Re-Emerging Wetlands: Shaping Multifunctional Landscapes Through Integrated Flood Management Strategy

The Kapiti Coast is a unique cultural landscape, and while agriculturally-dominated, there are remnants of ecologically significant habitat along the coast that need to be protected. Moving forward, there are two major impacts that impose large-scale and influential change on landscape process and biodiversity: climate change and urban development. This compounded with current conflicts between the agricultural industry and natural water resources produces a slow release of complex issues that affect a wide range of land-uses and ecologies and negatively impact the growth and resilience of the Kapiti Coast. Moving toward planning the future of our rural landscapes, there is a need to shift toward a more multifunctional and resilient model that not only takes into considerations our movements and actions on the landscape, but also changes that occur within the landscape itself; climate change poses to accelerate these changes and exacerbate existing problems.