Treaty concerns: Tribunal warns geothermal plan breaches Te Tiriti o Waitangi According to commentary monitoring Māori-Crown affairs, the Waitangi Tribunal has found that the Crown’s draft strategy to double geothermal energy capacity by 2040 excludes treaty obligations – specifically the principle of active protection of taonga and Māori authority over geothermal assets. From a Māori perspective, the issues are stark: geothermal fields are not just energy resources, they are taonga – deeply ent