Latest news with #CoreyHebberd
Scoop
19-07-2025
- Science
- Scoop
‘Birthplace Of The Nation' Threatened By Climate Change
Article – RNZ One of New Zealand's oldest archaeological sites is at risk of rising sea levels, according to a new study. , Māori issues reporter The Wairau Bar, or Te Pokohiwi o Kupe in Marlborough, one of the oldest and most significant archaeological sites in New Zealand, is at risk of being flooded by rising sea levels, according to a new study. One of the study's co-authors Corey Hebberd, a descendant of local iwi Rangitāne o Wairau, said the site is important not only for Rangitāne, but for all of Aotearoa. 'Te Pokohiwi o Kupe is one of the earliest known human settlement sites in Aotearoa, it dates back to at least 1250. We regard it as the birthplace of the nation it was a landing site for some of our first settlers,' Hebberd said. 'The site itself holds a range of artefacts but also more importantly koiwi tangata, so ancestral remains, and for Rangitāne o Wairau it's a sacred wāhi tapu.' As New Zealand was one of the last places in the world to be settled, Te Pokohiwi o Kupe has a worldwide significance as the landing sight of some of those first settlers, he said. 'It tells a story that's important to us as Rangitāne, but also an important story for Aotearoa, but we think internationally as well,' Hebberd said. The Wairau Bar sits at the mouth of the Wairau River with the sea on one side and a lagoon on the other, leaving it susceptible to erosion on both sides, Hebberd said. Rangitāne worked in collaboration with NIWA to model flooding impacts in a one in 100 year storm event, he said. 'The current modelling shows that the site could be potentially susceptible to a one in 100 event and be 20 percent inundated, but, obviously, we know that's going to get worse as sea level rise takes place,' Hebberd said. 'We're expecting that around the 2050s, sea level will have risen by another half a meter, and when we start getting to that point those storm events start to inundate the site closer to 50 percent.' Even more concerning, as the sea level approaches a one meter sea level rise, which modelling shows will happen sometime between 2070 and 2130, approximately 75 percent of the site could be at risk, he said. 'For me, sometimes these threats, the talk of sea level rise and the talk of the storm impacts, it feels so far away, but we're actually starting to see it now,' Hebberd said. 'When we talk about a one meter sea level rise and 75 percent of the site being at risk, that's in my lifetime and that places a real burden and sense of responsibility on my generation.' We have a responsibility to make sure that the stories and the richness of the site isn't lost, he said. Recent heavy rains in the Nelson Tasman region have had a negative effect on the site, although it has escaped any major damage. But Hebberd said each major flooding event leads to further erosion. Protecting the most vulnerable parts of Te Pokohiwi o Kupe from storm events could involve soft engineering, he said. For example, by adding native plants to the bar to bind the soil together and prevent erosion. 'It's a really good opportunity for us to turn our minds to the policy and planning settings that we work within both locally and nationally,' Hebberd said. 'I mean this site is one of many, not only in our rohe, but nationally, that will be exposed to weather events and so we need to start thinking about how we take care of and protect them.' Hebberd said the collaboration between NIWA and Rangitāne weaved together mātauranga Māori and science. 'Our whānau were really supportive of the work that we did, our whānau were engaged throughout the research project, including contributing interviews, spending time with the research team around their experience of previous flooding events in the area.'
RNZ News
17-07-2025
- Science
- RNZ News
'Birthplace of the nation' threatened by climate change
Looking north across the Wairau Bar. Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee The Wairau Bar, or Te Pokohiwi o Kupe in Marlborough, one of the oldest and most significant archaeological sites in New Zealand, is at risk of being flooded by rising sea levels, according to a new study. One of the study's co-authors Corey Hebberd, a descendant of local iwi Rangitāne o Wairau, said the site is important not only for Rangitāne, but for all of Aotearoa. "Te Pokohiwi o Kupe is one of the earliest known human settlement sites in Aotearoa, it dates back to at least 1250. We regard it as the birthplace of the nation it was a landing site for some of our first settlers," Hebberd said. "The site itself holds a range of artefacts but also more importantly koiwi tangata, so ancestral remains, and for Rangitāne o Wairau it's a sacred wāhi tapu." As New Zealand was one of the last places in the world to be settled, Te Pokohiwi o Kupe has a worldwide significance as the landing sight of some of those first settlers, he said. "It tells a story that's important to us as Rangitāne, but also an important story for Aotearoa, but we think internationally as well," Hebberd said. The Wairau Bar sits at the mouth of the Wairau River with the sea on one side and a lagoon on the other, leaving it susceptible to erosion on both sides, Hebberd said. Rangitāne worked in collaboration with NIWA to model flooding impacts in a one in 100 year storm event, he said. "The current modelling shows that the site could be potentially susceptible to a one in 100 event and be 20 percent inundated, but, obviously, we know that's going to get worse as sea level rise takes place," Hebberd said. "We're expecting that around the 2050s, sea level will have risen by another half a meter, and when we start getting to that point those storm events start to inundate the site closer to 50 percent." Even more concerning, as the sea level approaches a one meter sea level rise, which modelling shows will happen sometime between 2070 and 2130, approximately 75 percent of the site could be at risk, he said. "For me, sometimes these threats, the talk of sea level rise and the talk of the storm impacts, it feels so far away, but we're actually starting to see it now," Hebberd said. "When we talk about a one meter sea level rise and 75 percent of the site being at risk, that's in my lifetime and that places a real burden and sense of responsibility on my generation." We have a responsibility to make sure that the stories and the richness of the site isn't lost, he said. