7 May 2019

Climate water policy warning: match science to decision making

From Nine To Noon, 9:09 am on 7 May 2019
The Waiho Bridge has been totally taken out by the raging floodwaters.

Damage to the Waiho Bridge, near Franz Josef on the West Coast, in March. Photo: Civil Defence West Coast

A visiting US climate expert is warning the biggest adaption we must make will be around our water infrastructure,  but what the decision makers do must match with what the science says.

Katharine Jacobs is Director of the Center for Climate Adaptation Science and Solutions (CCASS) at the University of Arizona. She directed the third National Climate Assessment in the United States and served in the White House under Barack Obama as lead advisor to the President's Science Advisor on water policy and climate adaptation.

She talks to Kathryn Ryan

Kathy Jacobs is in New Zealand to be the keynote speaker for the Deep South Challenge conference in Auckland.