New Zealand Mountain Granted Legal Personhood, Acknowledging Indigenous Connection
Mount Taranaki, a prominent volcanic peak in New Zealand revered by the local indigenous people of Māori as an ancestor, has officially been recognized as a legal person on Thursday, granting it the same rights and responsibilities as a human being, The Associated Press reports.
This groundbreaking move comes after years of advocacy and marks a significant step in acknowledging the deep spiritual and historical connection between Māori and their ancestral lands.
Mount Taranaki, now officially known as Taranaki Maunga, joins a growing list of natural features in New Zealand granted legal personhood, including a river and a stretch of sacred land. The dormant, snow-capped volcano, the second highest on the North Island, is a popular destination for tourism, hiking, and snow sports
The legal recognition is a redress for the historical injustices experienced by the Māori of the Taranaki region following the colonization of New Zealand. It fulfills an agreement between the country’s government and the Indigenous people, acknowledging the harm perpetrated against their land since the colonial era.
The new law imbues Taranaki Maunga with all the legal rights, powers, duties, responsibilities, and liabilities of a person. This legal personality is defined as “a living and indivisible whole,” encompassing Taranaki, its surrounding peaks, and land, incorporating all its physical and metaphysical elements.
To act as the “face and voice” of the mountain, a new entity will be created, comprising four members from local Māori iwi (tribes) and four members appointed by the country’s Conservation Minister.
“The mountain has long been an honored ancestor, a source of physical, cultural and spiritual sustenance and a final resting place,” said Paul Goldsmith, the lawmaker responsible for the settlements between the government and Māori tribes.
He noted that colonizers appropriated both the name of Taranaki and the mountain itself, with British explorer Captain James Cook naming it Mount Egmont in 1770.
The 1840 Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand’s founding document, aimed to protect Māori land rights, but these were often violated. In 1865, a vast swathe of Taranaki land, including the mountain, was confiscated as punishment for Māori resistance. For over a century, management of the mountain was influenced by hunting and sports groups, while Māori voices were excluded.
“Traditional Māori practices associated with the mountain were banned while tourism was promoted,” Goldsmith said.
A Māori protest movement in the 1970s and ’80s sparked a renewed focus on the Māori language, culture, and rights, culminating in this historic legal recognition.
The legal personhood of the mountain aims to ensure its health and wellbeing. This will prevent forced sales, reinstate traditional uses, and allow conservation efforts to protect its unique native wildlife. Public access will remain unchanged.
New Zealand has previously recognized other natural features as legal persons. In 2014, Te Urewera, a vast native forest, was granted personhood, and in 2017, the Whanganui River was also given legal recognition.
The bill recognizing Mount Taranaki’s personhood was unanimously supported by all 123 members of Parliament, who were greeted with a traditional Māori waiata (song) from a gallery filled with people who had traveled from Taranaki.
This unity provides some respite from tense race relations in New Zealand, with recent mass protests against a law that could potentially strip Māori of their legal rights.
