SMALL WONDER

Amid the natural splendour of New Zealand’s Great Barrier Island, ELLEN FALCONER discovers a community of entrepreneurs weaving sustainability into everything they do.

THE FIRST THING I noticed about Great Barrier Island was all that green. This diminutive stretch of forested land—just 285 square kilometres in size—popped against the azure waters of Hauraki Gulf, which stretches from Great Barrier to New Zealand’s North Island. As our plane descended, distinct features gradually revealed themselves: rocky pinnacles reaching skyward, rugged slivers of beach with windswept foliage, and, lastly, a few clusters of low-lying buildings.

Fellow Kiwis who’d visited told me the setting was magical. Yet I was caught off guard by the island’s almost primaeval beauty. Though roughly 1,000 people call Great Barrier home, there’s little development, as two-thirds of the land is protected by conservation law. Te Motu o Aotea, as it’s known in the Maori language (or, informally, Aotea), doesn’t have water mains. And in the absence of an electrical grid, it relies largely on solar power.

Here, sustainability is less of a buzzword and more of a necessity. Residents consider themselves guardians of the land and feel a deep responsibility to protect it. Their work is paying off. One case in point: in 2017, Aotea was named a Dark Sky Sanctuary—a certification that has only been given to 13 remote areas with minimal light pollution.