Background
The Tsou nation of southern Taiwan has made important advances in the establishment of sovereignty and the development of sustainability. The first road into the Saviki region, built in the late 1970s, brought with it an influx of ethnic Chinese from other parts of Taiwan anxious to exploit timber and other resources. Tsou interview respondents referred to ecologically damaging practices of these newcomers, including rampant electro-fishing, which badly depleted fish populations in local rivers and creeks. In Tanayiku Creek (also rendered “Danayigu Creek”), habitat for three much sought after alpine food-fish species, populations were reduced to near-extirpation by Taiwanese fishers.
The community imposed a hunting and fishing closure on the creek and re-stocked it. It had recovered sufficiently by 1995 that the Tsou officially opened the Tanayiku Natural Ecosystem Park (Tanayiku Zi Ran Sheng Tai Gong Yuan, 達娜伊谷自然生態公園) and invited tourists to come and witness the astounding fecundity of Tanayiku Creek. According to park managers, the Tanayiku site now receives approximately 450,000 tourists per year, primarily in tour buses, who come to watch the fish in the creek and to enjoy a cultural show and local cuisine.
An inspiration for Tanayiku, according to one of its founders, Pasuya Yadawuyungana (Gao Zheng-Xiong), was his experience of being “deeply touched and inspired” while visiting a game reserve in South Africa. After watching thousands of antelope running in front of him, the following image appeared in his mind:
In my homeland, the bottom of river cannot be seen because of the amount of fish in Tanayiku creek; sambhar deer, spotted deer, mountain pigs and goats live freely in the valley along the creek; a guardian angel turned into a white eagle flying above Danayigu creek, flying above Jade Mountain and then to the plain to call on aboriginal people working on scaffolding to fly, so many earthly eagles, previously not knowing how to fly, started to fly (Yadawuyungana 2005, 44).
Moved by this vision, Yadawuyungana went home and started organizing the first community-based grassroots river and fish ecological conservation movement in Taiwan.
It should be noted that according to ASN project participant Moo Eucna, it was not principally ideas of conservation or environmental protection that moved the Saviki villagers to engage in protection of the Tanayiku creek. Mainstream environmental discourse tends to associate the rise of environmental movements with the expansion of a “post-materialist” middle class in global society (and as such is a cultural outcome of, or reaction to, life in Industria). However, Guha and Martinex-Alier (1997) argue that there are “varieties of environmentalism” such that in many parts of the world, not-so-well-off people engage in environmental protection actions mainly to protect their homelands (sovereigntism) and their livelihoods; the Chipko (”tree-hugging”) movement of India being a good example. In this regard it is important that ASN project participant Moo Eucna emphasised that Tanayiku creek protection was not primarily about ecological conservation, but about sovereignty: protecting the Saviki homeland from outsiders’ intrusion and over-exploitation of resources. This actually accords with Yadawuyungana’s vision described above, which while containing important symbols of conservation, was also strongly associated with a cultural renaissance among aboriginal people, many of whom had become decoupled from their mountain communities and had gone to work on the “scaffolding” of construction projects of the Taiwanese plains.
Capacities and Opportunities
The Tanayiku Natural Ecosystem Park has afforded the Tsou with the opportunity to develop significant capacity in tourism management. This phenomenon of increased local institutional capacity resulting from conservation projects was also noted by Hsing-Sheng Tai (2007). Local residents have been employed as guides to provide ecological interpretation to visitors, as staff in food and beverage services and as dancers in a cultural show. Moreover, the inflow of capital from visitors has allowed the creation of scholarship funds and financed activities and facilities for Tsou elders. Volunteers have been trained as conservation officers to enforce the Tanayiku Environment Law. These volunteers closely monitor visitor activity and ensure the ecological health of the creek. Surrounding communities are now investigating the potential of developing similar eco-tourism ventures (Hipwell 2007b).
At the political level, the Council of the Tsou Nation, founded in 2001, enthusiastically pursues the goal of becoming the first group to achieve officially granted status as an autonomous aboriginal nation in Taiwan (Tsou Nation 2007).
Challenges
The Park has been in some regards a mixed blessing. A near-constant stream of diesel-powered tour buses has created hitherto unheard-of problems with air pollution and traffic congestion. In addition, the volume of visitors inevitably brings with it people with less-than-noble aspirations. A case in point occurred when the author was with two Tsou people who had to prevent a group of Taiwanese women from harvesting mountain herbs not far from the Tanayiku site. There are also concerns in the community about the possible outcomes of the commoditisation of Tsou culture, just as there are about the distribution of income from the Tanayiku site.
In addition, the Tsou have expressed concerns about lack of control over natural resource-use management outside the Park and in particular about both illegal and state-approved logging operations. One local hunter also mentioned that there are problems with illegal hunters entering Tsou territory, allegedly bribing government conservation officers and police to turn a blind eye to their activities. The result has been declining populations of prey species, meaning that, as the hunter put it, “Lately, I must go further and further to find animals” (Tsou hunter - August 2004 Interview).
The Forest Bureau exercises jurisdiction over the nearby A-Li Shan (阿里山) Forest Recreation Area. The Bureau plans to implement a BOT (build, operate and transfer) policy in negotiating contracts with private investors to ‘develop’ the recreation area. BOT policies, being carried out in many forest recreation areas in Taiwan, reinforces aboriginal nations’ sense of lacking control over natural resource use and management.
Finally, numerous Tsou spoke of the loss of their land to tea plantations. Taiwanese investors take out ten-year leases on prime tea-growing properties. Then, at the end of the lease, they insist on being compensated for their investment in the tea bushes. Many Tsou have entered into these leases without adequate understanding of contract law. Additionally, sprouting tea plantations-mostly owned by ethnic Han people-results in frequent landslides during typhoon seasons, with impacts on other Tsou land-use activities.