Taranaki

This year in Aotearoa, also known as New Zealand, the mountain Taranaki Maunga was recognized as a legal person because the Maori see it as an ancestor.

Ngarewa-Packer is among one of the eight Taranaki iwi, on New Zealand's west coast, to whom the mountain is sacred.

The agreement aims to compensate Māori from the Taranaki region for injustices done to them during colonisation - including widespread land confiscation.

The Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill was passed into law by New Zealand's parliament on Thursday - giving the mountain a legal name and protecting its surrounding peaks and land.

The mountain will no longer be officially known as Egmont - the named given to it by British explorer James Cook in the 18th Century - and instead be called Taranaki Maunga, while the surrounding national park will also be given its Māori name.