Mana Whenua

The Central North Island (CNI) Forests Collective Settlement is unique in Aotearoa New Zealand and when it was signed in 2009, history was made.

It was an empowering process. In previous settlements with the Crown the government decided what parcels of land would be returned to iwi. In the CNI process, iwi made these decisions.

The land was transferred as a whole to CNI Iwi Holdings Ltd, and from here the eight iwi proceeded to identify, discuss and eventually agree on respective mana whenua interests.

Members of the collective received 90% by value of the 176,000 hectares of Crown forest lands in the Central North Island. For Ngāti Tūwharetoa this meant:

• 25.9% of the accumulated rentals from the CNI Forest Land
• 25.9% of the annual Crown Forest License fees ($2m-3m per annum)
• A share of three million NZUs (carbon credits)
• Preferential rights to buy certain Crown assets
• A share of the 176,000ha Central North Island forests.

More details regarding the forest land allocations, accumulated an ongoing rental allocation, NZUs allocation and rights to by Crown assets.