New Zealand, Mount Taranaki granted the same rights as a human being
Environment — di Andrea Barolini
New Zealand authorities have granted Mount Taranaki, sacred to the Māori people, the same rights as human beings.
New Zealand, Mount Taranaki granted the same rights as a human being
New Zealand authorities have granted Mount Taranaki, sacred to the Māori people, the same rights as human beings.
On Thursday 30 January, Mount Taranaki Mounga, New Zealand's second highest peak, was granted the same civil rights as a human being. This is particularly significant news for the indigenous peoples of the island nation, who had long been calling for such a decision to be made.
Mount Taranaki Mounga is also a popular tourist destination
Once known as Mount Egmont, Taranaki Mounga (its Māori place name) is one of the jewels of the Oceanian nation's natural heritage. The massif, standing at 2,518 metres above sea level, resembles a cone of fairly symmetrical shape, evoking that of Mount Fuji. For this reason, it is also a particularly popular tourist destination: it is, in fact, the most climbed mountain in the country.
🌿 Historic win for #RightsOfNature! 🗻 Taranaki Mounga, one of Aotearoa (New Zealand)'s most sacred mountains, has been granted legal personhood—recognizing what Māori have always known: Taranaki is an ancestor, not a resource.
More information: theguardian.com/world/2025/jan…
More information: theguardian.com/world/2025/jan…
For the Māori people of the region, however, the Mountain's significance goes far beyond all of this. It is, in fact, also a spiritual symbol. A place of worship to be preserved and protected. And so, just as had already happened with Te Urewera national park in 2014 and the Whanganui river in 2017, the decision was made to grant it the same legal status as a human being.
An eight-year process
Reaching this goal, however, took many years: the process was set in motion eight years ago, when the New Zealand government and the iwi, the indigenous people of the Taranaki region, signed an agreement pledging to grant the status. The text was ultimately adopted unanimously by the Parliament in Wellington. The civil name assigned to Mount Taranaki Mounga is Te Kāhui Tupua.
Now considered a legal person in every respect, the mountain, its ecosystem and the peaks surrounding it will be protected exactly as if they were living, breathing people. "In this way," Jamie Tuuta, lead negotiator for the process, explained to The Guardian, "we are introducing into law an indigenous concept typical of the Māori, relating to legal personhood".
A group of representatives will be established to defend the mountain
In practical terms, a group of representatives appointed by the iwi and the Commonwealth will be tasked with defending the mountain's interests. Bespoke rules will be introduced to ensure, for example, that tourists visiting the natural site treat the mountain with the respect it deserves. "Our ultimate goal is to see a change in behaviour," Tuuta added.
This is also the first New Zealand site to be officially designated by a Māori place name: a symbolic act that highlights the recognition the British Crown is extending to the indigenous people, as well as a way of ideally overcoming centuries of colonisation and the wrongs that accompanied it.