{"id":3873,"date":"2016-10-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-10-02T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ourplanet.org\/new-zealand-government-acknowledges-a-river-as-a-living-entity-and-a-park-as-having-human-rights\/"},"modified":"2023-05-11T19:15:31","modified_gmt":"2023-05-11T06:15:31","slug":"new-zealand-government-acknowledges-a-river-as-a-living-entity-and-a-park-as-having-human-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourplanet.org\/greenplanetfm\/new-zealand-government-acknowledges-a-river-as-a-living-entity-and-a-park-as-having-human-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand Government Acknowledges a River as a Living Entity and a Park as Having Human Rights!"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Ecuador and Bolivia, this recognition of their connection to the planet that sustains them has seen the passing of legislation that recognises Nature as a subject rather than an object -- in Bolivia in a legal sense, and in Ecuador as a constitutional statement.<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

This is very profound and especially heart-warming. When we connect the dots, we realise it is our planet - Mother Earth, *Papatuanuku -- Gaia -- that
\n generously loans us bodies, free air, free water and, until recently, a free food chain.
\n \n<\/p>\n

Our intimate connection to our great sustainer deserves this kind of recognition in law. After decades of judicial, legal, and ethical debates about whether
\n rights should be extended beyond human beings, today it is, at last, a reality.
\n \n<\/p>\n

Though there has been much dialogue about the legal and moral status of Nature --animals, plants,insects and biota in general, plus inanimate aspects of
\n nature, the debate continues. However this new legal description acknowledges that Nature -- known as Pachamama in the Quichua<\/a> (the Ecuadorian indigenous language) and Aimara<\/a> (the Bolivian indigenous language), has rights.
\n \n<\/p>\n

In Aotearoa New Zealand another, and similar, set of circumstances has been requested by indigenous M\u0101ori. This has been a very long process.
\n \n<\/p>\n

Based on the Waitangi Tribunal, which was set up in 1975 to air grievances and violations since the 1840 signing of a Treaty between the British Crown
\n and M\u0101ori chiefs, the opportunity has finally been offered to M\u0101ori - iwi, (tribes) hapu, (sub tribes) to redress historical claims, and recognise
\n the journey of our awa (rivers). Waikato iwi lodged their claim to the tribunal in 1987; Whanganui lodged their claim in 1990. T\u016bwharetoa got the Crown
\n to vest Lake Taupo to them in 1992, and then we had a claims process. It is all interconnected.<\/p>\n

Yet in another region of Te Ika O Maui - (The Fish of Maui -- the North Island of New Zealand) another equally profound land action took place in 2014.
\n \n<\/p>\n

The area known as Te Urewera, covering an area of approximately 2,127 km\u00b2, that had been confiscated from the Tuhoe iwi (tribe), was returned to them in
\n the Te Urewera Act on July 27, 2014. This granting of legal identity to Te Urewera vests the Te Urewera land as a legal entity that has all the rights,
\n powers, duties, and liabilities of a legal person. <\/p>\n

Due to its geographical isolation, Te Urewera was one of the last regions to be claimed by the British during colonisation in the 19th century.
\n \n<\/p>\n

This recent \u2018returning\u2019 was as a result of a long past action when the colonial British \u2018unlawfully\u2019 took possession of this large well watered and forested
\n area and, realising that it was not legal, the NZ government have returned it in the form of a park, but with legal standing and being administered
\n by the Tuhoe tribe or iwi. <\/p>\n

Yet many people in NZ only learnt about this event via the alternative press overseas stating:
\n \n<\/p>\n

\u201cNew Zealand Grants Human Rights to a Former National Park.\u201d This was news to most New Zealanders!<\/p>\n

In an equally stunning event the NZ Government has now set in motion of giving legal status to a river system, that would by law describe it as \u201ca living
\n entity.\u201d This vast river or awa, having a catchment area of 7,308 km2.<\/p>\n

Both these two claims by M\u0101ori are unprecedented, for they both bring into focus, M\u0101ori understanding that we live on a being and that Mother Earth or
\n Papatuanku is what M\u0101ori call - her.
\n \n<\/p>\n

In conclusion, this landmark New Zealand legislation brings about sovereignty to a river and its tributaries. It is recognised as an interconnected entity,
\n actually an extension of Papatuanuku, Mother Earth. It is a metaphysical acknowledgement that we are part of a greater whole that nurtures and nourishes
\n everyone. The elements of this system are one continuous everlasting flow that we humans can draw sustenance from, and at the same time, venerate and
\n be thankful.
\n \n<\/p>\n

