In a world first this year, one of the local Maori tribes in the country’s North Island won a 140-year-old battle for recognition of their river as an ancestor. The new status for the Whanganui River – the country’s third-largest – now means if it is harmed in any way, for example, degradation of its waters, the new law will consider the harm inflicted on the river the same as it would a real person.