Mount Taranaki in New Zealand is about to be granted legal rights as a human being.
The local Maori tribes and governments will share responsibility for protecting the sacred mountain of Taranaki on the west coast of New Zealand's north. Local people have long regarded the mountain as ancestor or family member, according to the Guardian.
A memorandum of understanding signed this week stating that Taranaki Mountain would become "a legal entity with its own interests," said Minister Andrew Little.
After being conferred legal status, if the mountain was damaged by someone, this would be equivalent to harming the people of the tribe.
Little said the deal would help the mountain to be protected as well as possible, especially as it is increasingly attracting more visitors, after Lonely Planet ranks Taranaki as the second most desirable place in the world. last year.
The 120,000-year-old Taranaki is New Zealand's most structurally unstable volcano. The last peak of the eruption was in 1775. Taranaki is also home to some of Mountaineers in New Zealand. The mountain is the third geographic entity to be recognized as a legal entity in this country, after the Whanganui River and the Te Urewera area.
Phuong Vu
