dc.description.abstract | After a major earthquake in Taiwan in 1999, the Taomi community, a rural location in
the mountainous part of the country, faced a number of livelihood impacts. But the
earthquake disaster was not only a crisis; it presented residents an opportunity to
transform their situation and solve their livelihood problems through developing
ecotourism. The development of ecotourism required experts and scholars being
invited to conduct an education and training programme to provide residents with
ecotourism industry skills and knowledge, and establish their ability to alleviate
poverty in Taomi community. This study examines the changes brought by ecotourism
to this community over the past decade using the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach.
The aim of this study is to explore and examine the relationships between the various
elements of community capital when ecotourism is used to provide sustainable
development as a solution to a crisis event.
The study adopted a theoretical framework of social constructionism, using a range of
data-collection methods to create a holistic picture of the ecotourism development in
the Taomi community. In all, 26 residents and 10 experts were interviewed, with
semi-structured and in-depth interviews, in face-to-face settings, and 3 focus group
interviews conducted (involving another 15 residents). Interviewees were interviewed
extensively; follow-up interviews were found necessary to clarify and further explore
their perceptions and attitudes. Other data was collected data through participant
observation, and examining documentary evidence, to be combined with the
interviews findings, to crystallise emergent research. The aim of this triangulation was
to better understand the whole picture of the ecotourism development in the Taomi
community after the 921 earthquake crisis.
This study uses the Sustainable Livelihood Approach and analyses the positive and
negative changes to its six forms of capital–natural, human, physical, financial, social
and cultural assets as perceived by all the interviewees from Taomi. These are
documented through the social representations of respondents. A significant finding
of this study is that a new ‘political capital’ asset should be adopted to examine
ecotourism development applying the Sustainable Livelihood Approach lens. Political
capital—essentially power and access to benefits—affected all interactions of the six
forms of capital between the NGO groups, organizations, groups, and individuals in
Taomi ecotourism development. Investigation of this element and discourses of power
are a major contribution of this thesis.
The entire Taomi ecotourism development was based on the NGO groups contributing
their human capital, conducting ecotourism education and training programmes. An
even more significant, essential factor was for the residents to identify a vision of a
better, more attractive life associated with the whole eco-village paradigm - to give
direction to and guide the various ecotourism stakeholders’ participation in and
sharing of the benefits and power brought by developing sustainable ecotourism. This
study proposes introducing a community-based ecotourism model to explain the
dynamic relationships at play between political, natural, human, physical, financial,
social and cultural capital in this ecotourism development case, and further suggests
that community trust and core values were, and remain, essential in Taomi’s adoption
of a socialist approach to developing sustainable ecotourism. It is also vitally
important that all stakeholders commit for the long-term; NGO groups should play a
continuing consultant role, particularly regarding interdisciplinary ecotourism courses
and ecotourism planning, to assist maintain a healthy ecotourism community. These
suggestions are designed to help reduce and resolve negative expressions of political
capital and move toward a fairer sharing of benefits and power among all Taomi stakeholders. | |