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone Recent heavy rains in the Nelson Tasman region have had a negative effect on the site, although it has escaped any major damage. But Hebberd said each major flooding event leads to further erosion. Protecting the most vulnerable parts of Te Pokohiwi o Kupe from storm events could involve soft engineering, he said. For example, by adding native plants to the bar to bind the soil together and prevent erosion. "It's a really good opportunity for us to turn our minds to the policy and planning settings that we work within both locally and nationally," Hebberd said. "I mean this site is one of many, not only in our rohe, but nationally, that will be exposed to weather events and so we need to start thinking about how we take care of and protect them." Hebberd said the collaboration between NIWA and Rangitāne weaved together mātauranga Māori and science. "Our whānau were really supportive of the work that we did, our whānau were engaged throughout the research project, including contributing interviews, spending time with the research team around their experience of previous flooding events in the area." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
1News
10-07-2025
- Science
- 1News
Threat to one of NZ's oldest burial sites the 'canary in the coal mine'
One of New Zealand's earliest and most significant archaeological sites is at risk of rising sea levels driven by climate change, according to a new study. Referred to as the birthplace of the nation, the Wairau Bar, or Te Pokohiwi o Kupe, in the Marlborough region is widely regarded as the landing site of the first settlers from Polynesia. One of the study's authors Corey Hebberd of local Rangitāne o Wairau iwi told Breakfast that the site had been subject to science and research in the 1940s, despite protest from local iwi. He said it resulted in the remains of 60 tupuna and their associated taonga being uplifted 'in the name of research' by the then Dominion Museum. Only in relatively recent times were they repatriated and returned to the Wairau Bar for burial. 'So it's a significant site,' said Hebberd, 'not just for us as Rangitāne, not just for us as Māori, but for the country as that place of first settlement that links us to Hawaiki and serves as our first place of settlement". ADVERTISEMENT Now there are concerns around the impact of climate change on the site. Hebberd referred to recent weather events that have caused severe flooding to the top of the South Island. 'We seem to be having 1 in 100-year storm events every year. The site as we've found through the research project is susceptible to 1 in 100-year flooding events, and by that we mean that 20% of the site could be impacted, meaning disturbing of middens, of artefacts, of burial sites.' The more worrying concern, he said, is the threat from rising sea levels. The research suggests that approximately 54% of heritage land becomes affected by a 100-year storm inundation event with a 0.5 metre increase in sea level – likely to be reached between 2045 and 2060. The modelling also suggests that a 1 metre sea level rise is likely to be reached between 2070 and 2130, where approximately 75% of heritage land then becomes compromised by a 100-year storm inundation event. Alongside whānau, the iwi have been working closely with NIWA – which has newly merged with GNS Science to become Earth Sciences New Zealand – for the past couple of years. ADVERTISEMENT 'We've been modelling former storm events, we've been creating vulnerability maps, but we've also been engaging with our whānau to understand in their lifetime some of the memories that they have of the flooding impacts of the flooding events.' From their research they are developing a model that talks to the cultural impact the events have beyond the coastal and environmental. Corey Hebberd (Source: Breakfast) Hebberd said in some respects their findings have been alarming. 'You sometimes think that these things might not happen in your lifetime but, you know, the years that I've just rattled off, I'm a child of the 90s, those will happen in my lifetime and they become a real responsibility for my generation and generations to come.' He hopes the model they are working on will lead to further exploration and development of tools that can help mitigate the threat to the site. 'Like what are the soft engineering features that we can start to do, are there things that could slow down erosion, are there protections that we can put in place, what research can we do in the meantime to understand the area' ADVERTISEMENT 'There's also the opportunity for us to work together at a national level at a local level to put more protections in place. To raise profiles of sites like this to come up with national planning strategies that address these sites, because they are vulnerable and they are at risk of being lost and they tell so much story, and they tell so much about our national identity.' He describes the situation at Te Pokohiwi o Kupe as 'the canary in the coal mine', pointing to other low-lying sites of archaeological, as well as cultural, significance such as marae and urupā. 'What we're hoping here is that this research will help to develop a new tool that can inform policy and decision makers around some of the cultural impacts that this has around identity and so we can work together to come up with ways to minimise and mitigate the impact that these events have.'
