New Zealand Recognizes a Mountain as a Legal Person

New Zealand Recognizes a Mountain as a Legal Person

New Zealand’s parliament recently passed a law that gives a mountain all the rights and responsibilities of a human being.

The indigenous Māori people of New Zealand consider the mountain their ancestor.

The mountain is now known by its Māori name, Taranaki Maunga. The Māori people of New Zealand represent about 15 percent of the country’s population.

Taranaki Maunga is a dormant volcano on New Zealand’s North Island. Snow covers the top of the 2,516-meter-high mountain. It is a popular place for tourism, hiking and snow sports.

The legal recognition of the mountain is one of the steps New Zealand’s government has taken to make up for harm the indigenous population suffered in the past. The new law makes it known that the Taranaki area was stolen from the Māori after New Zealand was colonized.

The new law gives Taranaki Maunga all the rights, powers, duties, responsibilities and liabilities of a person. The law says a newly created group will be “the face and voice” of the mountain. Four members from local Māori tribes and four members appointed by the country's conservation minister will be in the group.

Paul Goldsmith is the lawmaker responsible for the legal settlements between the government and Māori tribes. In a speech to Parliament, he said, “The mountain has long been an honored ancestor, a source of physical, cultural and spiritual sustenance and a final resting place."

Britain colonized New Zealand in the 1700s and 1800s. In 1770, the British explorer Captain James Cook named the volcano Mount Egmont.

In 1840, Māori tribes and representatives of the British government signed the Treaty of Waitangi. The treaty promised the Māori would keep the rights to their land and resources. However, the British government began breaking parts of the treaty after that.

In 1865, the government took a large area of Taranaki land, including the mountain, to punish the Māori for rebelling against British rule. Over the next one hundred years, hunting and sports groups helped oversee how the land was used, but the Māori did not.

Goldsmith told the Associated Press that, in the past, Māori customs connected to the mountain were banned while the government supported tourism in the area.

The Māori protest movement of the 1970s and 1980s led to increased recognition of the Māori language, culture and rights in New Zealand’s law. This has included billions of dollars to pay for the harm caused by breaking the Treaty of Waitangi.

The mountain's legal rights are in place to support its health and wellbeing. The law will support traditional uses of the land and calls for conservation work to protect the native wildlife. The mountain will remain open to the public.

FILE - Clouds are reflected in the Whanganui River at the town of Whanganui, New Zealand, on June 17, 2022.

Are other landforms considered people?

New Zealand was the first country in the world to recognize landforms as people. In 2014, a law gave personhood to Te Urewera, a large forest on the North Island. Government ownership ended and the Tūhoe tribe became its guardian.

And in 2017, New Zealand recognized the Whanganui River as a human, as part of a settlement with the tribe connected to the river.

All 123 lawmakers in Parliament supported the new law for Taranaki Maunga. The unity of the vote was a change from recent disagreements in New Zealand about proposed changes to the Treaty of Waitangi itself.

In November, about 40,000 people marched to Parliament to protest a new law with proposed changes to the treaty. The protesters said the new law would take away Māori rights and harm the progress that has been made during the last 50 years.

Most officials do not expect the bill with the proposed changes to become law.

I’m Andrew Smith.

Charlotte Graham-McLay wrote this story for The Associated Press. Andrew Smith adapted it for VOA Learning English.

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Words in This Story

indigenous –n. someone or something that is native to a place for a relatively long period of time

dormant –adj. not currently active

tourism –n. the activity of traveling to places for enjoyment or the industry that provides food, shelter and activity to tourists

liability –n. something that you are responsible for such as paying back a loan

sustenance –n. something that gives support, help and strength; food