New Zealand has granted legal personhood to Taranaki Mounga, the second highest mountain on the country’s North Island.
The mountain, once known as Mount Egmont, joins two other sites in New Zealand with legal personhood: Te Urewera, a rainforest given back to the Tūhoe people in 2014, and Whanganui River, which became the first river in the world to achieve the status in 2017. Taranaki Mounga will now be known as Te Kāhui Tupua, and the colonial names for surrounding peaks and areas within Te Papa-Kura-o-Taranaki will no longer be used.
The status means that Te Kāhui Tupua has the same rights, powers, duties and liabilities as a person, and the move was made to ‘acknowledge the deep relationship between Taranaki Māori and the mountain, which is considered an ancestor’.
Legal personhood was granted as part of the Crown’s settlement with the local iwi (Indigenous tribes) over breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi, the founding agreement for New Zealand. The news was announced just before the country celebrated Waitangi Day on 6 February.
Te Kāhui Tupua last erupted in 1774, and the dormant stratovolcano is more than 120,000 years old.
For those looking to visit, it is possible to climb to the summit. From the visitor centre to Tahurangi Lodge, found at 1,492 m, it is around a 1.5 to 2 hour hike. From there, it will take you around three to four hours to reach the summit at 2,518 m.
Visitors should not stand directly on the summit peak, or camp, cook, or little in the surrounding area. Further guidelines around visiting are expected to be announced in the coming months.
Alternatively, you can book onto a four-day walking tour of the region with Walking Legends, where you’ll learn about the area’s flora, fauna, and Māori legends.
