My project: clouded leopard reintro in Taiwan

Photo: a shoot before the start of a local community campaign in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

Introduction

Community-based/led natural resource management is a vital principle for resilient and sustainable conservation programs worldwide (Berkes, 2007; Mathew et al., 2017), but many kinds of social challenges are still present (Salerno, et al., 2020; Montgomery, et al., 2020). Forest local communities (FLC) are usually the most important stakeholders with least resources in wildlife conservation in Taiwan, but also in other countries and also other continent (Chan, et al., 2007; Van Lier, 2019). In Taiwan, traditional territories of FLC cover approximately 50% of the country’s land area; 20% of which are critical natural reserves protected by special laws. “Forest local communities” (McFarlane, et al 2019; Fox, et al.,1997) are used in this paper to refer to anyone who reside nearby and use products from the state-claimed forestland. Unlike in Africa or South America people who are called “forest dwellers” or “forest people” who rely heavily on their environment, FLC in Taiwan since early 1900’s already gradually have adopted a mixed lifestyle of agriculture, trade, and some hunting practice, and have certain degree of exchange with the world outside. In Taiwan, the more common term for FLC is “indigenous peoples.” The two terms are interchangeable under Taiwanese context. In this paper, I will argue that how forest local community is a better term to acknowledge the people-forest assemblage than “indigenous peoples”.

In recent years, even though community forestry has been promoted by the government to boost rural economies, and active participation of FLC in natural resource-related projects have been legally recognized necessary, but this process only complied haphazardly, or not complied, in most projects. Common project categories in FLC traditional territories include contemporary wildlife conservation attempts. Clouded leopard has been related, talked about, and widely associated with the Ngudradrekai-speaking community in Taiwan. (Kadresengane, 1996; https://www.pthg.gov.tw/planibp/cp.aspx?n=1038F03AFCDBAC4C) Before the Japanese Rule, the Ngudradrekai had been living in the foothills of Takarawsu (Ta-Wu North Peak, 3092m), a jungle place widely known as habitat for clouded leopard. (Rabinowitz, 1966) The Ngudradrekai speaks an Austronesian language of Ngudradrekai. (https://www.dmtip.gov.tw/web/en/page/detail?nid=10) As it goes the legend, a clouded leopard led two brothers to their new settlements, which became the foundation of the latter Kucapungane (舊古茶布安, 600 years old), the birthplace of many other Ngudradrekai villages. For the contemporary Ngudradrekai, clouded leopard is a totem meaning “reputation, honor, morality”.

Recently, ecological conservation initiatives geared towards clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) populations, an IUCN red-list (endangered) felid species, have been proposed by organizations inside and outside Taiwan. While clouded leopards are commonly thought of as cute, endangered, unique to the country, regionally extinct, and threatened, FLC’s relationship to the animal has been widely forgotten by the wider public. In addition, the public views the historical relationship(s) between the forestlands and FLC with hostility. Forest communities are often regarded as the main agents of forest destruction. One reason for that negative image could be a general marginalization of FLC as the result of the country’s deforestation history intertwined with the late 18th-century Qing Dynasty camphor-exportation imperialism, 19th to 20th-century Japanese colonial logging for camphor, and early 21st-century Kuomintang (KMT) State Forestland mercantilism. Camphor was intensely sought after by British, Americans, and German industrialist businessmen before 20th century.

The mainland clouded leopard is currently indigenous to habitats across Southeast Asia. It has been however thought extinct in recent years from Taiwan due to the historical deforestation in the region. Since 2018, calls to reintroduce clouded leopard populations to Taiwan have attracted global attentions and have fueled the interests of international NGOs. Reasons to bring the animal back to the country are several, which include both cultural and ecological factors, while the voices from the opposition are also strong. After two years of observation on the field and with suggestions from wildlife conservation authorities in Taiwan, I, as the researcher of this project, propose that the first step in approaching the matter realistically, is to gain consensus amongst the FLCs.

Rewilding, such as the case here, broadly aims at the restoration of self-sustaining and complex ecosystems through e.g. the introduction of carnivores or mega-herbivores (Perino et al. 2019). It has mainly been used in the North American (Donlan 2005, see also Donlan et al. 2016) and European (https://rewildingeurope.com) context, but significantly not in Africa or Asia.

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