New Zealand mountain gets same legal rights as a person

After years of negotiations, a settlement agreement granting a New Zealand mountain the same legal rights as a person has officially taken effect. This means that Mount Taranaki (Taranaki Maunga) will effectively own itself, and representatives from local tribes, the Māori (iwi), and the government will jointly manage the mountain. The agreement aims to compensate the Māori people of the Taranaki region, who suffered injustices during the colonial period, including widespread land confiscation.

Government Minister Paul Goldsmith, who was responsible for the negotiations, stated, "We must acknowledge the harm caused by past wrongs in order to look to the future and support Māori in achieving their own aspirations and opportunities." The Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill was passed in the New Zealand Parliament on Thursday, granting the mountain a legal name and protecting its surrounding peaks and land. The bill also recognizes the Māori worldview that natural features, including mountains, are ancestors and living beings.

Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, co-leader of the Māori political party Te Pāti Māori, said, "Today, Taranaki, our mountain, our ancestral mountain, is released from the shackles, from the shackles of injustice, ignorance, and hatred." Ngarewa-Packer is a member of one of the eight Māori tribes of Taranaki on New Zealand's west coast, for whom the mountain is sacred. Hundreds of other Māori from the region also came to Parliament on Thursday to witness the bill becoming law.

The mountain will no longer be officially known as Egmont, the name given to it by 18th-century British explorer James Cook, but as Mount Taranaki, and the surrounding national park will also be given its Māori name. Aisha Campbell, also from the Taranaki tribe, told 1News that it was very important for her to be there because the mountain "connects us and binds us together as a people."

The Mount Taranaki settlement agreement is the latest in a series of agreements with Māori designed to provide redress for breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi. The Treaty of Waitangi established New Zealand as a nation and granted indigenous people certain rights to their land and resources. The settlement agreement also includes a government apology for the confiscation of Mount Taranaki and over a million acres of land belonging to local Māori in the 1860s. Paul Goldsmith acknowledged that “breaches of the Treaty meant that enormous, compounding harm was done to the whānau [extended families], hapū [sub-tribes] and iwi of Taranaki, causing immeasurable damage over the decades.” He also added that an agreement has been reached that access to the mountain will not change, and that "all New Zealanders will be able to continue to visit and enjoy this most magnificent place for generations to come."

The mountain is not the first natural feature in New Zealand to be granted legal personhood. In 2014, the Te Urewera rainforest became the first natural feature to receive this status, followed by the Whanganui River in 2017.