Project Plan
Tourism is increasingly supporting initiatives on land and sea, such as the growth of our kiwi population. The Dark Sky Biosphere takes this to another level, where the environment, biodiversity and people come first when designing visitor experiences of the future.
Destination Hauraki Coromandel supports the trust's efforts to gain accreditation for approximately 7,000 hectares of the Kūaotunu Peninsula as an International Dark Sky Association (IDA) Dark Sky Community. By doing so, we envision long-term benefits where our visitors can contribute to enabling a healthy ecosystem for the people of Hauraki Coromandel and our environment.
Progress
Project Website
IDA Accreditation Update
The project team of has established the Kūaotunu Dark Sky Trust to assume responsibility for governance of the project and the future Community. Initial members of the Trust are drawn from the Working Group and other interested parties.
Much research and consultation with other groups who have made application to the International Dark-Sky Association has been undertaken to ensure a streamlined process.
Overview
The exceptionally starry nights experienced on the Kūaotunu Peninsula are to be preserved for the future as the Biosphere Dark Sky Project secures government funding through Destination Hauraki Coromandel.
The $50,000 grant has allowed the Kūaotunu Peninsula Biosphere Working Group leading the initiative to engage experts to proceed with a request to change current lighting regulations in the Thames-Coromandel District Plan. This will help gain official recognition by the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) as a Dark Sky Community.
In The Coromandel the heavens appear close to Earth and seeing constellations and shooting stars is not unusual thanks to the low density of dwellings and the absence of light pollution. The night skies north of Whitianga are particularly black, one of the reasons local astronomer Alastair Brickell set up his observatory there as Stargazers B &B and Astronomy Tours, and why the European Space Agency (ESA) has recently approached him seeking to site one of their robotic telescopes within the proposed dark sky zone. This telescope is part of a worldwide collaboration looking for space junk and potentially hazardous asteroids.
Visitor appeal for astrotourism continues to grow. The benefits that come with the knowledge of Dark Skies and the impacts of human behaviour are deeply connected with Hauraki Coromandel's Destination Management Plan.
Long Term Vision
The long-term foresight for funding and ongoing support from Destination Hauraki Coromandel for the Kūaotunu Dark Sky Community Project was to enable the region:
- to be recognised both nationally and internationally as one of the best biospheres in the world
- to build a healthy ecosystem for the people of Hauraki Coromandel and our environment
- to attract a new kind of visitor, interested in dark sky experiences and astronomy
All this supports the community outcomes outlined in the Hauraki Coromandel Destination Management Plan and aligns with the guiding stars for our actions.
