N 2014, a groundbreaking New Zealand law granted legal personhood—with all its rights and responsibilities—to the rainforest Te Urewera, a former national park and the spiritual homeland of the Ngāi Tūhoe. A new board reflecting, or guardianship, now represents the forest as a living being in the courtroom and aims to manage people for the benefit of the land. “We don’t own her,” explains Tineti Apiata, who resides in one of Te Urewera’s four valleys and traces her people’s creation story to their swirling mists. “She belongs to herself.”
