Latest news with #TaranakiMaungaCollectiveRedressBill
NBC News
31-01-2025
- Politics
- NBC News
New Zealand's Mount Taranaki is now legally a person
First a sacred forest, then a river, and now a mountain. Mount Taranaki, a towering 8,261-foot stratovolcano popular among skiers and snowboarders, was recognized as a legal person in New Zealand on Thursday. Known by its Māori name Taranaki Maunga, the mountain is the latest natural feature in the country to be granted the rights, powers, duties, responsibilities and liabilities of a person. The government has effectively ceased ownership of the mountain, which the indigenous Māori people consider among their ancestors. Its legal name is Te Kāhui Tupua, and is viewed by the law as 'a living and indivisible whole.' It includes Taranaki and its surrounding peaks and land, 'incorporating all their physical and metaphysical elements.' Now, members from the local Māori iwi, or tribe, and government officials will work together to manage it. The mountain will also no longer be called by its colonial name, Mount Egmont. New Zealand became the first country in the world to grant living rights to natural features in 2014 when it recognized the personhood of Te Urewera sacred forest in North Island, with guardianship handed to the Tūhoe tribe. Then in 2017, the Whanganui river was deemed human and turned over to the care of its local iwi. The Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passed Thursday also acknowledges the injustices and land confiscations against the Māori in the Taranaki region. 'The mountain has long been an honored ancestor, a source of physical, cultural and spiritual sustenance and a final resting place,' Paul Goldsmith, a government official involved in the negotiations, told Parliament in a speech on Thursday. New Zealand's colonizers first took the name, then the mountain itself, which the bills states was in breach of a treaty the Crown signed with Māori representatives. "The Crown failed to create most of the reserves it had promised," the bill reads. "After further protest by Māori in Taranaki, the Crown eventually returned some reserves, but refused to include most of the mountains in those reserves, instead proclaiming them as a forest reserve, and later a national park." The legal rights provided to the mountain are meant to be used for its preservation and the protection of its wildlife, and public access will continue.
Saudi Gazette
31-01-2025
- Politics
- Saudi Gazette
New Zealand mountain gets personhood
WELLINGTON — A settlement under which a New Zealand mountain has been granted the same legal right as a person has become law after years of means Taranaki Maunga [Mt Taranaki] will effectively own itself, with representatives of the local tribes, iwi, and government working together to manage agreement aims to compensate Māori from the Taranaki region for injustices done to them during colonization — including widespread land confiscation."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," Paul Goldsmith, the government minister responsible for the negotiations, Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill was passed into law by New Zealand's parliament on Thursday — giving the mountain a legal name and protecting its surrounding peaks and also recognizes the Māori worldview that natural features, including mountains, are ancestors and living beings."Today, Taranaki, our maunga [mountain], our maunga tupuna [ancestral mountain], is released from the shackles, the shackles of injustice, of ignorance, of hate," said Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, co-leader of political party Te Pāti Māori [the Māori Party].Ngarewa-Packer is among one of the eight Taranaki iwi, on New Zealand's west coast, to whom the mountain is of other Māori from the area also turned up at parliament on Thursday to see the bill become mountain will no longer be officially known as Egmont — the name given to it by British explorer James Cook in the 18th Century — and instead be called Taranaki Maunga, while the surrounding national park will also be given its Māori Campbell, who is also from a Taranaki iwi, told 1News that it was important for her to be at the event, and that the mountain "is what connects us and what binds us together as a people".The Taranaki Maunga settlement is the latest that has been reached with Māori in an attempt to provide compensation for breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi — which established New Zealand as a country and granted Indigenous people certain rights to their land and settlement also came with an apology from the government for the confiscation of Mt Taranaki and more than a million acres of land from local Māori in the Goldsmith acknowledged that the "breaches of the Treaty mean that immense and compounding harm has been inflicted upon the whānau [wider family], hapū [sub-tribe] and iwi of Taranaki, causing immeasurable harm over many decades".He added that it had been agreed that access to the mountain would 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 of New Zealand's natural features to be granted legal personhood. In 2014, the Urewera native forest became the first to gain such status, followed by the Whanganui River in 2017. — BBC
BBC News
30-01-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
New Zealand's Mount Taranaki gets same legal rights as a person
A settlement under which a New Zealand mountain has been granted the same legal right as a person has become law after years of means Taranaki Maunga [Mt Taranaki] will effectively own itself, with representatives of the local tribes, iwi, and government working together to manage it. The agreement aims to compensate Māori from the Taranaki region for injustices done to them during colonisation - including widespread land confiscation. "We must acknowledge the hurt that has been caused by past wrongs, so we can look to the future to support iwi to realise their own aspirations and opportunities," Paul Goldsmith, the government minister responsible for the negotiations, said. The Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill was passed into law by New Zealand's parliament on Thursday - giving the mountain a legal name and protecting its surrounding peaks and also recognises the Māori worldview that natural features, including mountains, are ancestors and living beings."Today, Taranaki, our maunga [mountain], our maunga tupuna [ancestral mountain], is released from the shackles, the shackles of injustice, of ignorance, of hate," said Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, co-leader of political party Te Pāti Māori [the Māori Party].Ngarewa-Packer is among one of the eight Taranaki iwi, on New Zealand's west coast, to whom the mountain is of other Māori from the area also turned up at parliament on Thursday to see the bill become mountain will no longer be officially known as Egmont - the named given to it by British explorer James Cook in the 18th Century - and instead be called Taranaki Maunga, while the surrounding national park will also be given its Māori Campbell, who is also from a Taranaki iwi, told 1News that it was important for her to be at the event, and that the mountain "is what connects us and what binds us together as a people".The Taranaki Maunga settlement is the latest that has been reached with Māori in an attempt to provide compensation for breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi - which established New Zealand as a country and granted indigenous people certain rights to their land and resources. The settlement also came with an apology from the government for the confiscation of Mt Taranaki and more than a million acres of land from local Māori in the Goldsmith acknowledged that the "breaches of the Treaty 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". He added that it had been agreed that access to the mountain would 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 of New Zealand's natural feature's to be granted legal personhood. In 2014, the Urewera native forest became the first to gain such status, followed by the Whanganui River in 2017.
