Rising Sea Levels and Erosion Threaten NZ Coastal Communities

Climate change creates more storms, intense rain events, winds, waves, rising sea levels, and floods that can lead to coastal erosion.

Coastal erosion can wash away beach sands and seaside cliffs, shrink beaches, and threaten homes and infrastructure, such as roads and pipes, to tides and the sea (Climate Adaptation, 2024).

New Zealand is already affected by climate change. The country’s average temperature has risen to 1.1˚C since 1900. South Island glaciers are retreating, and the nation is recording fewer frost days (Climate Change, n.d.).

Bluecliffs is a coastal hamlet 6 kilometres from Tuatapere, a small rural town in Southland. Its cluster of 18 coastal homes faces a unique and precarious situation, sitting along the mouth of the Waiau River, which runs parallel to the sea below. 

In February 2024, Bluecliff’s inhabitants, consisting of under 20 permanent residents, have been placed under a State of Emergency over their fate after three meters of land has fallen into the sea. Heavy rains combined with the heavy swells from the ocean have caused the river levels to rise, accelerating the erosion (Kelly & Harding, 2024).

Five months after the meeting with the council, residents were left in limbo about what steps to take regarding the future. The Southland mayor, Rob Scott, has encouraged residents to make plans to move out of the area; however, this does not mean that residents should begin to look elsewhere right away. They need to start looking ahead.

“In the long term, when you look at the nature of what’s happening, that is the picture that people need to be starting to look at and be aware of,” Scott said.

Residents claim that the council is not providing solutions or monetary assistance but has told them they would help in other ways.

The NZ Herald reports Southland mayor Rob Scott saying there had been no change in the situation at Bluecliffs, but monitoring was still being undertaken. He adds that the council had offered property owners practical assistance to investigate buying adjoining land, but there was little support from the residents.

“We understand the property owners’ concerns and appreciate that they are in a difficult position, but other than the assistance that has already been offered, there is little more that we as a council can do” (Rosenberg, 2024).

It notes the council is in regular contact with some residents, but no financial assistance has been offered. The lack of financial assistance from the council and the fact that they cannot sell their property firmed up some residents’ decision to stay for as long as possible.

Uli Sirch has lived on Bluecliffs Beach for about 30 years and runs a honey business from her property. “Nobody would buy it (my house) in their right mind because the threat is right there, and nothing has been fixed,” she said.

The country’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) projects that 2100 sea levels may rise to a meter. Rising sea levels and subsequent coastal erosions will threaten coastal communities nationwide. Two-thirds of New Zealanders live within 5 km of the coast, so sea-level rise will directly affect them (Climate change, 2024)