How climate change affects Tauranga Moana, its environment and its people is the topic of conversation tonight at Climate Change and Tauranga Moana, held at the Bongard Centre.
Tauranga Forest and Bird and the Tauranga Carbon Reduction Group are hosting a public forum on climate change and what it meansfor Tauranga.
A panel including James Low, Peter Jensen, Adelia Hallet, Ian McLean and Isobel Brun-Kaier will be able to answer questions on Tauranga residents' minds after watching Al Gore: The Case for Optimism on Climate Change.
Climate advocate Adelia Hallett said they would discuss things the Bay of Plenty region needs to be thinking about with climate change coming, including the impact on nature and how nature can help protect us against it.
Mrs Hallett lives in Northland and like the Bay of Plenty, the region had a lot of rain recently.
"Which came hard on the heels of a drought and with climate change we are going to get more than that. A lot more rainfall in the Bay but in intense bursts, rather than spread out which means more droughts and more floods."
Mrs Hallett said a good way to start combating the issue was to look after existing native forests and plant more trees, everywhere.
"If you have good forests in place, that helps control the way water is moved through the environment and help buffer against those droughts and floods.
"If rain falls on hard ground, it washes straight over it but if you have rain on a forest, scrub, any form of vegetation, the fall of the rain is broken, slowed down and the water slowly makes its way down through to the ground. It then slowly makes it way through the soil to the water table, then slowly to streams and out to sea which prevents floods.
"The more water filtering into the system for longer, the better."
The system helped protect nature too, she said.
Recently in Northland kiwi were seen out in the day time during the drought.
"They absorb water through their feeding, bugs contain water, when they put their beaks down into the litter of the forest to feed, that is how they hydrate. When the ground is hard and dry they can't get their beaks in. The ramifications on nature are terrible," she said.
To help start curbing climate changes, emissions needed to be cut and there were also things to be done on a local level.
Plant lots and lots of trees, she said.
Help look after your native forests and plant trees, shrubs and plants in your back yard.
Climate Change and Tauranga Moana will be held at the Bongard Centre from 6pm at 200 Cameron Rd. The evening is a free event.
