Te Wāhipounamu (Māori for "the place of greenstone") is a World Heritage Site in the south west corner of the South Island of New Zealand.
Inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1990 and covering , the site incorporates four national parks:
- Aoraki / Mount Cook
- Fiordland
- Mount Aspiring
- Westland Tai Poutini
It is thought to contain some of the best modern representations of the original flora and fauna of Gondwana, one of the reasons for its listing as a World Heritage site.
Description
Te Wahipounamu stretches along the western coastline of the South Island of New Zealand. The elevation of this land area ranges from sea level to at Aoraki / Mount Cook. In some places it extends inland as far as . Within Te Wahipounamu there is a multitude of natural features including snow-capped peaks, sapphire lakes, waterfalls, fiords, and valleys. It is also home to hundreds of the world's most active glaciers, but the main two are Franz Josef Glacier and Fox Glacier. It is the largest and least modified area of New Zealand's natural ecosystem.
Population
The Te Wahipounamu area is the least populated part of New Zealand. Most residents work in tourism related jobs but there are other land use occupations. On the coast residents engage in fishing, grazing, and small-scale mining. In the eastern part of the World Heritage area pastoralism is the main land use. Sheep and cattle grazing is permitted under license or lease, although designation of Te Wahipounamu as a World Heritage site has limited the lands available for these practices.
Land formations
Te Wahipounamu is one of the most seismically active regions in the world. It lies across the boundary of two plates, the Pacific Plate and the Indo-Australian Plate. The mountains in the area are a result of tectonic movements over the last five million years.
Māori connections to the land
The entire region of Te Wahipounamu is of deep significance to Māori, in particular the Ngāi Tahu iwi, whose rohe (traditional area of control) covers the majority of the South Island.
The area was, and continues to be, an important source of pounamu greenstone or jade. This precious stone is used for making Maori tools, weapons, and jewelry.
Legend
The legend as to the formation of this region and the South Island is as follows. Te Wahipounamu was formed when the four sons of Rakinui, the Sky Father, descended from the heavens and set out on a voyage around Papatūānuku, the Earth Mother. During this voyage their canoe hit a reef and the brothers found themselves stranded. An icy wind from the Tasman Sea froze them into stone and their canoe became the South Island of New Zealand. The tallest of the brothers was Aoraki and he is now Aoraki Mt. Cook while his brothers and the other crewmembers form the rest of the Southern Alps.
The Māori also have a legend for the formation of Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers. This legend begins with Hinehukatere who loved climbing in the mountains. One day she persuaded her lover, Tawe, to join her. An avalanche killed Tawe and he came to rest in Fox Glacier. The traditional Māori name for the glacier is Te Moeke o Tauwe, which means the bed of Tauwe. After Tauwe's death, Hinehukatere was heartbroken and cried so many tears. These tears froze to form Franz Josef Glacier. The Maori name for Franz Josef Glacier is Ka Roimata o Hinehukatere which means the tears of Hinehukatere. The implications of this settlement were threefold. First Mount Cook became Aoraki / Mount Cook and 88 other topographic features were agreed to have dual Māori/English names. Secondly, the title for Aoraki was returned to the Ngāi Tahu Tribe who then in turn gifted it to the people of New Zealand. And finally the Tribe was given rights of access and temporary occupancy for the gathering of traditional foods and materials.
Management planning framework
There are four main planning entities for developing the management framework for the wilderness resources of the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage Area. Tourism within Te Wahipounamu is nature-based, ‘green’ tourism. There is a combination of nature and adventure tourism. There are some strictly nature based tourism activities such as walking in the Natural Parks, whale-watching, and boat tours in the Fiordland Sounds. Then there are activities such as tramping or trekking, which contain adventure components like crossing rivers or mountain passes while enjoying the natural scenery. Even the adventure activities like glacier walks, rafting, and climbing take place in the natural environment.
According to Charnley, this type of nature tourism may not qualify as ecotourism. In her definition of ecotourism, it must have genuine social benefits and serve as a tool for sustainable community development. This requires meeting three conditions. Economic benefits must be structured in a culturally appropriate way that makes them accessible to the target population. For communities to benefit, they need secure land tenure over the area as well as the ability to make land use decisions. And the tourism benefits have to be more than economic, they must promote deeper social and political justice goals. The communities in Te Wahipounamu survive mainly through tourism. Most residents of the region are there because of the tourism employment opportunities. Thus the economic benefits are prevalent, but in most cases there lacks a further cultural or conservational component. Although there are some more historically and culturally based tourism activities and tours available. There is cultural integration among visitors and locals due to the small scale of the facilities but there is less often a link to traditional Maori culture. Conservational efforts are in place in this entire region but they are a result of governmental beliefs and World Heritage designation, they are not a result of the tool of ecotourism. So many people may refer to ecotourism in Te Wahipounamu but whether it truly deserves that title is open to interpretation.
The area is a destination for large cruise ships which do not dock and smaller cruise ships that run local itineraries.
Wilderness
Within Te Wahipounamu there are four wilderness areas. These areas are Hooker-Landsborough, which covers 41,000 ha, Olivine (80,000 ha), Pembroke (18,000 ha) and Glaisnock (125,000 ha). Together these wilderness areas make up 10% of the total area of Te Wahipounamu. There are no visitor facilities in these areas. No roads, huts, bridges, or even tracks. And there is no air access for recreational or commercial purposes. Visitors enter these areas “on nature's terms”.
The wilderness areas perpetuate ideas of purity and nature that have long existed. John Muir and Aldo Leopold advocated for the protection of the American wilderness and wilderness ideas were one of the foundations for the environmental movement in the United States. The New Zealand Wilderness Policy mirrors these ideas with criteria about having this protected land for enjoyment but keeping it virtually untouched by humans. The continuing rise in tourism to New Zealand is affecting this experience though. There are perceptions of crowding on several of the backcountry tramping tracks. This effects and minimizes the desired experience of wilderness and solitude. The permit is for an area of and covers the prospecting of any mineral except uranium. Green Party resources spokesperson Steve Abel called the issuing of the permit "utterly unacceptable", pointing out that the world heritage areas are irreplaceable, and that mining would likely result in permanent damage to the area.