Agricultural Land Forum 2017 in Yilan: Examining Lanyang's Land and Rebuilding New Value for Agricultural Land
In 2015, the Spatial Planning Act passed its third reading, and in November 2016, the People and Environment Ethics Development Foundation, together with the Yilan Spatial Planning Research Association, the Citizens of the Earth Foundation and several other organizations, held a spatial planning workshop at the Lanyang Museum. Nearly a hundred people took part in the full-day agenda and discussions, showing their concern for farmland retention and environmental protection. Later, Chen Chi-chung, Deputy Minister of the Council of Agriculture, was invited to Yilan to share the farmland policies in the spatial plan with local farmers and civil society groups, repeatedly exposing the problems Taiwan currently faces with farmland loss and insufficient food self-sufficiency.
This year, the Environmental Education Center of National Ilan University, Luodong Community University, the Lanyang Museum, the Yilan Spatial Planning Research Association and the People and Environment Ethics Development Foundation are once again working together to hold the "2017 Lanyang Land Joint Checkup - Farmland Forum" on April 29 (Saturday) from 9 am to 5 pm at National Ilan University. The event will invite personnel from the central government, local departments and civil society groups to analyze the nationwide food crisis and the current state of farmland use, with Yilan's farmland as the focus of review, to rebuild the value of farmland, open a dialogue between citizens and government, and try to propose possible mechanisms for citizen participation.
The event is completely free, with a limit of 200 people, and registration closes once full. The first 100 people to register and attend the full event will also receive a friendly small-farmer meal, letting everyone deeply appreciate that the place of production and the dining table are indeed inseparable. Organizations and individuals concerned about land use in Yilan are welcome to register and take part; those who attend the full event will receive a certificate of 6 hours of environmental education. For registration and details, please visit the People and Environment Ethics Development Foundation website at www.eeft.org.tw.
The forum will be held on April 29 (Saturday) in the lecture hall on the first floor of the Teaching and Harvest Building at National Ilan University, divided into two sessions in the morning and afternoon. The morning session will take [Food Crisis X Current State of Farmland] as its sub-theme, analyzing Taiwan's food security and the results of the farmland inventory, as well as discussing the global food crisis under climate change. The afternoon session will take [Spatial Planning: Stop, Look and Listen - A Direct Look at the Sorrows and Rebirth of Yilan's Farmland] as its sub-theme, discussing and holding a forum respectively on the use of Yilan's farmland resources and the classification of farmland in the spatial plan.
Throughout the day, the entire event will be streamed live online via the "Guarding Yilan's Core Values" Facebook fan page, with text live coverage on hackfoldr, allowing everyone to keep following the content and issues shared at the forum anytime and anywhere. At the same time, in line with the day's agenda, local friendly small farmers will be invited to hold the "Farmhouse. Pop-up! The Small Farmers Are Here Market Event" outside the venue from 11:00 to 15:00, giving the public a chance to interact closely with producers and offer their support.
Can the Spatial Planning Act become a good remedy or a sound law for solving the farmland problem? Or is a multi-pronged approach needed to make this wonderful medicine effective? We hope the public will come together to understand this and care about how their own rights and interests will be affected in the future. Through the data from the farmland inventory, the indicators of food supply and demand, and the environmental costs of farmland pollution, we can jointly think about ways to use land sustainably, improve the rule of law and implement law enforcement, thereby raising citizens' literacy and helping the government move toward public-interest and sustainable social development.
For details of the forum agenda, please see:
Event information on the People and Environment Ethics Development Foundation website
For the registration website, please see this link