Summary
In January 2025, the 2017 settlement to grant Taranaki Maunga—one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most sacred mountains—legal personhood was formally enacted into law after years of negotiation. In a cross-party consensus, Parliament unanimously voted in favor of the legislation, with members acknowledging both the historic harms inflicted by the Crown and the significance of restoring the mountain’s Māori name and conferring legal personhood.
Legal Recognition and Rights:
Taranaki Maunga will have its name restored to Te Kāhui Tupua, and the national park will be renamed Te Papa-Kura-o-Taranaki. The park will remain within the national parks system. A firm condition for the Crown is that all New Zealanders will be able to continue to visit and enjoy this place for generations to come. It has been agreed that access to the mountain will not change.
Under the law, Te Kāhui Tupua is recognized as a living, indivisible, whole entity that encompasses Taranaki Maunga and its neighbouring peaks, Pouākai and Kaitake, including their physical and spiritual dimensions. Te Kāhui Tupua will also be granted legal personhood, which means Te Kāhui Tupua now holds its own legal identity, with rights, responsibilities, and protection. Although centered on the national park, this status extends beyond its official boundaries to reflect iwi understandings of the mountain’s true extent and relational significance.
Jurisprudential Framing:
The law affirms that Taranaki Maunga is more than a landscape; it is an ancestor, a source of life, and a guiding presence for the people of Taranaki. The Act notes, ancestral connections and traditional practices “bind the physical landscape with the human landscape,” and the mountains serve as “pou that form a connection between the physical and social elements of our lived experience.” For iwi of Taranaki, these peaks are ancestors—sites of shared history, sources of sustenance, and guardians of a unique ecosystem.
Related Initiatives
Suggested Citation:
Kauffman, Craig, Catherine Haas, Alex Putzer, Shrishtee Bajpai, Kelsey Leonard, Elizabeth Macpherson, Pamela Martin, Alessandro Pelizzon & Linda Sheehan. Eco Jurisprudence Monitor. V2. 2025. Distributed by the Eco Jurisprudence Monitor.https://ecojurisprudence.org/initiatives/taranaki-maunga/.
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