January 2018 was the hottest month in New Zealand since records began in 1909, with an average temperature across the country of 20.3°C. (Normally, says NIWA, it's 17.1°.) Clyde recorded the highest temperature of the month: 37.6°. As droughts and floods hit in equal measure, farmers find new ways and means of agriculture. But many are struggling to change as fast as the climate.


	The heat is on January 2018 was the hottest month in New Zealand since records began in 1909, with an average temperature across the country of 20.3°C. (Normally, says NIWA, it's 17.1°.) Clyde recorded the highest temperature of the month: 37.6°. As droughts and floods hit in equal measure, farmers find new ways and means of agriculture. But many are struggling to change as fast as the climate.


	2º from oblivion Two degrees. It’s not much. But many of New Zealand’s native species occupy precarious ecological perches under siege from the various armies of habitat destruction, invasive species and human exploitation. Now, over the next century, the climate will change 20 times more rapidly than in any other period in history.

Wildfire!

In November 2011, a fire on Northland’s Karikari Peninsula was blown out of control by high winds onto drought-stricken land. The recipe for a catastrophic inferno is always the same.

A climate for empathy

Some 9000 New Zealand homes stand less than 50 centimetres above the spring high tide. As seas rise, billions of dollars worth of property and infrastructure is at risk.


	Now you be the judge There is one prize still to be awarded in Photographer of the Year—the Panasonic People's Choice award. Cast your vote either at the exhibition at Auckland Museum, where all 65 finalists are now on display, or view the finalists on our website and vote online. Photo: Michelle Durrant