I Am The River, The River Is Me +Live Q&A

The Whanganui River in Aotearoa/New Zealand is the first river in the world to be recognized as a legal person, as a living and indivisible being.

Māori river guardian Ned Tapa invites a First Nations Elder from Australia and his daughter, who are activists dedicated to saving their own dying river back home, on a five-day canoe trip down this sacred river. Joining them are Ned’s friends, his family, an international film crew and Ned’s dog Jimmy. For the Māori, the Whanganui is a living being – their ancestor. This belief has been institutionalized by New Zealand law as of 2017. Granting the river legal personhood is a way of environmental protection for the river, and as a way of legally validating the Māori worldview.

The film is an invitation to experience these values: of thinking about our relationship to the world around us – to above all the natural world – as one of intergenerational care and guardianship rather than just ownership/use/extraction.

Q&A features Ginny Branney (CRKC), Dave Plumb (CRKC) and Giles Archibald (Cabinet Member for Climate, Biodiversity and Environmental Services, Westmorland & Furness Council).

The Clean River Kent Campaign works locally to raise public awareness of threats to water quality of the river Kent and its tributaries and enables volunteers to gather robust scientific evidence of pollution, which can then be used to challenge polluters.  The campaign has links to other groups seeking improved long-term protections for water bodies throughout the United Kingdom.