Located at the heart of New Zealand's South Island, Lake Tekapo has long been a popular tourist destination for stargazers. [Photo:Travel Huangqiu.com]

While pollution has made stargazing an impossible leisure pursuit for people living in metropolises around the world, a small town in New Zealand is trying to save its starry night sky by registering it as a world heritage site.

Located at the heart of New Zealand's South Island, Lake Tekapo has long been a popular tourist destination for stargazers. At night, innumerable stars dot the sky above the small town, with the Milky Way and various constellations clearly visible. Visitors can also watch meteors shooting across the sky. For most city dwellers, this is a luxury they can only experience through movies or fairytales.

However, to protect the stars from being outshone by city lighting, residents in Lake Tekapo have gone to great lengths. The 320 permanent residents of the small town have been employing artificial light economically and efficiently since as early as 1981. For example, the street lamps are specially designed to illuminate only the street. Also, after midnight, all landscape and commercial lights must be turned off.

Besides its starry sky, the town has many other tourism resources that pull in numerous visitors each year. Lake Tekapo is the continent's largest fresh water lake, for a start, and it is teeming with salmon. The lake is also a favourite spot for water sports across the four seasons.

In 2005, Lake Tekapo handed in an application to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to make its starry night sky a listed world heritage site. This is the first time UNESCO has accepted an entry which is not related to cities, architects, cultural traditions and arts. But the organization has recently amended its evaluation criteria on naming world heritage sites, saying the applicant does not have to be a specific city, or have any other concrete address.

Moreover, inspired by Lake Tekapo's practice, UNESCO has initiated a campaign calling upon major cities around the globe to reduce light pollution.

Once approved, the night sky of Lake Tekapo will be the world's first ever "star conservation area".