1.       Background and goals

Ever since Satoyama Initiative was introduced to Taiwan in the late 2010, it has received tremendous popularity from the government and the general public. Practices engaging in conservation and revitalization of socio-ecological-production landscapes that are in compliance with the goal of Satoyama Initiative are on the rise. In recent years, National Dong-Hwa University and Forestry Bureau, Council of Agriculture have been working together on promoting the Satoyama Initiative in Taiwan. In spite of the fact that it has brought about specific influences and effects, there are more challenges ahead. It calls for a more integrated approach to setting up a national strategic framework for promoting Satoyama Initiative in Taiwan. Learning from the experiences of the International Partnership for Satoyama Initiative (IPSI), this collaborative project first aims to analyze the opportunities and problems in promoting Satoyama Initiative in Taiwan, followed by proposing a national strategic framework for the Forestry Bureau in pushing forward Satoyama Initiative in Taiwan in the near future.

2.       Activities

In this collaborative project, ‘think global,’ ‘adapt national’ and ‘act local’ are considered interrelated hierarchical concepts which help to sort out the targets and tasks for promoting Satoyama Initiative in Taiwan. There are two targets and five task activities for the four-year collaborative project.

The first target, corresponding to ‘think global’ and ‘adapt national,’ is about addressing issues of socio-ecological production landscapes and formulating solutions. Three task activities related to the first target include enhancing international participation and exchange, working on policy research and strategic framework for implementation as well as facilitating knowledge of indicators for monitoring.

The second target, corresponding to ‘act local, is about conservation and revitalization of socio-ecological production landscapes. Two task activities related to the second target include enhancing capacity building for on-the-ground practitioners and relevant governmental institutions, enhancing and networking on-the-ground activities

3.       Expected outcomes

1)  Enhancing international participation and exchange:

• Contributions to IPSI conferences and workshops;
• Conduction of international conferences and workshops concerning Satoyama Initiative in Taiwan

2)  Working on policy research and strategic framework for implementation:

• Reviews of problems and opportunities of promoting Satoyama Initiative in Taiwan;
• A mid-term national strategic framework for promoting Satoyama Initiative in Taiwan

3)  Facilitating knowledge of indicators for monitoring:

• Experience of participatory identification and evaluation of indicators of resilience of the SEPLs in Taiwan

4)  Enhancing capacity building for on-the-ground practitioners and relevant governmental institutions

• Field trips for exchange of knowledge and know-how among on-the-ground practitioners
• Workshops of case study reports for on-the-ground practitioners in light of the Satoyama Initiative

5)  Networking on-the-ground activities

• A pilot work for setting up a Taiwan Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative (TPSI)

4.       Actors and task sharing

Academics: National Dong-Hwa University is the project leader and coordinator

Governmental Institutions: Forestry Bureau, Council of Agriculture is the key project supporter as well as the key policy-making authority responsible for promoting Satoyama Initiative in Taiwan

IPSI members: Three IPSI members in Taiwan including the Society for Wildlife and Nature (SWAN) International, the Taiwan Ecological Engineering Development Foundation and the Environmental Ethics Foundation of Taiwan (EEFT) will be invited to participate in the conferences and workshops and share their experiences of on-the-ground activities

IPSI non-members: Hualien District Agricultural Research and Extension Station and other local practitioners will be invited to participate in the conferences and workshops and share their experiences of ecoagriculture knowledge

5.       How the activity relates to the IPSI Strategy and IPSI Plan of Action

The collaborative project focuses on setting up a national framework for promoting Satoyama Initiative in Taiwan as well as enhancing and networking partnership among governmental institutions, on-the-ground practitioners and experts. Therefore, the collaborative project closely related to the IPSI Strategy Objective ‘four’ as well as its priority actions ‘a,’ ‘c’ and ‘e’ for the IPSI Plan of Action.

6.       Resources, funding

The financial resources for conducting this collaborative project are mainly from Forestry Bureau, Council of Agriculture, Taiwan; The budget for this four-year collaborative project is about US$ 170,000

7.       Monitoring and reporting

Annual Project Progress Reports will be submitted to the Forestry Bureau and will be available online (in Chinese).