A mountain in New Zealand, also known as Aotearoa, is considered to be an ancestor by Indigenous people and has been recognized as a legal person. A new law granted it all the rights and responsibilities of a human being.
Mount Taranaki on New Zealand's North Island now has the same rights as a person, which gives it further protection and acknowledges its cultural significance to the Māori people.
For generations, the Māori have called it Taranaki Maunga and considered it to be a person. Government officials and Indigenous representatives will share management of the mountain, which the new law calls "a living and indivisible whole."
The legal recognition also acknowledges the mountain's theft from the Māori after New Zealand was colonized by England. In 1770, Capt. James Cook spotted the peak from his ship and named it Mount Egmont.
New Zealand's government previously granted personhood to a forest in 2014, and to a river in 2017. New Zealand was the first country to take such an action, but others have followed — from India to Ecuador.
Backers of the move say it increases protection including the mountain's health and well-being. The dormant volcano will still be accessible to the public.
