**2.3 Asset protection**

Shallow landslides can be very damaging to pasture, farm tracks, drainage channels, fences, and possibly buildings. Stock losses may also occur, though the financial costs are much higher for infrastructure. Public assets such as roadways, bridges, and communication infrastructure are also threatened by severe slope erosion. Our warming climate has increased the risk of tropical weather systems reaching New Zealand. Cyclone Gabrielle devastated parts of northern and eastern North Island in February 2023, transferring large volumes of silt and water from hills to valley floors, destroying homes and livelihoods, and severely disrupting infrastructure. It was preceded by a tropical rainstorm just two weeks prior and saturated soils from an unusually wet spring and summer.
