Councillors at Environment Southland voted against declaring a climate emergency yesterday. Photos: Laura SmithEnvironment Southland has voted against joining other New Zealand councils in declaring a climate emergency. Council chairman Nicol Horrell said declaring a climate emergency would be a ''symbolic but empty gesture'' and ''we can't afford to devalue the word emergency''. Regarding the concern over the use of the word emergency, it was important to differentiate what was being proposed, which was a climate emergency, which was a ''very different from a state of emergency''. A state of emergency, he said, required automatic response while a climate emergency declaration did not.

Source: Otago Daily Times July 03, 2019 16:32 UTC