Research methodology frames the way data is collected, analysed, presented and ultimately interpreted and understood. Various research methods including case study based on Narrative Policy Analysis, participant observation, key informant interviews, document analysis and a review of relevant policies, plans and ‘grey literature’ have been deployed. Narrative Policy Analysis provides the conceptual framework for constructing interviews and guidance literature as narratives and for data analysis. Narratives were then used to assess the relevance and applicability of guidance literature.
As much as an awareness of the advantages of chosen methodology is crucial, it is equally important to be aware of possible constraints and limitations. One difficulty in this process – as would be the case with any qualitative data analysis – was to decide which information and insights to include and which to exclude. While the focus of the research framed the information / insights of relevance it is also important to note that every story has a setting, making an understanding of the context essential albeit complicating what to include or exclude. Ideally, Glaser & Strauss (1999) assert, all data should be accounted for. Unfortunately this is not practical due to the fact that there are parts of interviews that are simply not relevant or not useable. Burnard (1991) highlights that uncodable pieces of transcript interestingly only appear unusable at the analysis stage, whereas during the interview what was said appeared to make perfect sense. An example of interview data that was not included is: “If it was this way or that way or maybe completely different, if you know what I mean”.
A further difficulty when dealing with such ‘personal’ data as insights and experiences is finding an answer to the question of how acceptable it is to compare one person’s insights with that of another person? This is particularly challenging
when dealing with an inherently complicated and complex issue such as climate change, due to its mix of certainty and uncertainty and the resulting controversy. Documenting insights and understandings seems, on the surface, relatively straightforward with the methods established in the social sciences. Case study represents an entire ‘tool box’ of a wide range of different ‘tools’ that can be used to conduct research. Analysing and presenting the findings is the next step. The challenge here lies in the interpretation of the data collected. Presenting insights discloses observations but not necessarily understandings. The narratives are regarded as part of a ‘system of knowledge’, a point of origin different to ‘facts’. The difference between knowledge systems and facts, as fittingly described by Huntington (2002), is akin to the difference between anatomy and physiology – knowing the parts does not tell you how they function and interact with each other in a living organism. It was found that the best way to do the variety of opinions and insights justice is to present them in accordance with the five ‘key themes’ in Chapter Four. A further constraining factor was the ‘tight’ time frame of this research coupled with limited funding.
The following Chapter Four presents the narratives of the local key informants interviewed for this research. A discussion of the role of New Zealand’s climate change guidance narrative against the background of local narratives sets the scene for juxtaposition with international guidance narratives discussed in depth in Chapter Five.
CHAPTER FOUR
A COASTAL COMMUNITY CASE STUDY FOR TE PURU
The community of Te Puru, 12km north of Thames on the western side of the Coromandel Peninsula is bordered by the sea to the west and steep catchments to the east. The only road connecting the community, the Thames Coast Road, now takes traffic over a newly (2010) constructed bridge built to protect the community from one in one hundred year storm events. The low lying plain consisting of accumulated sediment at the stream mouth offers the only suitable land for settlement, despite creating a vulnerability to floods generated by short bursts of high intensity rainfall coupled with unstable streams which are easily clogged due to high sediment loads (EW, 2009). The biggest impact resulting from climate change in New Zealand is an increase in floods and droughts (MFE, 2001). If global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions continue to be poor, high intensity weather events are expected to increase (NIWA, 2009) with a large potential growth in vulnerability and a dramatic increase in risk unless adaptive measures are taken (IPCC, 2000; NIWA, 2007). Projected sea-level rise of at least 18-59cm by 2090 (IPCC, 2007a) poses a further threat to the low lying areas of the community.
While the Te Puru area itself appears to be an ideal area for a settlement, sheltered and easily defendable, all initial Māori settlement (around AD 1600) was confined to a Pā16 (‘Te Aputa’) on a hill that was not exposed to flooding or the prospects of sea- level rise. The fertile low lying land was only used for growing crops (Kopecky, 2002).
Figure 4.1: Location of the Te Puru community in relation to the North Island of New Zealand (© Terralink International (NZ) Ltd).
Coastal and flood hazards pose a significant challenge for the settlement. Lifeline infrastructure is vulnerable as it is located along the narrow coastal edge. According to ARC (2004) the type of landform Te Puru was built upon may be substantially reworked in the process of coastal erosion and over 70% of all beachfront development is setback less that 100m from the sea. “At the last perigean17
17
A perigean spring tide is when the moon is closest to the Earth during the spring tide and produces even higher than normal spring tides. Perigean Spring tides can produce high magnitude flooding
Scale: 1:5500 @ A3
tide...the water was up to the tar seal down by the [Thames] wharf. It was just a calm normal day with no wind. It makes you realise that you’re operating within very fine lines” (Civil Defence Management, 2010).
Since the 1960’s the Coromandel Peninsula with communities like Te Puru has attracted development and holiday makers fuelled by the growth of Auckland and Hamilton and the expansion of their commercial activities (M. King, 1993). This is highlighted in Figure 4.2 in a photographic comparison between the Te Puru community in the early 1930’s and today. Furthermore, Russek (2010, pers. comm.) points out that the Coromandel is “perceived being a playground for Auckland and Hamilton”, underscoring the development pressure on small coastal communities. Local narratives are indispensable when researching the effects of climate change and gauging the adequacy and meaningfulness of guidance narratives. This is the level where lives are lived and stories told thus providing the raison d’être for policy narratives. As discussed in Chapter Three, local narratives and guidance narratives are in a way complementary. Guidance narratives about how to adapt to climate change successfully need to be assessed against a backdrop of their local relevance and applicability.
Figure 4.2: A photographic comparison: Te Puru today (top) and in the early 1930’s (bottom) (photo: Civil Defence, Thames).
This chapter features an overview of stories and insights into the local relevance of climate change adaptation thus clearing the way for a juxtapositioning with national and international guidance narratives. The following six sections provide vivid stories of community members potentially affected by projected changes in climate, professionals from the public and private sector, as well as people with local and TEK thereby articulating local perceptions of the nature of climate change and barriers to
and opportunities for adaptation. Successful adaptation guidance efforts must, arguably, be informed by international ‘best practice’ and include local narratives. The following sections highlight the essential relationship between local and guidance narratives in meaningful climate change adaptation. A ‘bottom-up’ approach providing insight into local perceptions against the background of guidance narratives (presented in Chapter Five) can support cognisance about the adequacy of adaptation guidance.