Taranaki Maunga gains Legal Personhood

Taranaki Maunga will now be recognised as a legal person after a historic treaty settlement was passed into law.

The New Zealand government has formally apologised for confiscating Taranaki Maunga and 1.2 million acres of Māori land in 1865. As part of the agreement, the name “Egmont” will no longer be used, and the mountain will be jointly managed by local iwi and the Crown.

The settlement was approved in Parliament on Thursday, with around 400 people from the eight iwi of Taranaki present. The national park, formerly Egmont National Park, will now be called Te Papa-Kura-o-Taranaki, meaning “the highly regarded and treasured lands of Taranaki.” The mountain’s highest peak will officially be known as Taranaki Maunga.

Under the agreement, the entire park will be considered a legal person, meaning it will have rights and protections similar to a living being. A governance group, Te Tōpuni Kōkōrangi, made up of both iwi and government representatives, will oversee its management. This group will create plans for the park’s care, which must be approved by the Minister of Conservation.

Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, co-leader of Te Pāti Māori and a descendant of Ngāti Ruanui, spoke in Parliament, saying the settlement frees Taranaki from the “shackles of confiscation.” Lead negotiator Jamie Tuuta explained that the legal recognition aligns with the Māori belief that mountains are ancestors, not resources.

He emphasised that the co-governance model reflects the partnership envisioned in the Treaty of Waitangi.