Climate Action Joint Committee
Climate change calls for leadership at a local and regional level. Horizons is a signatory to the Local Government Leaders’ Climate Change Declaration, as well as a Memorandum of Understanding with other councils in our region. These documents commit us to working together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve resilience to the effects of a changing climate.
We have established a Climate Action Joint Committee with representation from each of the region’s eight councils and eight tangata whenua representatives. This a milestone both in our response to climate change and in our partnership with iwi/Māori. Māori perspectives have enriched deliberations and improve decision making.
Joint Climate Action Plan
The Climate Action Joint Committee developed then adopted the Joint Climate Action Plan in 2023. This plan is about understanding how we will respond to climate change in the Manawatū-Whanganui region and working together to reduce potential harm.
This action plan draws on both Māori and Western worldviews to work together in response to climate change. It is an action plan that embraces Te Ao Māori and views the complex issues through the lens of our relationship with the environment. Te Taiao must be healthy for communities to thrive, therefore action to restore balance that traverses the environmental, cultural, social and economic realms, is urgent and critical.
The committee acknowledges the authority of individual Iwi and Hapū, and the importance of Te Tiriti o Waitangi principles in relationships between councils and tangata whenua. These include partnership, reciprocity, autonomy, active protection, and equal treatment.
Councils have made progress reports to the Committee every six months since the plan was released on the actions they have and are taking in response to the plan’s recommendations.
As part of their response, other councils have released climate action plans and strategies:
Horowhenua District Council Climate Action Plan: He Mahere Mahi Mō te Āhuarangi 2024
Palmerston North City Council: Climate Change and Sustainability Plan 2024-34