Spring 2004: Ria Brejaart, Program Director
March 15, 2004
We have spent the first week of the South Island component of our academic program in Kaikoura. Kaikoura is the name of both the township and the peninsula on which it is located. The cold Antarctic current and warmer waters from the north converge off the coast of the peninsula. The continental shelf drops off steeply within 1000 metres offshore and the resulting upwelling of cold, nutrient-rich water from the south supports a large variety of marine mammals and pelagic birds. Dusky dolphins (Lagenorhynchus obscuris), fur seals (Arctocephalus forsteri) and several species of whales are commonly found offshore of Kaikoura.
During our first week at Kaikoura, we began to study the effects that tourism, in particular, eco-tourism, has on local communities and the environment. We were made very welcome, once again, by the people from Ngati Kuri and Ngai Tahu at Takahanga Marae.
Along with the first hand experience of some of the marine mammal tourism activities in Kaikoura, our students heard from local residents, business operators, and staff from the Kaikoura District Council that tourism in Kaikoura means business! We learned about local initiatives, including zero-waste resource recovery and the International Green Globe 21 Conference held in Kaikoura earlier this month. The community’s wish to maintain the resource that drives tourism in Kaikoura has meant across the board involvement with, and support for, Kaikoura to become one of the first communities in the world to get renewed Green Globe 21 benchmarking, and soon, certification.
At the end of the week, we stopped off at Lincoln University, where we had a lecture on energy use and carbon emissions related to tourism in New Zealand. This was the perfect way to end an intense, and immensely enjoyable week.
Arohanui,
Ria Brejaart