This idea is not new. Ancient Greece had an understanding some 2,500 years ago when they in their cosmologies introduced the notion of 'Mother Earth' and
\n named her Gaia. From her all things issued. Delphi, for example, was known as the navel of the great mother.
\n \n<\/p>\n

In the 1970s when James Lovelock presented his hypothesis that our planet is a colossal living super-organism, it shook the foundations of Western science.
\n At the time, science considered our planet basically a volcanic rock, with life forms somehow clinging to it. Lovelock's Gaia Hypothesis became a theory
\n in the mid-Nineties as research progressed and more geophysical data was collected. By extension, as we become more conscious of our connection to
\n the living planet, we may realise that our galaxy is quite possibly one vast living organism.
\n \n<\/p>\n

The most recent understanding of a whole living system was brought to the global community by way of James Cameron\u2019s 2010 blockbuster movie Avatar.
\n \n<\/p>\n

In the film, the moon Pandora had a mystical presence -- Ewa -- to which the indigenous inhabitants, the Na\u2019vi, could attune. All the vegetation was connected
\n by a neural network of tree roots that interwove under the surface of the ground. The Na\u2019vi could attach part of their hair to this and tap into a
\n greater knowing -- with the essence of both animals or trees. They were all linked into one indivisible unified field.
\n \n<\/p>\n

This is what M\u0101ori instinctively know - that they are connected to both the wairua (spirit) and the mauri (life principle, vital essence, special nature
\n - essential quality and vitality of a being or entity)and the hidden presence of Papatuanku -- Mother Earth.
\n \n<\/p>\n

*Aotearoa the original name Maori gave to New Zealand.<\/span>
\n \n<\/p>\n

There are 2 versions:
\n \n<\/p>\n

\u2022 <\/span>Land of the long white cloud<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/span> Land of the lingering light. <\/p>\n

Please find below the recent moves in the NZ Parliament where politicians from all parties spoke to this new legislation about the Whanganui river in glowing
\n terms of connection and fulfillment.
\n \n<\/p>\n

Acknowledgment by Law of a New Zealand River being classed as an Entity.
\n \n<\/p>\n

Here is the current situation taken from NZ Government Parliamentary Records. Authorised te reo (the language) text by the Hansard Office. (Hansard is
\n the official report of debate in the NZ Parliamentary House of Representatives.)
\n \n<\/p>\n

In this abridged official narrative below there are numerous expressions of excitement and fulfillment from M\u0101ori Members of Parliament speaking to this
\n legislation, from across many political parties.
\n \n<\/p>\n

Their expectations of what this legislation would do, praises all involved for recognising that this river, was\/is the life-blood of both the tribes and
\n the localised area and their near on poetic oratory conveys the message of their inheritance - that they are deeply embedded in their connection to
\n the land and mother earth - Papatuanku.<\/p>\n

On the 24 May 2016 heralded the passing through NZ\u2019s Parliament of the First Reading by Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (Government Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations): where he moved; That the Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River Claims Settlement) Bill be now read a first time. <\/h4>\n

He nominated the M\u0101ori Affairs Committee to consider the bill. Stating this is a truly historic day, after all these years, this House will debate Te Awa
\n Tupua (Whanganui River Claims Settlement) Bill for the first time. He warmly welcomed to Parliament all representatives of Whanganui iwi. (tribes).
\n Who were in Parliament 2 years previously to initial the deed of settlement, and now their common goal of bringing recognition to the great Whanganui
\n River has brought them back to Parliament again.
\n \n<\/p>\n

He addressed the bill as having both novel and exciting aspects. The river being recognised in law as Te Awa Tupua, (The river be strange, supernatural,
\n abnormal) - an indivisible and living whole, from the mountains to the sea, incorporating its tributaries and all its physical and metaphysical elements.
\n The Crown (NZ Government) no longer owning the riverbed but the Crown still having a role to play, and having developed this concept of the role of
\n Te Pou Tupua, (establish, appoint, anoint - support a cause or a territorial symbol, such as a mountain or landmark) where both the Crown and iwi appointed
\n two guardians, and that they will be the face of Te Awa Tupua and will symbolise the partnership through the Treaty.
\n \n<\/p>\n