Coastal scientist to work with community on resilience for beaches
Published on 28 February 2022
Kai Iwi Beach
In coming months Whanganui District Council will work with the community to develop a draft coastal action plan to make Castlecliff and Kai Iwi beaches more resilient in the face of climate change.
The key challenges these beaches face include erosion, significant natural sand movement and ecological degradation.
Council policy analyst, Rebecca Dobbin, who recently graduated from Victoria University with a Bachelor of Science majoring in Ecology and Biodiversity and a Masters of Climate Change Science and Policy, will support coastal scientist, Jim Dahm, to work with the community to build the plan.
They will begin by talking with key stakeholders from March.
“These conversations will help us build the draft coastal action plan,” Rebecca Dobbin says, “which will go out to the wider Whanganui community for feedback from April.”
Jim Dahm, who has over 30 years’ experience in managing coastal erosion, says he thoroughly enjoys “the kind of work going on in Whanganui because it’s all about helping empower the community to make good decisions for their beaches.
“Both Castlecliff and Kai Iwi are well-loved beaches and there’s a lot of local enthusiasm and energy around looking after them.
“A large part of my role is simply to distil specialist technical knowledge so people understand the natural processes going on at the coast, the options for addressing climate change at these locations, and the pros and cons of each option. That has to be integrated with the local knowledge and expertise of the community to ensure the values that are important to people are protected. Specialist knowledge is critical but it is only part of the picture.”
Jim Dahm says he’s looking forward to hearing “what people love about their beaches, how they use them now, what’s important to them, and what they’d like to see enhanced”.
He says it’s important to move forward collaboratively to develop a specific action plan so what we’re doing in the short term fits with the community’s long-term goals for these beaches.
“When community consultation opens in April,” Jim Dahm says, “I’d encourage people to get involved and tell us their thoughts – this is about deciding how your favourite beaches are managed.”
Councillor Alan Taylor, who chairs the council’s Infrastructure, Climate Change and Emergency Management Committee, says the coastal action plan is “a real and promising step toward protecting our unique coastal environment.
“Climate change – through rising sea-level, rapidly warming temperatures and more intense storms – and human activity are responsible for the global loss of 200 living species every day and our dynamic, beautiful and fragile coast is not immune from these irreversible losses.
“Eventually, because humans are an integral part of the total ecosystem, our survivability depends in no small way on the protection of such zones. This plan is a ‘must’ for Whanganui."