Duration of activity, event or resource use

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Consider the period over which the decision will have effect. Climate change should be considered if the effects of the decision will last 30 years or more. Local government decisions have a range of implications in terms of time horizons. For example:

• Approval for a new development area or a coastal reclamation is effectively permanent.
• A building consent assumes new structures have a life of 50 years but many structures are intended to, or do, last much longer.
• Infrastructure decisions generally assume a 50 to 80-year life, but some can be designed to be built on a staged basis to provide extra capacity in response to climate change over time.
• Decisions on structures in rivers, most coastal structures, and infrastructure that involves regional council consents, have a term of 35 years or less, but in reality their lifetime may be much longer (e.g. significant bridges). Some should be recognised as near-permanent.
• Decisions on land care, biodiversity and pest management strategies may be in the context of a three, five or 10-year strategy, but some decisions may have enduring consequences so a long-term view may be appropriate.

Example

Tasman District's Resource Management Plan limits forest planting in the headwaters of specified catchments to protect aquifer recharge for water supply in horticulture areas downstream. Climate change scenarios were omitted from the studies that led to the provisions because of the lack of reliable relevant information at the time and because the 30-year tree harvesting cycle would allow provisions to be modified as climate change information improved.