Tribunal hears final Wai 262 submissions

NZPA
29 September 2006

The Waitangi Tribunal has heard two extra last-minute submissions on the long-running bid for exclusive Maori rights to flora and fauna.

The claim, known as Wai 262, calls for exclusive and comprehensive rights to indigenous flora and fauna, as well as all Maori cultural knowledge, customs and practices.

The Tribunal this week heard claims from Te Waka Kai Ora and Wairoa-Waikaremoana Maori Trust Board, despite the objections of other claimants.

Counsel for all six earlier claimants ­ Ngati Kuri, Ngati Wai, Te Rarawa, Ngati Porou, Ngati Kahungunu and Ngati Koata ­ said including new claimants would cause unnecessary delay and was unlikely to add anything to the claim.

Submissions on the claim are now finished, with the tribunal hearing from the Crown in December before writing up a report that will go to Government.

But New Zealand's biotech industry organization ­ NZBio ­ is already anticipating the possible impact on bioprospecting, the gathering of organisms for commercial exploitation of chemical compounds.

NZBio was preparing an industry position on the topic, it said in its annual report.