NZ communities and climate change: VULNERABILITY TO RISING SEAS AND MORE FREQUENT FLOODING
New Zealand, as with the rest of the world, is already experiencing the rst impacts of climate change (MfE & Stats NZ, 2017). For New Zealand’s low-lying coastal and inland settlements, sea level rise and the increased intensity of storm events will lead to more frequent ooding and ponding, higher groundwater levels, bigger storm surges, higher mean sea level, and erosion of susceptible coastlines. ese impacts are predicted to increase in severity over time