Today at 10am, supporters of Climate Liberation Aotearoa staged a road blockade to draw attention to the climate crisis, however the road was already blocked and the protest was ruined by climate change fueled flooding.

Last year in September, leading NZ climate scientist Professor James Renwick was interviewed on Otago Access radio. He said “If we do nothing and we let the warming get to three or four degrees, well, that’s pretty much the end of civilisation and the end of the global economy.” Currently New Zealand is contributing to warming of greater than 4 degrees according to Climate Action Tracker[1] with policies and action classified as “Highly Insufficient”.

“People in our community are worried about their property and possessions as the water rises, and for this we raise the alarm. This is what climate change looks like - more frequent and severe weather, storms, and flooding,” said spokesperson Annabel Hankin.

“Right now as Dunedin residents have been evacuated there is another flood happening in Thailand[2] affecting 190,000 people and leaving 49 dead, in Northern Carolina USA[3] Hurricane Helene has taken 40 lives so far, and as of yet in 2024 there have been extreme floods in West and Central Africa[4] leaving 1,000 dead and hundreds of thousands of homes destroyed.

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“Meanwhile our government plans to make things worse with their fast track approvals bill and by reversing the ban on offshore oil and gas exploration. In doing so they are enabling more CO2 to be pumped into the atmosphere, which they know will contribute to more and more threatening and dangerous floods as a result of climate change.

“While concerned Dunedinites rally together and fill sandbags to save the properties of people in their community, we must remember that it is the current actions of Aotearoa New Zealand that are making these floods more severe and deadly. Climate change is here, now. We must act.” said Hankin.

Climate Liberation Aotearoa (CLA) is a direct action climate protest group which aims to reduce luxury transport emissions, starting with cruise ships. CLA requests that the government regulate the industry by; removing all subsidies, banning cruise ships from sensitive natural areas, and including international shipping and aviation in our emissions targets and reduction plan.

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