![]() The concept of “rights of nature” is advanced worldwide as a legal mechanism often in order that groups may be empowered to care for natural objects, for the well-being of environments and humans (since communities would be empowered to the degree that these objects have legal standing). ![]() At the same time, as a scholar of environmental humanities in the US, I also am keenly aware that advocates for the “rights of nature” all over the world, however understood, now almost invariably include the Whanganui River declaration of 2017 in lists of examples of global progress in promoting their cause. It is quite a significant one, given that it relates to the great Whanganui River (Te Awa Tupua), commonly called just “Te Awa” (The River). However, this is rarely mentioned outside of New Zealand in celebratory reports and messaging about the river’s newly-recognized “rights.” Locating Te Awa Tupua in the “Rights of Nature” DiscussionĪs a legal resident of Aotearoa New Zealand, I tend primarily to view this as a treaty claims settlement, as do most other New Zealanders with whom I have spoken. A Waitangi treaty claims case would have neither legal application nor standing outside of Aotearoa. Independent of the national context, international attention has recast the Whanganui River treaty claims settlement as a victory for the “rights of nature.” I learned from those involved that it came as something of a surprise when international journalists first started to ring up from all over the world, inquiring about the declaration. This is what sets the Whanganui River declaration apart from other claims settlements based on the Treaty of Waitangi (1840), the foundational document of the nation of New Zealand. ![]() However, Māori negotiators of this particular settlement knew that in this case the formulation of the resolution would be unprecedented for its use of Indigenous language and concepts. Since the Treaty of Waitangi Act of 1975, which established the process of the Waitangi Tribunal in New Zealand, claims like this have been heard in Crown courts for decades. A common saying about this river in Te Reo Māori, known throughout Aotearoa, is, “Ko au Te Awa ko Te Awa ko au,” which means, “I am the River, and the River is me.” The wording of the Whanganui River Claims Settlement casts the “indivisible and living” whole of Te Awa through this cultural framework, and into the legal and administrative apparatus of the state. In 2017, the parliamentary declaration of the Whanganui River in Aotearoa New Zealand designated the river Te Awa Tupua to be an “indivisible and living whole.” This language that affirms environmental personhood is a direct translation from an Indigenous Māori cultural expression.
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