The Interaction among Aboriginal Settlement, Society and State in Forest Management--A Case Study of Smangus Village in Hsin-Chu

• Main Authors: Horng, Goang-Jih, 洪廣冀
• Other Authors: Zheng, Chinlong
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2000
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/41594683875571364243

碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 森林學研究所 === 88 === The main purposes of this thesis are to investigate the interaction among actors of a forest-dependent community, society and state, and to describe the influences of their interaction to local forest management. The empirical study consists of the case of Smangus aboriginal settlement in Hsin-chu. The major use of local forest resource of Smangus is for developing tourism. This study includes the following three approaches. Firstly, we survey theorems related to management of common-pool resources, and apply the structural approach and IAD (institutional arrangement development) as the main analysis framework. Secondly, we collect the data of the case by the means of depth-interview and fieldwork. Thirdly, we investigate the interaction among the tourists, medians, state, non-governmental organizations and the villagers, and then analyze the impacts of the interaction to the management of tourism resource of Smangus. The collective consciousness of delivering society can influence the management of local tourism resource. Tourists who look for primitive and natural experiences prefer to stay in an environmental bubble similar to that of their daily life. Villagers of Smangus wish to receive profits from tourists, but dislike to be treated as tourists’ objects and underdeveloped. The tensions existed in the context of tourism at Smangus make villagers difficult to apply an appropriate arrangement and to develop an allocative mechanism in practice. The difficulty may also cause an impact on the decision-making mechanism of Smangus. The tourism resource of Smangus experiences a similar dilemma of common-pool resources. The tourism business is considered to be private and as an opportunities to show individual abilities. However, the appropriation and technical externalities of tourism resource are public affairs, and that make an assignment problem to emerge. This problem is hard to solve completely by Smangus villagers, and generates crises of provision of resources. Even though, villagers are still trying hard to manage the common resource. Since the tension and distrust of each other, Smangus villagers’ interaction with the state forestry agency is full of conflicts. Villagers have challenged the control of local forest resources by the state. Villagers have skilled the dialects of control and criticized the legitimacy of state. The relationship between the state and Smangus is as the dilemma of prisoners. The state forest policy is difficult to gain supports and to have the room for the participation from the local society. The village also cannot manage forest resources efficiently because of lacking of the supports from state agencies. The interaction of non-governmental organizations and Smangus could influence the power structure in the village and raise transaction costs among villagers during their interaction. These organizations could also function as weak ties and provide the village information and resources. They also could play as communication channels among villagers. Villagers may interpret the intentions of the organization completely in a different way. The intersubjectivity of issues between them could be achieved by repeated communication. There are indeed a variety of actors with different positions and perceptions, they interact with each other in the activities of forest management. Communities not only are the factors influencing the use of forestlands, but also have their potentials and agency. Though communities have loosened the domination of the state in local resources, but have not acquired the legitimacy of the management of resources. It is possible to make the communities become the struggling field of actors. The communities may not achieve their fully potentials and agency, because of their relative weakness in political and economic situations.