New Zealand: After years of negotiations, New Zealand has granted Taranaki Maunga (Mount Taranaki) the same legal rights as a person.
This landmark settlement, formalized through the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passed on Thursday, effectively gives the mountain ownership of itself.
A collaborative group representing the eight local Māori tribes (iwi) and the government will work together to manage the mountain. The agreement aims to compensate Māori from the Taranaki region for injustices suffered during colonization, including widespread land confiscation.
Government Minister Paul Goldsmith acknowledged the “hurt that has been caused by past wrongs” and emphasized the importance of supporting iwi aspirations and opportunities.
Minster stated that, “We must acknowledge the hurt that has been caused by past wrongs, so we can look to the future to support iwi to realize their own aspirations and opportunities.” The settlement aligns with the Māori worldview that natural features, including mountains, are ancestors and living beings.
The new law officially renames the mountain Taranaki Maunga (replacing the European name, Egmont, given by Captain Cook) and protects its surrounding peaks and the encompassing national park, which will also receive its Māori name.
Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, co-leader of Te Pāti Māori (the Māori Party) and representative of one of the eight Taranaki iwi, celebrated the mountain’s “release from the shackles, the shackles of injustice, of ignorance, of hate.” Hundreds of Māori attended the parliamentary passing of the bill.
Aisha Campbell, from a Taranaki iwi, highlighted the mountain’s significance, stating that it “is what connects us and what binds us together as a people.” The government also issued a formal apology for the 1860s confiscation of Mt. Taranaki and over a million acres of Māori land.
Paul Goldsmith acknowledged that the “breaches of the Treaty [of Waitangi] mean that immense and compounding harm have been inflicted upon the whānau [wider family], hapū [sub-tribe] and iwi of Taranaki, causing immeasurable harm over many decades.”
Despite the new legal status, access to the mountain will not change. Goldsmith assured that “all New Zealanders will be able to continue to visit and enjoy this most magnificent place for generations to come.”
This settlement follows similar legal personhood grants to the Urewera native forest in 2014 and the Whanganui River in 2017, marking further steps in addressing Treaty of Waitangi breaches and recognizing indigenous rights.
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