Kiwis buy back pristine beach

NEW ZEALAND – A pristine beach in New Zealand bought through an online crowdfunding campaign has been handed to its new owners – the public.

Nearly 40,000 people donated almost NZ$2.3 million to buy Awaroa Beach in the Abel Tasman National Park, at the top of the South Island.

Campaigners snubbed a businessman who offered them money in exchange for private access to part of the beach.

The seven-hectare site will now be run by the Abel Tasman National Park.

The previous owner, businessman Michael Spackman, agreed to sell the beach after the online crowdfunding campaign reached its target in a little more than three weeks.

The purchase ensured the beach will remain out of private hands.

“It’s a great day,” campaigner Duane Major said. “Sometimes you can feel powerless, so for us, it’s been a marvellous experience of empowerment.

“There’s been a real feeling of coming together. People in other countries have recognised what it’s been all about too.

“We’re in an age with various forms of technology that can pull people apart. But in this case it brought people together.”

New Zealand’s government made a small contribution to the crowdfunding campaign, which Major said was started because of “gut instinct”.

But another offer to contribute by a prominent businessman and philanthropist, who said he would make up any shortfall in exchange for exclusive access to part of the beach for his family, was rejected.

The campaign also negotiated with local Maori groups, who had argued the beach should be handed over to them.

Major said the Maori community would be involved in the future of the land.

- BBC