Legal and Ontological Pluralism: Recognising Rivers as More-Than-Human Entities

Abstract

We explore the ways in which the formal recognition (to some extent) of Indigenous knowledge systems within environmental governance and the role of reconcilition in achieving environmental justice. We examine whether recent agreements between the New Zealand Crown (Crown) and Māori tribal groups (iwi), known as Treaty ‘settlements’, to establish shared co-governance and management over rivers encapsulate and are capable of achieving environmental justice for Māori. We draw on schoalrship on legal and ontological pluralism to consider questions of how to remedy environmental injustice and what reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples means in settler societies. Rather than seek to provide a singular definition of Indigenous environmental justice (IEJ), we instead examine how Indigenous peoples in Aotearoa New Zealand and other colonial societies are engaged in efforts to negotiate with and challenge the colonial legal orders, develop their laws, policies, and governance frameworks to achieve justice within the freshwater realm.

Managing ubiquitous ‘forever chemicals’: More‐than‐human possibilities for the problem of PFAS

“…There is already evidence of this in an increasingly interconnected biodiversity strategy, which is accommodating of dynamic systems: changing connections between changing people and nature, which could provide openings for thinking about soil remediation from the perspective of soil. This has enabled a reframing of conventionally considered inanimate bodies and their contexts, making visible their agency or even their ‘personhood’ (Parsons et al, 2021). The point of more‐than‐human theorisation here is to decentre the human in thinking of other bodies' agency, rights and needs.…”

“…Specifically, legislation arising from Treaty of Waitangi settlements in relation to rivers, forests and mountains have generated laws that grant legal personhood (Te Awa Tupua and Te Urewera; Charpleix, 2018). Other laws recognise biophysical features as ancestors (Waikato River) and acknowledge the agency of more‐than‐human actors (e.g., a taniwha 1 in relation to the Waipā River; Parsons et al, 2021). These developments generated new forms of governing that better recognise Māori (Indigenous) rights, values and knowledge including the deep connection and reciprocity, between humans and more‐than‐humans (for instance, more‐than‐human kaitiaki or guardians over people; Parsons et al, 2021).…”

“…Other laws recognise biophysical features as ancestors (Waikato River) and acknowledge the agency of more‐than‐human actors (e.g., a taniwha 1 in relation to the Waipā River; Parsons et al, 2021). These developments generated new forms of governing that better recognise Māori (Indigenous) rights, values and knowledge including the deep connection and reciprocity, between humans and more‐than‐humans (for instance, more‐than‐human kaitiaki or guardians over people; Parsons et al, 2021). Moreover, these developments push at the limits of (environmental) regulation and require greater inclusivity at all scales of regulation.…”