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Whatsapp The Whanganui River on New Zealand's North Island will soon be given legal personhood.

The New Zealand government is planning on giving the country's third largest river the same rights as a citizen. It's part of a legal revolution recognising the Maori connection to the environment and shifting assumptions about human control of the natural world.

Professor Jacinta Ruru laughs when she describes the Te Urewera Act as a 'beautiful piece of legislation'. It certainly isn't your average piece of legalese.

They are recognised in law now as having their own presence, their own needs and their own well being.

Until 2014, Te Urewera in the Hawkes Bay region of New Zealand's North Island was a national park.

The Act removed the land's national park status and granted it legal personhood, giving it the same rights as any citizen.

'It talks about Te Urewera as an ancient and enduring place, a fortress of nature alive with history, scenery is abundant with mystery, adventure and remote beauty,' Ruru says.

'It's also a place of spiritual value and here [the Act] uses the Maori language about [Te Urewera] having its own mana—its own authority, having its own mauri—its own life force, and that Te Urewera has an identity in and of itself.'

The legislation goes onto explain the significance of these lands to the Tūhoe tribe as 'the heart of the great fish of Maui, its name being derived from Murakareke, the son of the ancestor Tūhoe' and as the tribe's homeland from which they are born and return to upon their death.

'It's a place that we all should be proud of and value for the cultural heritage, for the scientific importance and for a place for outdoor recreation and spiritual reflection—so it's a beautiful piece of legislation,' Ruru says.

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Whatsapp Early morning mist rises off the lake near Waiopaoa campsite on the Lake Waikaremoana Great Walk in Te Urewera.

Now New Zealand is bestowing legal personhood on another natural feature—the Whanganui River, the third longest river in the country.

'It means that these lands or the river have their own authority—they are recognised in law now as having their own presence, their own needs and their own wellbeing,' Ruru says.

'They can be represented now as a voice in court. Obviously they're not speaking for themselves as such but ... this is part of the whole agreement between the government and our Maori tribes as to who will then speak on behalf of these important places.'

Looking after the Whanganui River

The Whanganui River legislation, called the Te Awa Tupua bill, is currently going through parliament, but Ruru says it is likely to be passed.

If it is passed, the Whanganui tribe and the government will work together and speak on behalf of the river. They will be responsible for taking action in court when required and present their arguments for the health and wellbeing of the river.

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Whatsapp Mokau Falls, Lake Waikaremoana in Te Urewera National Park.

The use of water and other natural resources will be regulated but not banned under the legislation, and visitors can still use the river and Te Urewera for recreation.

Ruru says there hasn't been much debate around the Te Awa Tupua bill, which came about from the Treaty of Waitangi settlement.

'Our government and New Zealanders committed to reconciling with Maori, recognising that there were historical and contemporary breaches of our Treaty of Waitangi that was signed back in 1840,' she says.

'The legal personality concept was introduced in those negotiations as a mechanism to neutralise the ownership issue and to move forward in a very respectful way about recognising these lands as having their own authority and then overlaying that [with] a co-management type of regime.'

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The laws completely flip the presumption of human sovereignty over the environment and embrace the Maori relationship with the land.

'From the Maori perspective ... our landscape is personified, we see the earth, our lands as our earth mother Papatuanuku,' says Ruru.

'We see ourselves very much as being part of the environment and our health and wellbeing as a people being reflected back into the health and wellbeing of the environment or vice versa.

'This new act that moves that Te Urewera land from the national park regime puts it into its own place because it owns itself. Maori don't own, the New Zealand government doesn't own this land. It is its own person, it cannot be owned.'