Toitū Te Tiriti
Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the Treaty of Waitangi, is an important agreement for everyone who calls Aotearoa New Zealand home. It’s what gives us all a place to stand.
Greenpeace Aotearoa is committed to honouring Te Tiriti.
![Greenpeace Aotearoa executive director Russel Norman, with Fili Fepulea’i, Jess Desmond, Niamh O’Flynn and Emma Page of Greenpeace Aotearoa at Waitangi wearing Honour TeTiriti / Toitū Te Tiriti shirts in 2024](https://www.greenpeace.org/static/planet4-aotearoa-stateless/2024/02/31e36436-standing-at-waitangi-1024x768.jpg)
Connecting through Te Tiriti
![In two small boats, Greenpeace activists and members of the local iwiw opposed to deep sea oil drilling traveled 50 nautical miles off the coast of Wairarapa and intercepted the 125-metre seismic ship, Amazon Warrior, searching for oil off the East Coast of New Zealand on behalf of oil giants Statoil and Chevron. They flew the Tino Rangatiratanga flag along with an Oil Free Seas banner. Greenpeace campaigner Kate Simcock radioed the master of the Amazon Warrior to deliver in full an open letter of protest signed by over 60,000 New Zealanders, and Polynesian voyaging waka captain and East Coast resident, Reuben Raihania Tipoki (Ngāti Kahungunu), delivered a message on behalf of over 80 indigenous communities from the East Coast of Aotearoa, demanding Statoil and Chevron cease activities in their customary waters.](https://www.greenpeace.org/static/planet4-aotearoa-stateless/2024/08/b88ca972-gp0stqgbk_medium-res-with-credit-line-1200px-1024x683.jpg)
‘Toitū’ for us means to be sustainable, to remain whole. Toitū Te Tiriti is to support and honour Te Tiriti, to respect our foundational document as a guide for living together in this land we call home.
As we strive for the restoration of thriving biodiversity and a safe climate future, we also seek to reconnect to nature and each other.
This is at the heart of why Greenpeace Aotearoa is committed to honouring this country’s founding document, Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Honouring Te Tiriti means respecting tino rangatiratanga – the self-determination – of iwi and hapū.
Honouring Te Tiriti provides the framework as a nation to navigate the painful truth of the history of colonisation and its present day impacts. Even though it has been slow and difficult, there has been extraordinary progress.
This progress is also critical in the fight to protect and restore nature. For example, Parliament’s recognition of the Whanganui River with legal personhood in 2017 was a landmark legal step. It recognised the ancestral connection of Whanganui iwi and is the basis for the long-term protection of the awa.
Read the Greenpeace Aotearoa Te Tiriti Policy.
![Captain of the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior, Joel Stewart greets fisherman Elvis Teddy with a hongi, as the crew of the new Rainbow Warrior meet Whānau-ā-Apanui at Whangaparaoa, East Cape to celebrate the withdrawal oil giant Petrobras which had planned to drill for deep sea oil. During a 40-day at sea protest by Greenpeace and Whānau-ā-Apanui vessels, Elvis Teddy, who skippered the San Pietro fishing boat, was arrested by police.](https://www.greenpeace.org/static/planet4-aotearoa-stateless/2024/08/79601c26-gp04gyj_medium-res-with-credit-line-1200px-1024x726.jpg)
A new threat to Te Tiriti and Te Taiao
![Two banners at the front of the June 8 March for Nature protest in Auckland against the fast track bill read Toitū Te Tiriti, Toitū Te Taiao and Stop The Fast Track](https://www.greenpeace.org/static/planet4-aotearoa-stateless/2024/07/88ad564f-gp0su0yuf_medium-res-with-credit-line-1200px-1024x683.jpg)
As the New Zealand Government is busy waging a war on nature by removing hard-won protections for the natural ecosystems, they’re also launching a blatant attack on indigenous rights.
The Act Party’s proposed ‘Treaty Principles Bill’ is an attempt to fundamentally change the interpretation of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and, incredibly, to remove all references to Māori from the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
The forces pushing against indigenous self-determination and the right to protect the natural world as taonga are the same forces that have no regard for the importance of the natural world. To protect nature from pollution and destruction is entwined with the struggle for indigenous justice.
Te Tiriti is a vital agreement between the crown and Tangata Whenua. Join us in saying ‘no’ to the attempt to erase Māori from our history, creating division and hate. Let’s say ‘yes’ to a future Aotearoa New Zealand filled with unity and hope.
![From the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise, Greenpeace International activists confront the UK Royal Research ship MV James Cook in the East Pacific waters as it returned from a seven-week long expedition to a section of the Pacific Ocean targeted for deep sea mining. A Greenpeace activist scaled the side of the moving vessel to unfurl a banner reading “Say No to Deep Sea Mining”, while two Māori activists swam in front of the James Cook, one holding the Tino Rangatira flag and the other a flag reading “Don’t Mine the Moana”.](https://www.greenpeace.org/static/planet4-aotearoa-stateless/2023/03/0e31dc5b-gp0stvrg5-1024x684.jpg)
Greenpeace Aotearoa and Te Tiriti
![A Greenpeace RHIB and a Whānau-ā-Apanui fishing vessel skippered by Elvis Teddy with tribal leader Rikirangi Gage aboard work together to disrupt the seismic testing carried out by Brazilian oil giant Petrobras in Raukumara Basin, off East Cape, North Island. Banners are displayed reading "Stop deep sea oil".
Disrupting Oil Survey in New Zealand. © Malcolm Pullman / Greenpeace](https://www.greenpeace.org/static/planet4-aotearoa-stateless/2021/03/fc7d5f3d-gp02cl4-1024x683.jpg)
In campaigning for the environment, the Greenpeace crew has learnt over decades the power of working together with tangata whenua. Our struggles are often the same struggles as mana whenua. Local relationships with iwi and hapū were integral to the achievement in 2018 of the offshore oil exploration ban that Greenpeace is so proud to have been part of.
Read the story of how an alliance between Greenpeace, iwi, and the wider community faced down the oil giants.
Connected kaupapa
The March For Nature and many other protests we saw a blending of messages about protecting nature, defending Te Tiriti and stopping the war on Palestine. In episode two of Greenpeace LIVE, we discussed why that’s such a natural and powerful convergence of kaupapa. Bianca’s korero is a must-watch…