Tino rangatiratanga and sustainable development: Principles for developing a just and effective resource management regime in Aotearoa/New Zealand

The Māori peoples of Aotearoa/New Zealand, like many other indigenous peoples in the world, assert that they have never surrendered their traditional stewardship of the natural environment to colonial legal systems. Environmental stewardship is an inherent component of Māori self-determination, or tino rangatiratanga, as guaranteed by the Crown in the Treaty of Waitangi (1840). Giving just effect to the guarantees in the Treaty of Waitangi requires the development of legal structures relating to environmental stewardship which recognise Māori authority.; There are fundamental differences between the conceptualisation of authority within the holistic Māori legal system, based on relationships ( whanaungatanga), and the conceptualisation of authority within the prevailing New Zealand legal system, with its strong Diceyan traditions and Dwokinian conceptions of individual rights.; If legal structures relating to environmental stewardship, which effectively encourage sustainable development in Aotearoa/New Zealand, are to be developed, then they must allow both indigenous and non-indigenous understandings of authority to operate. Principles from tikanga Māori (Māori customary law), sustainable development policies, and the Treaty of Waitangi settlement process could be used to construct appropriate guidelines for the development of legal structures relating to Māori environmental stewardship.; The application of these guidelines requires interaction between indigenous and non-indigenous legal systems. A combination of legal pluralism, Aboriginal title, and a model of ‘bicultural jurisprudence’ is suggested to affect the necessary interaction.; Developing legal structures relating to environmental stewardship in accordance with these suggested principles using a variety of models of legal interaction would provide both just recognition of Māori authority under the Treaty of Waitangi, and an effective framework for sustainable development among Māori communities.