11 May 2011
Upper South Island iwi and the Crown have taken the first step towards a $48 million Treaty of Waitangi forestry settlement, according to a report by Helen Murdoch in the Nelson Mail. A draft deal has been hammered out in confidential talks between the Crown and the four Tainui Taranaki groups, plus Ngati Toa, which would see 79,000 hectares of forestry land passed over to iwi. The deal has taken three years to negotiate and is part of the $300 million upper South Island Treaty of Waitangi settlement.Eight upper South Island iwi are engaged in the Te Tau Ihu O Te Waka (the northern South Island claims) settlement. The Tainui Taranaki groups include Ngati Tama, Ngati Rarua, Te Ati Awa, Ngati Koata as well as Ngati Toa.
Minister for treaty settlements Chris Finlayson was not prepared to comment on the agreement in principle except to say the process was going well.
The forestry agreements reached will eventually be incorporated into each group's deed of settlement. However, the full upper South Island settlement will not be finalised until Wakatu Incorporation's case against the Crown runs its course.
The Crown suspended treaty settlement negotiations with top of the South Island iwi earlier this year because it was concerned Wakatu's legal action could result in the same people being paid twice for the same claims. Wakatu accused the Crown of stalling to put pressure on it not to proceed.
Ngati Tama chairman Fred Te Miha said the draft forestry deal would see the land and associated leases handed over to iwi by the Crown. It would not affect forestry companies cutting contracts or ownership of the trees, he said.
Once the settlement was finalised the forestry land would be divided among the iwi by agreement, he said.
Source: Nelson Mail. To read the full story, click here.