New Delhi: In 2014, New Zealand did something groundbreaking not only to protect the ecosystem of a place but also to preserve an ancient culture and heritage. That year, Te Urewera, which was a national park, was stripped of the designation and it became the world’s first ecosystem to be recognised as having legal personhood. Like the way a human being or corporation is treated in court, Te Urewera is imbued with the rights, powers, duties, and liabilities of a legal person. The move by the New Zealand government, the first of its kind in the world, restored Te Urewera, to the Tuhoe people, as it is their spiritual homeland.
Te Urewera: The historical land of the indigenous people
Te Urewera is remote, rugged, immense, and is the home of the Tūhoe people and is famous for its lakes and forested beauty. Located in the North Island of New Zealand, in the inland between the Bay of Plenty and Hawke Bay, it is the historical abode of Tuhoe, a Maori iwi (tribe) known for fighting for Maori sovereignty. Te Urewera is not just their homeland, but also the mother of their first ancestors.
How did the Tuhoe tribe lose the Te Urewera?
It is the same case of exploitation as we have seen throughout the history is so many parts of the world. Since Te Urewera was an isolated and immensely forested area, the British colonists mostly did not touch the region until the early 20th century. Te Urewera was still controlled by the Tuhoe tribe who lived there in peace and harmony.
Between 1894 and 1912, with the approval of a Crown statute (Monarchy of New Zealand), the Tuhoe leaders established the Urewera District Native Reserve, a traditional sanctuary which had virtual home rule. However, things took a downward turn between 1915 and 1926. During that period, the Crown aggressively began to gain control of the region through Urewera Consolidation Scheme and became the owner of most of the land in Te Urewera. People of the Tuhoe tribe were uprooted from their homeland.
The return of Te Urewera
In 1954, the New Zealand government designated a large portion of Te Urewera as the Te Urewera National Park. In 2014, after years of Tuhoe resistance, Te Urewera was granted personhood by the government, and the tribe got back its spiritual homeland. The Te Urewera Board now manages it, a body composed of both members who represent Tuhoe and the New Zealand government.
One cannot access Te Urewera easily, except by horseback or helicopter. The place is cherished and treasured for its valuable ecosystem, with groves of conifers dripping bright red berries, iridescent wood pigeons flapping their wings, the blossoming manuka along with the waterfalls, lakes and rivers flowing north, making the place as mesmerizing as heaven. Years of fight by Tuhoe has enabled its people to get back their spiritual homeland, and the tribe is now witnessing a renewed fight to survive against all odds, in the middle of nature.
In 2014, New Zealand granted Te Urewera, a national park and ancestral home of the Tuhoe people, legal personhood, a global first. This landmark decision, following years of colonial dispossession, returned control to the Tuhoe, recognizing the interconnectedness of indigenous rights and environmental protection. knowledge Knowledge News, Photos and Videos on General Knowledge
