A community is a rich knowledge base
“I used to hunt birds of prey, but now I protect them.” So says Song Renzong, chairman of the Lide Community Development Association. Behind these words lies a tortuous journey of conflict and doubt. Looking back to 1982, when Kenting National Park was first created, a large part of the Hengchun Peninsula was included within the boundaries of the park, which spans Hengchun, Manzhou and Checheng Townships. The lives of local residents suddenly changed: no longer able to hunt and gather at will as they had before, they found their livelihoods to be greatly affected, and numerous times relations between officials and local people became hostile.
It was not until 2006, when the park administration invited Chen Mei-hui, a professor in the Department of Forestry at National Pingtung University of Science and Technology (NPUST), to work with local communities, that starting in Sheding, communities began to experiment with ecotourism as a way to enable residents to make a living while also promoting ecological conservation. Today, after more than ten years of step-by-step efforts, community-based ecotourism is well established in Hengchun and is gradually becoming better known.
Like Song Renzong, many people have undergone a dramatic turnaround in their mindset. In the Lide Community, for example, the migrating birds of prey that pass through each autumn were not only a supplementary source of protein for the people who eked out a living in this mountainous area; they also could be sold as specimens, generating appreciable income. However, with over 10,000 birds being killed each year, Lide became notorious as a “graveyard of raptors.” But now that Song has turned from hunter to guide, the knowledge and acute observational skills that he picked up in his hunting days make his tours endlessly interesting.
Ten years ago Miles Lin, who later founded the Lishan Eco Company together with a classmate, was studying in graduate school at NPUST, and came with Chen Mei-hui into the local communities. Lin says: “We tried to change the ideas of the residents. We let them know that these ecological resources did not have to be hunted to have economic value, but that through conservation, they could generate demand for services such as tours, accommodation and catering that would bring in income and allow the communities to operate sustainably.” Meanwhile Cai Wanrong, who works for Lishan Eco, says: “The communities themselves are a rich knowledge base. These things are all part of the residents’ lives; it’s just that they had never been selected, refined, and packaged.”
With appropriate guidance to the residents from the project personnel, not only did visitors benefit, the residents themselves also got the chance to renew their knowledge of the beauty of their localities, and from there to identify with them. As Gangkou Village chief Yang Xiulan says, “It was only after the park administration and Professor Chen came here that we found out our community had so many treasures.” Research by crab expert Dr. Liu Hung-chang has shown that Gangkou has over 30 species of land crabs. This seaside community also produces dried fish, such as flying fish and mahi-mahi, as well as growing large quantities of Manzhou black soya beans, and Taiwan’s lowest-altitude tea. And it is home to the grove of weeping figs recently made famous by Ang Lee in his film Life of Pi. All these special features make Yang Xiulan declare with a smile: “In Gangkou we’re really benefiting from our geographic position.” The NT$2 million in income that tourism earned for the community last year has also reinforced residents’ attachment to their hometown.
The Lanren Creek in the Lide Community flows amid primeval forest.