This report in Stuff, a news portal in New Zealand, covers local environmentalist Tom Kay’s presentation to government officials “about the importance of rethinking natural disaster mitigation” in light of “a series of devastating floods” over the past five years.
It raises concerns about “the country’s preoccupation with draining” wetlands having a direct correlation to increased flooding as wetlands “act as buffer zones, or sponges.”
Straightening rivers and lining them with stopbanks are said to have “proven disastrous for wildlife and humans alike” as river straightening has destroyed “natural habitats for many fish species” and stopbanks “ultimately elevate water levels above the floodplain.”
Deforestation, which causes “more water to flow off hillsides,” combined with all the above factors, “has created the perfect storm” resulting in more frequent and more devastating floods, the report argues.
Read the full article here.
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