Meinong Nature Park and Rural Development Workshop Event Details

The National Park Act was amended and passed on third reading by the Legislative Yuan on November 12, 1999 (ROC year 99). Taiwan, China has natural ecosystems, cultural and historical sites, and unique landforms worthy of preservation, and may establish a "national nature park" in accordance with the provisions added under Article 6, Paragraph 2 of the National Park Act. On December 6, 2011 (ROC year 100), the preparatory office for Shoushan National Nature Park in Kaohsiung City was officially inaugurated, becoming the country's first national nature park. Discussion and planning for the Meinong National Nature Park are currently ongoing.

Whereas "Shoushan" is a precious green space within the greater Kaohsiung metropolitan area, "Meinong" lies in the low-mountain area at the tail ridge of the Yushan range and is a rural village that still preserves a profound heritage of Hakka culture. On the other hand, compared with the many high-mountain national parks located in wilderness areas in our country, a national nature park in a low-mountain area will inevitably be much closer to settlements, communities and rural villages. How to involve residents familiar with the mountains and forests in conservation while simultaneously establishing a mutually beneficial mechanism for sustainable community development is not only an important proposition in the current paradigm shift of protected area governance both internationally and domestically, but also a perspective that should be carefully considered when discussing the Meinong National Nature Park today: how to move from a past vision to genuine implementation within communities through the establishment of institutional frameworks?

The production culture of rural villages and the maintenance and restoration of low-mountain ecosystems are in fact inseparable, and only by linking the preservation of the rural landscape in the plains with the conservation of mountains and forests in the low-mountain belt can the practical vision of "building an ecological homeland" be realized. The main theme of this "Meinong Nature Park and Rural Development" workshop is: "Is it possible for issues such as the integration of environment and agriculture, the conservation of culture and rural villages, and the balanced development of community economies to be put into practice through a protected area system like a 'national nature park'?" It concerns carrying out mountain and forest conservation in low-mountain areas close to human settlements, driving the organic development of rural villages through community collaborative relationships, and drafting relevant supporting measures to slow irreversible development of rural land. Furthermore, it seeks to enable rural villages and urban communities to establish friendly, mutually beneficial network connections with each other.

The significance of "a community movement that began with opposition to a reservoir yet is endless" lies in how it set in motion participation at all levels of society, including local gentry, small business owners, women, farmers, writers, children, teachers, groups of women marriage migrants from Southeast Asia, academia and other diverse organic coalitions, and how it intervened in issues such as culture, music, literature, language, education, industrial economy, identity, and the preservation of historic buildings and landscapes; that is to say, the Meinong community's imagination and practice of development has not followed a single, economically reductionist path.

This workshop will begin with Professor Peng Ming-hui's lecture, "The Possibilities and Impossibilities of Using a Nature Park to Drive Meinong's Organic Living Circle," supplemented by two case studies, the Euploea Butterfly Conservation Society and the Xibao Organic Village in Hualien, to help us construct future practical guidelines, discuss the possibilities of linking nature parks with rural development, and seek feasible sustainable development solutions.