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Many marae are built near waterways or coastal areas, placing them in a vulnerable position to the impacts of climate change. A new research project aims to map risks, understand challenges, and co-create solutions with whānau and hapū to adapt and protect their marae for future generations.

With flooding, landslides, wildfire, and rising sea levels projected to become more frequent and severe, it is estimated that between 30-50% of all marae across Aotearoa are likely to be significantly impacted by climate change.

It is time for urgent decision-making. However, whether to remain or relocate is a difficult choice for komiti marae (marae committees) and marae trusts. Marae and wharenui (meeting houses) are more than buildings, they are a stronghold for iwi and Māori cultural identity, a connection to whenua (land) and whakapapa (genealogy).

Starting in July 2022, the Climate Change Impacts on Marae research project is the first nationwide survey of all marae. The BRANZ levy-funded project is led the Build Back Better team, and in partnership with iwi and marae.

If you would like to know more, just reach out.

The 2010/2011 Canterbury earthquakes were one of the most devastating events in Aotearoa’s history. Due to the large scale of disruption and losses, central government created a separate body, the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA), to manage and oversee recovery activities.

Working with local authorities and stakeholders, CERA played a major role in driving the recovery in Ōtautahi, Christchurch. This paper aims to analyse CERA’s decision-making process and the effects of some of its critical decisions on the recovery outcomes.

The team conducted a Build Back Better analysis of the Recovery effort to understand the decisions taken and processes used. Click here to read the ‘Post-disaster reconstruction in Ōtautahi, Christchurch: a build back better perspective’

The need for a Post-Disaster Recovery framework has never been more critical in the face of increased risk and threats we are facing due to climate change and natural disasters. A successful post-disaster recovery framework address rehabilitation of physical structures and the psychological, social, and economic recovery of communities, making it a holistic approach.

In 2016 a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Kaikoura, a small tourism-based town on the east coast of New Zealand’s South Island. The event caused 80,00 landslides, damaged buildings, injured 50 people, and killed two people.

The Build Back Better Framework was used as a guide to evaluate the psycho-social and economic recovery aspects in Kaikoura, New Zealand following the 2016 earthquake.

Click here to read the ‘Evaluating socio-economic recovery as part of building back better in Kaikoura, New Zealand’.

The team led the Urban Theme in Phase 1 of the Resilience Challenge that ran between 2014 – 2019 that sought to tackle key challenges in natural hazard resilience.

Click here to read the ‘Building Urban Resilience in New Zealand: Lessons from our major cities.

The 2009 ‘Black Saturday’ Victorian Bushfires was one of the worst bushfires in Australian history, sweeping through 78 communities, claiming 173 lives and destroying more than 430,000 hectares of land and 2,000 properties.

The Government and affected communities were faced with a large-scale rebuilding and recovery effort to restore the built environment and re-establish livelihoods. Our research team stepped in six months after the fires to conduct an extensive longitudinal case study of the recovery effort over five years. The study series used a Build Back Better lens to investigate recovery issues and critical recovery decisions made in short and medium-term recovery timeframes, and examined the longer-term outcomes as a result of these decisions.

Click here to read the ‘Build Back Better: Implementation in Victorian Bushfire Reconstruction’ paper.

The BBB Framework was used to assess the recovery of agricultural businesses affected by the 2014 conflict in Gaza, Palestine. The military assault on Gaza caused extensive damages to the agricultural sector. A rehabilitation project conducted by the Agricultural Development Association (PARC) and Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe (DKH) to strengthen the resilience of 310 households and their agribusinesses and fisheries provided a unique opportunity to test the applicability of the BBB Framework in a conflict situation, and understand how it can apply to a specific sector such as agriculture.

Click here to read the ‘Building Back Better in Gaza’ report

The Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004 was a unique multi-national disaster, devastating 14 countries and highlighting severe vulnerabilities in the affected communities. This disaster was a catalyst in bringing forth a strong motivation to use post-disaster reconstruction and recovery to not only restore communities, but address vulnerabilities and ‘build back better’ than before.

Sri Lanka was the second most affected country from the tsunami, following Indonesia. Thirteen districts along the Eastern and Southern coast of the country were impacted, with 35,322 lives lost and 516,150 people displaced. The Sri Lankan Government went into the reconstruction and recovery process with a philosophy of “Building Back Better” guiding their recovery strategy.

Click here to read the Build Back Better Lessons from Sri Lanka’s Recovery from the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.

Cyclone Winston impacted Fiji in February 2016, damaging and destroying 40,000 homes and 229 schools. The total damage from the storm amounted to FJ$2.98 billion.

In light of the severe devastation brought about by the cyclone, there is a need to better prepare for future hazards, particularly in the resilience of housing structures in developing countries.

This research project was commenced in 2016 to conduct a longitudinal study of recovering villages and communities in Fiji, to better understand the resilience of the housing stock in Fiji.

Click here to read the ‘Building back towards storm-resilient housing: Lessons from Fiji’s Cyclone Winston experience’.

Tropical Cyclone Pam devastated Vanuatu in March 2015. Vanuatu has also experienced a number of natural disasters such as cyclones, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes in the last few decades. The disaster events resulted in a scarcity of water as water supply systems and rainwater harvesting systems suffered from the impacts.

Port Vila (the Capital), Laonkarae village on Efate Island and a few villages on Tanna Island were chosen as study sites to investigate the status of water supply systems. This research visit highlighted the importance of social, organisational, and environmental factors in water system resilience.

Click here to read the ‘Social capacities in fostering water supply resilience in Vanuatu’.