Ecotourism in New Zealand / Aotearoa

NZ Sustainability Practice in Ecotourism Adobe Acrobat Document: 1.97 MB, 4.9 minutes @ 56kbps A very brief snapshot of ecotourism in NZ / Aotearoa

In New Zealand / Aotearoa, we pride ourselves on how we are clean and green we are. How well are we doing really? Are we kidding ourselves? At what cost to our environment is the huge growth of the dairy industry? Are New Zealanders practicing what we preach... the world is asking questions as this youtube snippet shows where our prime minister is under the spotlight

There was a large research project carried out a number of years ago on the realities of New Zealand / Aotearoa environment and the New Zealand populations. Below is a PDF of a summary of the findings completed by Geoff Button. The data and information is directly taken from Statistics New Zealand's "Measuring New Zealand's Progress using a sustainable development approach" 2008

NZ State of the Nation Adobe Acrobat Document: 9.21 MB, 22.9 minutes @ 56kbps A summary of NZ environmental performance

Ecotourism is a very exciting industry and some argue that virtually all the tourism products in New Zealand, particularly the activities could be classed as ecotourism. 

There can be a label attached to this as a concept and it is associated with terms such as "Greenie" and "Tree Hugger" so many are turned off by it. In New Zealand there is a very strong environmental movement originating long ago but gaioned a lot of momentum with the proposal of the Manapouri Hydro Project of the 1970's. With this there has been a lot of activism over the years which has alienated many people. A challenge for New Zealand / Aotearoa society is to bridge that gap to encourage robust discussion on issues and have less emotive interactions. 

This is in no way a unique issue to New Zealand / Aotearoa but to practice what we preach as being 100% pure, we would do well to try to lead by example. Sustainability is about being economically, environmentally and socially sustainable... the last point (being socially sustainable) meaning many things but definitely to work out a way to work through issues and develop leglislation and processes which have the "real" issues in the foreground.

Here is some more resources for you to peruse to gain more insight as to our performance as a nation

Green Party website of parliament discussion

 TV3 Interview with Tim Grossar (a bit dated)

Opening keynote speaker of the New Zealand Tourism and Hospitality Research Conference, 24 November 2010, AUT University, Auckland. Kevin Bowler

100% Pure and Waituna Lagoon - Southland

Anna Thompson on 100% Pure NZ