Rt Hon James Bolger appointed as Chair of the Community Assessment Panel (CAP)
Former NZ Prime Minister and Waikanae resident, Rt Hon James Bolger ONZ PC, has been appointed as Chair of the Community Assessment Panel (CAP) set up to support Takutai Kāpiti, a community-led coastal adaption project. The CAP will be a group of people from Tangata Whenua and the local community.
It will act as the formal mechanism through which wider community input, indigenous knowledge and technical expertise are used to develop coastal adaption options for the Kāpiti Coast District Council to consider. Kāpiti Coast District Mayor K Gurunathan congratulated Mr Bolger on his appointment and thanked members of the Co-design Working Group whose recommendations led to the establishment of the CAP. “I welcome the opportunity to have such a distinguished member of our community lead this very important work. “It will bring together our Tiriti partners and the Kāpiti community to start planning our response to climate change,” Mayor Gurunathan says.
Mr Bolger says solutions must be developed. “As a Kāpiti Coast local I am pleased to chair the Panel that will recommend coastal adaptation options for Councils consideration. “The aim is to protect our coastal neighbours and ratepayers’ dollars from the inevitable cost of responding to climate change and rising sea levels. “No one is suggesting that there are easy solutions, but they must be developed as the tide will come whether we are ready or not,” Mr Bolger says.
The CAP will meet regularly over a 12-month period to consider coastal hazards and the risks they represent, review a range of adaptation options, and assess these against cultural, social, and economic impacts.
Recruitment for CAP members is currently underway and closes on Wednesday 5th May 2021.