Kaikoura Gold Certification a World First

Kaikoura Gold Certification a World First

22 June 2011, Kaikoura – In yet another display of New Zealand’s world-leading sustainable tourism credentials, the small whale watching capital of Kaikoura has become the first destination in the world to receive EarthCheck’s Gold Community certification.

Previously, EarthCheck awarded Gold certification only to facilities such as resorts and not communities. However, given the significant and sustained commitment displayed by Kaikoura, EarthCheck has now awarded the prestigious Gold certification to the community.

Since 1999, when Kaikoura first adopted what is now known as the EarthCheck Sustainable Communities Program, it has been meeting EarthCheck’s rigorous environmental standards across a range of indicators. This provided Kaikoura District Council with a framework to reduce the environmental impact of the community’s activities upon the increasingly popular region.

Speaking on the recent accolade, Kaikoura District Planner and Green Team Leader Rachel Vaughan said, “As a small community, we are immensely proud to have gained such global recognition. To be the first community in the world to achieve Gold Certification demonstrates clearly that when government, the private sector and local communities work together, it is possible to achieve significant environmental benefits.”

Kaikoura’s spectacular scenery and natural beauty attract close to 800,000 visitors annually. Without careful management, the influx of travellers could have an adverse impact on its terrestrial and marine ecosystems Residents shared a common desire to protect nature’s bounty and preserve it for future generations, and so they adopted a developed program of initiatives to help guide everyday activities.

EarthCheck was chosen as the environmental management system to help Kaikoura measure, monitor and manage the impacts of the town’s broad ranging activities in the areas of environmental legislation, energy usage, water conservation, wastewater management, biodiversity, and waste reduction.

In the year of 2009-2010, Kaikoura reduced energy consumption to 88.8 GJ per person. That’s 45.2% above EarthCheck’s global best-practice. During the same period, the community reduced their waste to 0.15 tonnes per person; an impressive 57% above best-practice. They did this by implementing a

Zero Organics to landfill policy and collecting organic household food waste for communal composting. Since 2001, the township has reduced waste sent to landfill by 72%, extending the life of their landfill by ten years.

As a result of this success, Kaikoura has selected as one of 13 global destinations to be featured on a new travel series about sustainable tourism, which will air on Discovery Travel and Living in 2012. The documentary was filmed in February of this year and will be broadcast to a potential audience footprint of over 300 million people over the next five years, helping to deliver even more kudos to sustainable tourism operators in Kaikoura.

“EarthCheck member organizations in New Zealand have surpassed the country’s 100% Pure promise and gone beyond green to bring about measurable change,” explained EarthCheck CEO Stewart Moore. “They have reduced pressure on natural resources and can rightly be considered examples of world’s best practice in tourism.”

View a case study relating to Kaikoura’s achievements.

EDITOR’S NOTES:

About EarthCheck: EarthCheck Certification is the world’s leading program, used by the travel and tourism industry. EC3 Global has certified more organisations than any other; resulting in over 1100 clients in more than 65 countries. EarthCheck complies with the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) Greenhouse Gas Protocol, and the International Organisation for Standardization (ISO) 14064 range of standards for greenhouse gas accounting. Go to www.earthcheck.org

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