Confronting Climate Change: Critical Issues for New Zealand

The debate on the science is over. Climate change is real; it is happening even faster than previously thought and it is powerfully influenced by human activities.

As events like Hurricane Katrina, the shrinking of ice-caps and the calamitous 2003 European heatwave remind us, climate change is not a future threat: it already profoundly affects the world we live in. Scientific evidence shows that dangerous climate change can only be averted through concerted global action –– not in 30 years’' time, but over the coming decade. Bold policies, informed public debate and decisive political leadership are critical, yet many countries, New Zealand among them, have been slow to act.

With contributions by more than 30 leading scientists and policy experts, from New Zealand and elsewhere, this book will increase public understanding about climate change and help to develop robust, effective policies. It presents the latest scientific evidence, examines the likely impacts of climate change on New Zealand and the Pacific, and outlines a range of policy solutions. It is based on a major Climate Change and Governance Conference held in Wellington in March 2006.

The overwhelming message is one of urgency, but also optimism: it is not too late to make a difference.

'This book drives home a strong message that climate change is real and happening at a cracking pace, even if US President George Bush would have us believe otherwise.'
INDEPENDENT FINANCIAL REVIEW

'It is hard to think of another area of science in which people who are not practitioners of that science get as dogmatic and heated as they do about the climate. There are, however, scientists who are entitled to be listened to on this matter, and several of them contributed to the conference and the book.' NZ HERALD