Towards an understanding of perceived risk of climate change and adaptive responses in the New Zealand wine industry

Abstract

Purpose/Aim. New Zealand’s wine industry is of great social- and economic importance to the country, worth over $1.7 billion per year (New Zealand Winegrowers, 2018). At the same time, it is an industry that is very vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Most research in New Zealand has focused on probabilistic and biophysical modelling of climate change under different scenarios of future change (Cradock-Henry et al., 2019b), and there has been limited research to understand how the wine industry receives, interprets, and acts on climate-related information, frames adaptation decisions or coordinates action. Little is understood about the potential for alteration in management practices to adequately cope with future changes, including the development and adoption of new varietals, changing location for vineyards, or upgrading infrastructure to cope with compressed harvests. Understanding growers’ and winemakers’ experience and perceptions of climate variability and change, and evaluating these against the risks from non-climatic, natural hazard or economic stressors, is urgently needed to support adaptation planning and secure the industry’s future. Climate change will not happen in isolation, rather, growers and wine makers must respond to multiple, interacting and compounding stressors, requiring innovative and practical solutions designed to reduce risk and enhance resilience. This research aims to establish a baseline, to determine the extent wine industry stakeholders in New Zealand perceive risks and opportunities of climate change, and their experience with these changes, and prospects for the future. We are interested also to explore whether differences exist by region, and by wine industry role (e.g. winemaker versus viticulturalist), or by length of involvement in the industry. Results provide the basis for longitudinal evaluation and further research on adaptation in the industry.