Te Urunga o Kea spokesperson Nicki Douglas (right) and Te Arawa River Iwi Trust chief executive Eugene Berryman-Kamp, are among dozens of the group's members listed on the submission. Photo / File
Te Urunga o Kea spokesperson Nicki Douglas (right) and Te Arawa River Iwi Trust chief executive Eugene Berryman-Kamp, are among dozens of the group's members listed on the submission. Photo / File
Ensuring the survival of Te Arawa's ancestral line is at the heart of a 12-page submission on the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill.
The Environment Select Committee has published the Te Arawa Climate Change Working Group - Te Urunga o Kea's submission online.
It received 10,000 submissions on the bill and has held two hearings so far.
At the next hearing tomorrow,Transpower, Beef and Lamb NZ, Federated Farmers, the Fertiliser Association of New Zealand, Ballance Agri-Nutrients Limited, the Environmental Defence Society and Greenpeace will speak.
Te Urunga o Kea was established last year to reflect iwi members' concerns.
Spokeswoman Nicki Douglas and Te Arawa River Iwi Trust chief executive Eugene Berryman-Kamp, are among dozens of the group's members listed on the submission.
It said, "we can liken the challenge of climate change to the journey of the Te Arawa waka; an impending crisis affecting our way of life is upon us and we must seek a new way of life".
It said the impacts of climate change would include significant weather events threatening infrastructures such as marae and wharekai, extreme seasonal variations affecting the life cycles of taonga species and crops for kai and erosion causing loss of land.
It also said the legislation needed to explicitly reference Te Tiriti o Waitangi, so Māori leaders were included when climate change mitigation and adaptation decisions were made.
The submission said the legislation also "needed to be strengthened for Māori health, wellbeing, and health equity" and that Government, the minister, and the Climate Change Commission must ensure "all that is necessary is done to meet the emissions target, deliver and adaptation plan and undertake the required risk assessment".
The working group has asked to also voice the submission at a hearing, where it can elaborate and answer questions from the committee.
Minister for Climate Change James Shaw is the MP in charge of the bill, and its first reading was on May 21.
Currently, it focuses on a "split target".
By 2050, the goal is for all greenhouse emissions - aside from biogenic methane from livestock- to be reduced to net zero.
It commits to reducing biogenic methane emissions to 10 per cent below the 2017 levels by 2030, and to between 24-47 per cent below the 2017 levels, by 2050.
Minister for Climate Change James Shaw. Photo / File
This means there will need to be significant changes to New Zealand's agriculture sector if the target is to be met.
It also seeks to establish a Climate Change Commission to help Government set ways of meeting the targets.
The committee's report on submissions is due on October 21.
