Interpretation New Zealand

Nau mai

This month we consider progress on NZ Inc’s drive towards sustainability.

One of the key drivers of wider sustainability goals is Tourism Aotearoa. Their most recent goals focus on four aspects: Visitor – Deliver outstanding visitor experiences Community – New Zealanders are welcoming hosts Environment – Aotearoa is enhanced by tourism Economic – Grow tourism’s contribution to New Zealand’s economy

“Since its release 18 months ago of the New Zealand Tourism Sustainability Commitment, now has more than 1000 tourism businesses signed up. Last year TIA and six other New Zealand organisations launched Tiaki – Care for New Zealand, an initiative that actively encourages international and domestic travellers to act as guardians of Aotearoa.”  

Of course Tourism Aotearoa champions these achievements. However a close look at their performance suggests there is still a long way to go with the goal of minimizing tourism’s environmental footprint falling by 7%. Smaller falls are recorded in sustainable growth and community satisfaction. Overall the tourism industry’s scorecard sits at 8.1, well short of the 9.4 goal for 2025.

A quick look at the Ministry of Environments, Environment Aotearoa 2019, is sad reading. Key findings include:

Issue 1: Our native plants, animals, and ecosystems are under threat Issue 2: Changes to the vegetation on our land are degrading the soil and water Issue 3: Urban growth is reducing versatile land and native biodiversity Issue 4: Our waterways are polluted in farming areas Issue 5: Our environment is polluted in urban areas Issue 6: Taking water changes flows which affects our freshwater ecosystems Issue 7: The way we fish is affecting the health of our ocean environment Issue 8: New Zealand has high greenhouse gas emissions per person Issue 9: Climate change is already affecting Aotearoa New Zealand

And then we need to consider the this years UN Report. Its short and blunt stating “the most comprehensive and rigorous assessment on the state of the environment completed by the UN in the last five years has been published , warning that damage to the planet is so dire that people’s health will be increasingly threatened unless urgent action is taken.

The report, which was produced by 250 scientists and experts from more than 70 countries, says that either we drastically scale up environmental protections, or cities and regions in Asia, the Middle East and Africa could see millions of premature deaths by mid-century. It also warns that pollutants in our freshwater systems will see anti-microbial resistance become a major cause of death by 2050 and endocrine disruptors impact male and female fertility, as well as child neurodevelopment.

We could go on…..the point is we have all been here before. These issues are not new they have all been raised before, in fact since the late 1990’s.

New Zealand’s tourism industry was a world leader in the late 1990’s with the introduction of Green Globe 21, an environmental programme based on certified continual environment improvement. That was until political interference in the shape of Tourism New Zealand’s Qualmark programme, and poor leadership from Tourism Aotearoa’s predecessor (TIANZ) sunk this initiative.

Check this report out from 2004 in which Lincoln University questions:


How Clean and Green is New Zealand Tourism? Lifecycle and Future Environmental Impacts.

We have a lot to do and not a lot of time in which to do achieve real gains.
Nga mihi

Malcolm