New Zealand grants legal personhood to Mount Taranaki
The mountain now owns itself with local tribes, iwi, and the government working in unison to manage it.
Local tribes have long considered the mountain as sacred and an ancestor. New Zealand officials said they want to confess to forced land confiscation during colonization.
"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," said Paul Goldsmith, the government minister who negotiated the deal.
The New Zealand legislature passed the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress bill giving the mountain a legal name -- Te Kahui Tupua -- and protection for its land. It will no longer be referred to as Egmont, the name British explorer James Cook gave it in the 18th century.
New Zealand gave personhood to the natural features of the Te Urewera scared forest on North Island in 2014, the first country to ever do so. Guardianship of the forest was given to the Tuhoe tribe.
The country did the same in 2017 with the Whanganui River, turning over guardianship to the iwi while granting it personhood.
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