Story: Te Māori i te ohanga – Māori in the economy

In 2008 a collective of central North Island iwi made up of Ngāi Tūhoe, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Whakaue, Ngāti Whare, Ngāti Manawa, Ngāti Raukawa and Te Arawa iwi and hapū signed a deal for forestry in the North Island. Its total worth was nearly 500 million dollars. The large amount of money involved and the collective nature of the settlement across a range of iwi reflected an earlier fisheries settlement referred to as the Sealord deal, because a fisheries company of that name was part of the settlement. Hence the forestry settlement came to be known as the 'Treelord' deal.