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New Zealand river’s personhood status offers hope to Māori

Sunlight glints off the upper reaches of New Zealand's Whanganui River on June 16, 2022. In 2017, New Zealand passed a groundbreaking law granting personhood status to the Whanganui River. The law declares that the river is a living whole, from the mountains to the sea, incorporating all its physical and metaphysical elements. (AP Photo/Brett Phibbs) Adam Daniel stands for a portrait in the upper reaches of the Whanganui River in New Zealand on June 16, 2022. Daniel monitors the Whanganui and dozens of other rivers for Fish & Game New Zealand. He has found more sediment even in the river's upper reaches than in nearby waterways. Forestry, four-wheel-drive trails and other human impacts are factors, but near the Whanganui's source, Daniel points out where a power company is sucking out water as part of the Tongariro Power Scheme. (AP Photo/Brett Phibbs) Adam Daniel fishes in the upper reaches of the Whanganui River in New Zealand on June 16, 2022. Daniel monitors the Whanganui and dozens of other rivers for Fish & Game New Zealand. He has found more sediment even in the river's upper reaches than in nearby waterways. Forestry, four-wheel-drive trails and other human impacts are factors, but near the Whanganui's source, Daniel points out where a power company is sucking out water as part of the Tongariro Power Scheme. (AP Photo/Brett Phibbs) Douglas Cameron, a farm worker, fogs beehives to fight mites on the banks of the Whanganui River near the town of Koriniti, New Zealand, on June 17, 2022. The Horizons Regional Council has worked for 18 years with farmers along the river on reversing erosion and other improvements, including fencing off streams to contain cattle and sheep waste, which increases the levels of unwanted nitrates and bacteria. (AP Photo/Brett Phibbs) The upper reaches of New Zealand's Whanganui River flow through a forest on June 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Brett Phibbs) The upper reaches of the Whanganui River flow near Piriaka in New Zealand's King Country on June 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Brett Phibbs) Ngahuia Twomey-Waitai, 28, reaches into New Zealand's Whanganui River to ritually splash water on herself on June 17, 2022. “I tend to come down here quite often to cleanse myself, especially when I’m going through some big, huge changes in my life, regardless of them being good or bad," she says. “The river always makes things better for me." “Just being down here gives me a huge smile and brings me at peace with myself and my life.” (AP Photo/Brett Phibbs) Clouds are reflected in the Whanganui River at the town of Whanganui, New Zealand, on June 17, 2022. While New Zealand law states that the river enjoys the same rights, powers, duties and liabilities of any other person, there are limitations. (AP Photo/Brett Phibbs) The lower reaches of the Whanganui River flow near the Kaiwhaiki settlement in New Zealand on June 15, 2022. Gerrard Albert, the lead negotiator for Whanganui Maori in getting the river’s personhood recognized by lawmakers, says the status is a legal fiction, a construct more commonly used to give something like a corporation legal standing. (AP Photo/Brett Phibbs) Gerrard Albert, the lead Maori negotiator in the Whanganui River treaty settlement, which saw the river given personhood status, stands for a portrait overlooking his ancestral settlement on the river near the town of Whanganui, New Zealand, on June 15, 2022. Before, Albert says, the tribe constantly had to make the case for protecting the river to an ever-changing cast of local councilors and politicians in the capital, Wellington. The people who made the rules, he says, were the planners, the lawyers and the businesspeople. (AP Photo/Brett Phibbs) The Whanganui intake of a Genesis Energy hydroelectric program sits in the upper reaches of the Whanganui River in New Zealand's Whanganui National Park on June 16, 2022. Last year 81% of New Zealand's electricity came from renewable sources, thanks in large part to this and other big hydro schemes. It’s a positive story the government likes to tout, but today such projects would be unlikely to get regulatory approval because of their environmental toll. (AP Photo/Brett Phibbs) The lower reaches of the Whanganui River flow near the Kaiwhaiki settlement in New Zealand on June 15, 2022. Gerrard Albert, the lead negotiator for Whanganui Maori in getting the river’s personhood recognized by lawmakers, says the status is a legal fiction, a construct more commonly used to give something like a corporation legal standing. (AP Photo/Brett Phibbs) Glenn Martin, owner of the Blazing Paddles canoe