Indigeneity and Trends in Recognizing Māori Environmental Interests in Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract

Valuing indigeneity is a recent phenomenon despite a long tradition in Aotearoa New Zealand of mechanisms that recognize Māori rights and interests. Political pressure to acknowledge indigeneity has been a prerequisite to greater recognition of Māori rights and interests in environmental policy. Māori involvement is now a feature of the state resource management system; however, more substantive forms of power-sharing is sought to secure tribal authority, to reaffirm Māori culture, and to ensure that land continues to shape the identity of Māori people. © 2014 Copyright Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.