| 67 INFRASTRUCTURE Greater Wellington Regional Council Holistic approach to flood protection Richard Loader Greater Wellington’s Climate Resilience Programme forms part of the new thinking and is the first flood protection programme to explicitly incorporate broader outcomes through more than fourteen different initiatives. Historically, flood protection has been regarded as an engineering discipline, expressed by the development of infrastructure designed to protect the lives and assets of riverside and floodplain communities. While this remains at the core of flood protection, views are fast moving towards a more holistic approach that leverages the flood protection process to achieve broader social and community objectives. This new thinking is expressed in the Government’s Resilient River Communities Programme, which has provided funding for 55 flood protection projects spanning 14 different councils throughout New Zealand. While the programme is aimed at building community resilience to the threat of flooding and boosting the Covid economic recovery, it is much more than that. By working with central government agencies invested in developing regional economies, such as Kānoa – Regional Economic Development & Investment Unit, regional councils have been better equipped to achieve these greater outcomes. Greater Wellington’s Climate Resilience Programme forms part of this new thinking and is the first flood protection programme to explicitly incorporate these broader outcomes through more than fourteen different initiatives. Sharyn Westlake, Team Leader Flood Management Implementation Team, says that central to Greater Wellington’s approach is community wellbeing, and a number of the Regional Council’s main initiatives support the mental and physical wellness of workers for the main contractor, Mills Albert Limited (MAL), a local, Māori owned business from Kāpiti Coast. “MAL have been very enthusiastic about worker wellbeing, and through this programme of work Greater Wellington has enthusiastically provided the platform and financial support to develop ideas and initiatives to enable MAL to support their workers in new ways. Starting discussions around mental health is an essential step towards reducing the historical stigma around the topic. With MAL now focusing on mental wellbeing, they hope to influence culture change, which is especially important given the construction sector has the highest rates of suicide across Aotearoa New Zealand.” Sharyn says a third area of focus for broader outcomes is that of environmental benefit, “In this program, we have approached it with a different perspective: merging our environmental initiatives with cultural, tangata whenua-led initiatives.” which is a key element of Greater Wellington’s mandate. “In this program, we have approached it with a different perspective: merging our environmental initiatives with cultural, tangata whenua-led initiatives. Collaboration with Ngāti Toa has led to a rongoā garden (traditional Māori healing or medicinal system) being included in one of the projects. The plant selection and design has been carried out in partnership with Ngāti Toa as well as Greater Wellington’s consultants. It will be planted in a popular community park complete with information panels about the importance of rongoā, and members of the local iwi will be able to collect plants and teach their tamariki for generations to come.” Other projects include the restoration of a wetland area in the Wairarapa that has significance to iwi partners in the Wairarapa, and some 65,000 native plants will be planted at project sites along the Te Awa Kairangi / Hutt and Ruamāhanga rivers in an effort to restore local biodiversity and mitigate the flood protection program’s carbon emissions. Implementation of Government’s broader outcomes programme has brought with it new understanding and key lessons have been learned, says Sharyn. “In essence, to successfully support the community, you need to listen to its needs. Our role is to be the spark, the one who brings the encouragement, and then to let the community lead the ideas. They’re the ones that can grow the seeds and nurture them into the future. “Through this programme, Greater Wellington has been able to bring people together, forming relationships that we expect will continue into the future, even without us — which is the aim, creating sustainable, long-term benefits which are wider than those achieved by completion of engineering projects.” Proudly workingwith the Greater Wellington Regional Council’s Climate Resilience Programme Suppliers of quality aggregate across the Lower North Island WWW.HIROCK.CO.NZ Linton | Te Matai | Dannevirke | Pahiatua | Waipukurau
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