rental business, walks along the Whanganui River in Piriaka, New Zealand, on June 16, 2022. “When you’re down here on the river, it just takes you to another place,” he says. “It’s relaxing. It’s soothing. It’s reinvigorating.” (AP Photo/Brett Phibbs) Born and raised in Whanganui, New Zealand, Bruce Butters plays with his dogs Duke and Ali on the banks of the Whanganui River on June 17, 2022. In 2017, New Zealand passed a groundbreaking law granting personhood status to the Whanganui River. The law declares that the river is a living whole, from the mountains to the sea, incorporating all its physical and metaphysical elements. (AP Photo/Brett Phibbs) Jula Teki, known as "Aunty Sugar," stands for a portrait at the Otukopiri marae (meeting grounds) which she runs on the banks of the Whanganui River in the town of Koriniti, New Zealand, on June 15, 2022. She says all the power schemes and farms along the banks have effectively turned the river upside down. She says the river gaining personhood status would make her ancestors proud. “They would be astonished now, if they were alive,” she says. “They would be saying, ‘Wow. You did what we couldn’t do.’” (AP Photo/Brett Phibbs) The Otukopiri marae (meeting grounds) stands on the banks of the Whanganui River in the town of Koriniti, New Zealand, on June 17, 2022. Jula Teki, known as "Aunty Sugar," who runs the marae says, “They call us the river rats. And we are the river people, the people of the river. ... When the river is flowing good, everything is okay. When it's flooded, we just all hunker down and we know how the river’s going to react. The road’s probably going to close down, but that doesn’t mean anything to us.” (AP Photo/Brett Phibbs) The upper reaches of the Whanganui River flow near Piriaka in New Zealand's King Country on June 16, 2022. In 2017, New Zealand passed a groundbreaking law granting personhood status to the Whanganui River. The law declares that the river is a living whole, from the mountains to the sea, incorporating all its physical and metaphysical elements. (AP Photo/Brett Phibbs) Geoff Hipango, who manages mental health and addiction services for a tribal provider in Whanganui and who lives in a Maori marae community, stands for a portrait on the banks of the Whanganui River in New Zealand on June 15, 2022. Hipango says he thinks it's going to take time — perhaps a generation or more — for the river's health to be fully restored but it's now on the right track. (AP Photo/Brett Phibbs) The sun shines on the banks of the Whanganui River in the town of Whanganui, New Zealand, on June 15, 2022. While New Zealand law states that the river enjoys the same rights, powers, duties and liabilities of any other person, there are limitations. (AP Photo/Brett Phibbs) The lower reaches of the Whanganui River flow near the Kaiwhaiki settlement in New Zealand on June 15, 2022. Gerrard Albert, the lead negotiator for Whanganui Maori in getting the river’s personhood recognized by lawmakers, says the status is a legal fiction, a construct more commonly used to give something like a corporation legal standing. (AP Photo/Brett Phibbs) Frances Marshall stands for a portrait near the town of Whakaihuwhaka, New Zealand, where she runs the Rivertime Lodge on the banks of the Whanganui River, on June 15, 2022. Marshall has been around the river all her life. Her father and grandfather were of British descent and were one of the last families to venture into the relatively difficult terrain to clear brush for farming and breeding sheep. (AP Photo/Brett Phibbs) Frances Marshall stands for a portrait near the town of Whakaihuwhaka, New Zealand, where she runs the Rivertime Lodge on the banks of the Whanganui River, on June 15, 2022. The moko kauae tattoo on her chin represents a woman's family, status and leadership within her community. (AP Photo/Brett Phibbs) Tahi Nepia, a waka ama (outrigger canoe) paddler and caretaker at a Maori immersion school, travels on the Whanganui River in New Zealand on June 14, 2022. Before venturing out, he makes sure to first ask permission from his ancestors in a prayer, or karakia. It's the top item on his safety list. He says his ancestors inhabit the river and each time he dips his paddle into the water, he touches them. “You are giving them a mihimihi, you are giving them a massage," Nepia says. "That’s how we see that river. It’s a part of us.” (AP Photo/Brett Phibbs) The Whanganui River winds through the town of Whanganui, New Zealand, on June 15, 2022. In 2017, New Zealand passed a groundbreaking law granting personhood status to the river. The law declares that the river is a living whole, from the mountains to the sea, incorporating all its physical and metaphysical elements. (AP Photo/Brett Phibbs)