for Sustainability, an interdisciplinary research centre at the University of Otago.

As a social scientist, her research interests include Indigenous relationships with the environment; the interconnections between people and their local environments; and the role of individuals and organisations in the transition to a sustainable future. She studies the role of culture as both a constraint and a positive force for transitioning to a low-carbon, sustainable future.

Much of her work in recent years has involved interdisciplinary research focused on socio-technical change in New Zealand’s energy sector, and on the challenges of climate change adaptation for kainga, communities and councils.

Streaming details
Zoom link: https://otago.zoom.us/j/6946879491
Password: 9491