- The local Maori tribe of Whanganui in the North Island has fought for the recognition of their river - the third-largest in New Zealand - as an ancestor for 140 years.
- Whanganui river is also called ‘Te Awa Tupua’.
- The new status of the river means if someone abused or harmed it the law now sees no differentiation between harming the iwi (tribe) or harming the river because they are one and the same.
- Two guardians will be appointed to act on behalf of the Whanganui river, one from the crown and one from the Whanganui iwi.
- The tribe believes that they can trace their genealogy to the origins of the universe. And rather than they being masters of the natural world, they are part of it. They want to live like that as their starting point.
- They say that it is not an anti-development, or anti-economic use of the river but to begin with the view that it is a living being, and then consider its future from that central belief.
