THIS mountain gets the same legal rights as a human!
- By Web Desk -
- Feb 27, 2025
In a viral legal decision, New Zealand’s iconic Taranaki Maunga (Mount Taranaki) has been granted the same legal rights as a human.
This viral move comes as part of the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill, passed by parliament on Thursday.
The landmark settlement aims to rectify historical injustices inflicted on the Māori people of the Taranaki region during colonization.
The viral agreement, the result of years of negotiations, recognizes the Māori worldview that natural features, like mountains, are living ancestors and grants Taranaki Maunga the right to “own itself.”
Read More: Alaska lawmakers push back on Trump’s mountain name change
A viral collaborative management structure will oversee the mountain’s well-being, involving representatives from the eight local Iwi (tribes) and the government.
Additionally, the bill officially restores the mountain’s Māori name, Taranaki Maunga, replacing the colonial name, Mount Egmont, given by British explorer James Cook.
The surrounding national park will also revert to its Māori name.
The settlement also includes a viral formal apology from the government for the confiscation of Taranaki Maunga and over a million acres of land from local Māori in the 1860s, violating the Treaty of Waitangi.
This viral agreement marks the latest step in New Zealand’s ongoing efforts to address historical grievances with Māori, following similar moves like granting legal personhood to the Whanganui River.
In other news, Donald Trump’s order to change the name of the highest mountain in the United States faced pushback Friday from members of his own party.
Alaska’s Republican-dominated senate voted overwhelmingly against his plan to ditch the Indigenous name Denali for the huge peak, which Trump has rechristened Mount McKinley.
The president has unleashed a flood of executive orders in his first few days in the White House as he attempts to remake the US government.
Orders have included mass pardons for pro-Trump rioters, a federal hiring freeze and an attempt to overturn the constitutionally mandated practice of granting birthright citizenship.
But his order to rename the 20,300-foot (6,200-meter) Denali drew the ire of Alaska’s state legislators.
A resolution passed unanimously by the Alaska state senate on Friday urged Trump to rethink his plan.