Statutory Acknowledgements
Statutory acknowledgements are statements of cultural, spiritual, historic, and traditional associations of an iwi with a site or an area acknowledged by the Crown in Treaty of Waitangi settlement processes. They have legal weight from inclusion in Treaty claims settlement acts.
Statutory acknowledgement areas include land, geographical features, lakes, wetlands and coastal marine environments that the iwi is associated with. Where a statutory acknowledgement relates to a river, lake, wetland or coastal area, it only applies to that part of the bed in Crown ownership or control.
The purpose of the statutory acknowledgements is specified in each Settlement Act, but generally includes:
A requirement for Horizons to forward summaries of resource consent applications to the post Treaty settlement entity if the activities lie within, adjacent to, or impact directly on the identified statutory areas, unless there is an alternative agreement with the iwi;
Empowerment for iwi to quote the statutory acknowledgement as evidence of the association that the iwi has with a statutory area in consent decision-making processes.
Horizons has a responsibility to attach information recording statutory acknowledgements to the One Plan. It is important information for resource users to consider when making an application for resource consent.