A bill granting Taranaki Maunga and its associated peaks legal personhood is expected to pass into law tomorrow.
Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress bill will have its second and third readings in Parliament to officially recognise the peaks – Taranaki, Panitahi, Patuhā, Kaitake and Pouākai – as ancestral mountains who will jointly become a legal person under the name of Te Kāhui Tupua.
Wait…a mountain will become a person?
Legally, yes.
This isn’t the first time a natural feature has been conferred personhood and rights. Ecuador and Bolivia were among the first countries to recognise rights of nature, and Aotearoa became the first country to grant legal personality, in 2014, to Te Urewera, the former national park, and again in 2017 to Whanganui River.
Te Kāhui Tupua will join them.
Why?
For protection, conservation and cultural reconnection.
Iwi negotiator Liana Poutu said it was important for the mana of Te Kāhui Tupua to be recognised in order to protect and better care for them.
“Ko te kaupapa nui i waenganui i ngā whakaritenga katoa mō ngā maunga ko te hauora o ō tātou nei maunga….mēnā ka piki ake te hauora o ngā maunga ka piki ake te hauora o tātou nei ngā uri,” she said. (“Of the utmost importance in our negotiations was the consideration given to the health of our mountains…if the wellbeing of our mountains increases so too does the wellbeing of our people.”)
In a Māori worldview, natural features such as mountains and rivers are ancestors.
Poutu said due to widespread land confiscation that occurred in the region, which included the mountain peaks, the connection between Te Kāhui Tupua and its descendants was severed. She said this bill serves to address the harm done.
“Ka kite ētehi o ngā hua o ngā kōrero i waenganui i te Karauna kia whakahoki mai te mana o ngā maunga ki a rātou anō hoki, kia whakamana anō te hononga o rātou o ngā uri ki tō tātou nei maunga.” (“You can see some of the results as part of our negotiations with the Crown to return the authority of our mountains to themselves, and in turn, empower the connection of descendants to their mountains.”)
It’s a view backed by the Ministry’s Environment Aotearoa 2022 report that looked into the state of the environment. It said the Covid pandemic “heightened” their focus and that “our health, our livelihoods, our leisure – our wellbeing – are dependent on a healthy environment”.
So how does it all work?
A statutory body, Te Tōpuni Kōkōrangi, made up of half iwi and half Crown appointees will act and speak on behalf of Te Kāhui Tupua. Another group, Te Tōpuni Ngārahu, will consist of representatives from the eight Taranaki iwi to make management decisions on the national park alongside the Minister for Conservation.
The national park, which has been vested into Te Kāhui Tupua, is now renamed Te Papa-Kura-o-Taranaki, and will remain under the day-to-day management of the Department of Conservation.
All governance, management and administration decisions will be guided by a set of values to reflect the cultural, spiritual, ancestral and historical relationships between iwi and Te Kāhui Tupua.
Public access will remain.
What else does the bill do?
Taranaki Maunga is now the official geographic name of the peak – not Mount Taranaki or Mount Egmont.
The names of the peaks and other natural features will be reinstated to their traditional names, replacing the likes of Fanthams Peak (Panitahi), Bells Falls (Te Rere-o-Tahurangi Falls), Stony River (Hangatahua River), and The Dome (Te Umu-o-Taomanawa).
The name Te Kāhui Tupua is protected too.
The bill also acknowledges the historic Treaty of Waitangi breaches made by the Crown in relation to Taranaki Maunga, including the confiscation of 1.2 million acres of land.
It’s the final historic Treaty settlement in Taranaki, bringing to a close a chapter of New Zealand’s colonial past in the region.
Ok, so what’s going to happen tomorrow?
The bill is expected to be read in Parliament in the afternoon, after 3pm.
Taranaki uri are on the road to Wellington ahead of the second and third reading of the bill.
Members of the eight iwi – Ngāti Tama, Ngāti Mutunga, Taranaki Iwi, Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Maru, Ngāruahine, Ngāti Ruanui, and Ngaa Rauru Kiitahi – will arrive in the capital tonight, some staying at local marae around the region.
For more watch Te Karere at 4pm on TVNZ 1, as they follow a convoy from Taranaki Iwi down to Wellington today.