Our aim is to help make New Zealand more resilient to natural disasters; to lessen their impact and enable better recovery when they occur.
New Zealand is highly exposed to the natural forces that have shaped our beautiful landscapes. Each year we are jolted by earthquakes, battered by storms and tornadoes, and inundated by floods. We also see our coastlines erode and hills slip, and we are potentially exposed to eruptions and tsunamis.
These events significantly impact the prosperity and wellbeing of our communities. The Canterbury earthquakes showed the extreme degree to which this can occur, and why, as a nation, we need to invest more in building our resilience to natural disasters.
This is why we created Resilient New Zealand: to identify, champion and advocate ways to help make New Zealand more resilient to natural disasters: both to lessen their impact and enable better recovery when they occur.
Using lessons from Canterbury to improve how business contribue to New Zealand's ability to recoverfrom natural disasters.
Businesses are an integral part of our communities and have important roles in building New Zealand’s resilience to natural disasters and enabling recovery when they strike.
We believe the way in which businesses fulfil these roles can be improved. They are in a unique position to strengthen the foundations of resilience and recovery through changing their own practices, working with other organisations, influencing public policy and altering public expectations.
The recovery from the Canterbury earthquakes presented an important opportunity to understand how to do this; to identify and advocate for ways to improve how businesses contribute to New Zealand’s resilience and ability to recover from natural disasters.
Improving the role of business in recovery is Resilient New Zealand’s first project and looks at how businesses can:
Our report Contributing More: Improving the role of business in recovery is a starting point for change, and outlines how businesses, central and local government, and industry and community associations can work together to achieve this.
Improving the role of business in recovery
New Zealand is prone to the uncertain and catastrophic potential of natural hazards to impact our homes, businesses and communities. Our ability to recover when disaster strikes is vital to our prosperity and wellbeing.
Successfully recovery from natural disaster requires enabling businesses to survive and work with other organisations to contribute more to the recovery of their communities.
Drawing on discussions with more than 50 business, central and local government, and community leaders involved in the Canterbury earthquake recovery, Contributing More highlights a number of lessons on business resilience, leadership in recovery and collaboration. It also includes recommendations to both the public and private sector on how they can help facilitate businesses contributing more to future natural disaster recoveries.
The report includes important steps businesses can take to ensure they not only survive natural disasters, but thrive and contribute their considerable skills, experience and resources to wider community recovery. It encourages businesses to be proactive, reduce their risks, and build networks that will enable collaboration opportunities. In addition, it recommends updating central and local government frameworks in order to unlock and make best use of the contributions of businesses
Findings on helping businesses to improve their own resilience.
If businesses don’t survive, they can’t contribute. Functioning businesses are critical to the economy and recovery through providing and consuming goods and services, employing people, paying tax and contributing to their local communities.
In considering business resilience, Resilient New Zealand has looked for some simple and practical lessons to help businesses improve their own disaster preparedness, as well as contribute to wider community resilience. Our focus was on:
Our report Contributing More makes the following observations about the general nature of resilience and the characteristics of resilient organisations:
Also contained are the following lessons for businesses looking to improve their resilience:
These findings and lessons underpin the recommendations we make in Contributing More that focus on steps businesses can take to ensure they not only survive natural disasters but thrive and are able to contribute their considerable skills, experience and resources to wider community recovery.
Findings on helping businesses play a greater leadership role in recovery.
The leadership of recovery can come from many places in the community. There is a strong belief that businesses can take a leadership role, both through the recovery of their own organisations and their contribution to wider community recovery.
In considering leadership, Resilient New Zealand has looked for ways for the business community to improve how it can help lead recovery. This included:
Our report Contributing More makes the following observations about the general approach to leadership in a recovery:
Also contained are the following ways to improve recovery leadership:
There is an opportunity to use these lessons to provide the right environment for businesses to contribute before and after future disasters. These lessons underpin the recommendations we make in Contributing More that focus on steps businesses and central and local government can take to unlock and make best use of the contributions that businesses can make to wider community recovery.
Findings on helping businesses collaborate with others to better enable recovery.
We know that businesses can make a major contribution to recovery but there is not always a clear understanding of the different roles they can play and how they can best collaborate with other sectors of the community.
In considering collaboration, Resilient New Zealand has looked for ways to improve how businesses can work with all sectors involved in recovery, such as central and local government, NGOs and communities. This included:
Our report Contributing More makes the following observations about post-disaster collaborations:
Contributing More recognises the following ways to enable successful collaborations in a recovery:
There is an opportunity for businesses to lay the foundations for future collaborations before disaster strikes. These lessons underpin the recommendations in Contributing More that focus on steps businesses and central and local government can take to build networks that will enable greater collaboration in support of business and wider community recovery.
Recommendations to improve the role of business in recovery
New Zealand needs to create an environment in which businesses are proactive in becoming more resilient and, when disaster strikes, contributing to the recovery of their communities.
Resilient New Zealand encourages businesses to embed resilience in their existing planning structures and practices, so they are better able to contribute to recovery. We want to ensure that businesses are also working with central and local government to develop governance frameworks that enable the capabilities, resources and people of businesses to be better utilised in a recovery.
Our report Contributing More makes the following recommendations:
