[ti:New Zealand Recognizes a Mountain as a Legal Person]
[al:As It Is]
[ar:VOA]
[dt:2025-02-05]
[by:www.voase.cn]
[00:00.00]New Zealand's parliament recently passed a law that gives a mountain all the rights and responsibilities of a human being.
[00:12.92]The indigenous Māori people of New Zealand consider the mountain their ancestor.
[00:21.64]The mountain is now known by its Māori name, Taranaki Maunga. 
[00:28.74]The Māori people of New Zealand represent about 15 percent of the country's population.
[00:38.43]Taranaki Maunga is a dormant volcano on New Zealand's North Island. 
[00:45.75]Snow covers the top of the 2,516-meter-high mountain.
[00:53.31]It is a popular place for tourism, hiking and snow sports.
[01:00.37]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. 
[01:16.44]The new law makes it known that the Taranaki area was stolen from the Māori after New Zealand was colonized.
[01:29.29]The new law gives Taranaki Maunga all the rights, powers, duties, responsibilities and liabilities of a person. 
[01:41.69]The law says a newly created group will be "the face and voice" of the mountain. 
[01:50.05]Four members from local Māori tribes and four members appointed by the country's conservation minister will be in the group.
[02:02.32]Paul Goldsmith is the lawmaker responsible for the legal settlements between the government and Māori tribes.
[02:14.23]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."
[02:31.97]Britain colonized New Zealand in the 1700s and 1800s.
[02:38.55]In 1770, the British explorer Captain James Cook named the volcano Mount Egmont.
[02:49.76]In 1840, Māori tribes and representatives of the British government signed the Treaty of Waitangi.
[03:00.64]The treaty promised the Māori would keep the rights to their land and resources. 
[03:07.85]However, the British government began breaking parts of the treaty after that.
[03:15.77]In 1865, the government took a large area of Taranaki land, including the mountain, to punish the Māori for rebelling against British rule.
[03:31.93]Over the next one hundred years, hunting and sports groups helped oversee how the land was used, but the Māori did not.
[03:44.36]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.
[04:01.39]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.
[04:17.78]This has included billions of dollars to pay for the harm caused by breaking the Treaty of Waitangi.
[04:27.74]The mountain's legal rights are in place to support its health and wellbeing.
[04:35.84]The law will support traditional uses of the land and calls for conservation work to protect the native wildlife. 
[04:47.39]The mountain will remain open to the public.
[04:52.16]New Zealand was the first country in the world to recognize landforms as people. 
[05:01.24]In 2014, a law gave personhood to Te Urewera, a large forest on the North Island.
[05:11.31]Government ownership ended and the Tūhoe tribe became its guardian.
[05:18.37]And in 2017, New Zealand recognized the Whanganui River as a human, as part of a settlement with the tribe connected to the river.
[05:32.65]All 123 lawmakers in Parliament supported the new law for Taranaki Maunga. 
[05:42.53]The unity of the vote was a change from recent disagreements in New Zealand about proposed changes to the Treaty of Waitangi itself.
[05:56.36]In November, about 40,000 people marched to Parliament to protest a new law with proposed changes to the treaty.
[06:09.26]The protesters said the new law would take away Māori rights and harm the progress that has been made during the last 50 years.
[06:22.72]Most officials do not expect the bill with the proposed changes to become law.
[06:31.73]I'm Andrew Smith.