A river can be a person. In 2017 the Maori of New Zealand secured from the government the acknowledgement that the river Te Awa Tupua is a person. For the Maori, this river, like so many other non-human entities in nature, has always had its own identity, and it has been respected and acknowledged in ceremonies. Now a nation's government operating mainly through Western values and worldviews officially accepted another way of understanding the world around us. This project looks at the ways, in which Indigenous conceptions of nature differ from so-called Western conceptions, and how these views could be reconciled in environmental and nature protection. The goal of the project is to find and create practical frameworks to enhance the cooperation between environmental administrative agencies and Indigenous peoples and to foster true communication, which will lead to better, more sustainable and inclusive management practices.

2023

2027