26 May 2010

Rural Women look to make rural communities resilient

6:50 am on 26 May 2010

Rural Women New Zealand is looking at ways to make rural communities resilient.

A panel discussion is being held at its annual conference in Oamaru on Wednesday to work out how to help these communities be sustainable in the future.

National president Margaret Chapman says rural communities are facing challenging times with extreme weather-related events and a financial downturn.

She said presenters from Canada, Australia, Wellington and Lincoln are talking about creating resilient rural communities and how to make sure they remain.

Floods around Oamaru have caused changes to the conference schedule.

A couple of speakers on Tuesday were unable to attend due to roads being closed in the area and they hope it does not affect proceedings on Wednesday.