Put Satoyama Initiative into practice: A study of the development and management issues of the Lipakha Eco-Farm in Fushin village, Hualien

• Main Authors: Meng-Jin Chung, 鍾孟瑾
• Other Authors: Kuang-Chung Lee
• Format: Others
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/vzcc69

碩士 === 國立東華大學 === 自然資源與環境學系 === 102 === ‘Satoyama Initiative’ was advocated by the Ministry of Japan and United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS) on COP 10 in 2010. The main purpose of Satoyama Initiative is to secure environmental sustainability through conservation and the use of agricultural biodiversity. The vision of the Satoyama Initiative is to realise societies in harmony with nature. In Taiwan, goals of nature conservation are usually emphasized on wilderness preservation which keeps human ‘interference’ away from nature. However this idea is not suitable for rural areas where agricultural landscapes are common and function as transitional belts between urban areas and natural areas. It is better to find a balance between environmental conservation and local development in rural areas. If rural farmers cannot be satisfied with basic livelihoods, more environmentally friendly agriculture will not be promoted. Since 2010, Taiwan has introduced the ideas of Satoyama Initiative as well as the concept of ‘socio-ecological production landscapes’ More and more cases from different local areas have tried to put ideas of the Satoyama Initiatives into practice. However, few cases have employed an analytical framework to analyze the processes and to evaluate the outcome. This research chooses Lipakha Eco-farm in Fushin village of Haulien as the case study area to explore the challenges and opportunities of the Eco-farm development in the light of the five key perspectives (criteria) of Satoyama Initiative. The findings show that the lack of capital, experience and human resources is the biggest problem for Lipakha Eco-farm operation. Besides of collaboration with academics and agricultural experts, supports from relevant governmental authorities to revise laws and policy and to help establish more holistic plans to encourage a more environmentally friendly agriculture are also needed. Furthermore, all stakeholders need to clarify the goals and agree on the rules collectively to sustain the operation of the Eco-farm.