The island is home to a range of community-driven initiatives that strengthen resilience, connection, and sustainability. From hands-on food growing programmes to practical workshops and a commitment to the environment, residents can build skills and take pride in environmental stewardship.
Aotea / Great Barrier Local Board is currently working on its plan for the next three years which once again will be shaped by community feedback.
Check out these four programmes currently supported by the local board to help nurture a thriving community on the motu, and let us know what else you’d like to see.
1. Growing food security
For anyone who’s interested in learning more about how to grow their own food, the island has a great food resilience programme. There are many opportunities to get involved – from learning while volunteering at Medlands Community Garden (and getting some produce for your mahi) to cooking classes, horticultural workshops and local market days.
The local board funds both the food resilience role and community garden manager role which both support local food resilience.
Night sky at Medlands Beach.
2. Local support that makes a difference
If you’ve encountered an issue, big or small, you may have been in touch with Aotea Family Support Group (AFSG) to see if they can help with a solution. AFSG community worker, Mike McLorinan, says he helps with all sorts of problem solving.
One of his recent achievements is improving a couple of major retailers’ freight systems to the island. This is a great outcome for all locals, but he also helps provide support for individual people and families too.
The community worker role is part-funded by the local board.
3. Stars take centre stage
Aotea / Great Barrier is officially a Dark Sky Sanctuary. This means it is one of only 23 places worldwide which “has an exceptional or distinguished quality of starry nights” which meets the criteria set out by DarkSky International.
We were first awarded this status in 2017, and need to meet a certain standard to keep the accreditation each year.
The local board funds a dark sky coordinator role to oversee the Dark Sky Sanctuary accreditation and provide the community with opportunities to celebrate and protect the quality of our night sky.
Zero waste workshop at Anamata.
4. Zero waste in action
The motu is unique in not having a landfill facility to deal with weekly rubbish collections. Instead, Anamata Resource Recovery Community Enterprise have a number of programmes that help reduce the amount of waste needing to be shipped off island to landfill.
Recent initiatives supported by the local board include zero waste workshops (low-cost workshops for the public to help them fix rather than throw broken possessions) and a construction and demolition waste programme.
The local board funds a part-time zero waste coordinator who manages these initiatives.
Have your say
These are just some of the ways local investment is making a difference. We want to hear from you as your feedback helps shape what comes next for Aotea / Great Barrier, visit akhaveyoursay.nz/localboardplans.