Buy Land, Save the Dolphins:Taiwan's First National Trust

"For just NT$119, you can buy a share and save the dolphins!" Each weekend and holiday since May, volunteer parents and students from Shuangxi Elementary School in Taipei have been gathering on the plaza in front of Ximen Red House Theater, handing out flyers and soliciting donations to buy coastal land in Changhua. Their aim is to prevent the humpback dolphin from disappearing from the waters off the west coast of Taiwan.

"At first, I had no idea there were humpback dolphins in Taiwan," says volunteer Zhang Yujing, who started this drive. She had been searching online for information to give a school lecture on The Cove (Best Documentary Feature winner at the 2010 Academy Awards, exposing the annual dolphin slaughter of a Japanese fishing village), when she learned of a similar threat to dolphins in Taiwan from plans for Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co. to reclaim coastal land for an industrial zone, and she incorporated the material into her lecture. When she showed a slide of a baby dolphin nestled up to its mother, the kids gasped in unison and asked her earnestly how to save them. Such innocence deeply affected her: "The children reminded me: while we can learn about such things, can we actually do anything about it?" A national trust is a viable means of doing this, and to this end she gives lectures at schools, makes videos and props, and arranges street canvassing activities for the kids.

(Sun Qiongli)

"For this effort, we've had lots of people spontaneously joining in, and it's still growing," says Chen Juei-ping, secretary-general of the Taiwan Environmental Information Association, a sponsor of the drive. Before, when environmental groups wanted to launch an effort, they each did their own part. This time, people from different walks of life who had never met each other have come out of the woodwork to pitch in. For instance, there's Zhang, a passionate volunteer mother and schoolteacher, there are bloggers making appeals, eminent scholars writing articles, an economics professor examining figures to ask what Kuokuang Petrochemical stands to gain and organizing petition drives among university professors, plus poets writing poems and songsters composing songs.

A primary originator of this national trust movement, Changhua Coast Conservation Action director Tsai Chia-yang, has observed long-term changes in the west coast. Tsai explains that there are 15 kilometers of mud flats stretching from the estuary of the Zhuoshui River to the mouth of Erlin Creek in Fangyuan. This is the last stretch of natural coastline in Taiwan, serving not just as foraging habitat for the humpback dolphin, but also as a fishery and aquaculture region of Changhua County as well as feeding grounds for the Eurasian curlew and Saunders' gull, both protected migratory birds. And it may happen that once the environmental impact assessment and regional plans are approved by other government agencies, 2,000 hectares of tidal mud flats will be sold to Kuokuang Petrochemical at the low rate of NT$100 per square meter. So they decided to advocate for a national trust, beating Kuokuang's price by buying it for NT$119 a share. If enough people buy a share, this land can be bought back.

(Sun Qiongli)

According to Tsai, a petrochemical environmental impact assessment by the Taiwan Research Institute on behalf of the Industrial Development Bureau shows that Taiwan is 90% self-sufficient in petrochemical products; therefore the new industrial zone would profit mainly through exports, leaving massive water and air pollution in Taiwan. Besides this, Kuokuang's projected water consumption of 400,000 tons a day is more than Changhua's residential and agricultural consumption combined; to address this, the government is planning to build the Dadu Diversion Weir, digging a 66-km channel to carry water from north to south Changhua. This would exacerbate water shortage problems in central Taiwan, causing streams to dry up and worsening dust storms. The need for it is questionable.

Since it would take the astronomical sum of NT$2.4 billion to buy 2,000 hectares (one hectare is 10,000 square meters, thus NT$120/m2 x 20 million m2 = NT$2.4 billion), they plan first to buy a 200-hectare tidal flat within the Kuokuang industrial zone and harbor area. This strip of land lies beside the north-south migration corridor for the humpback dolphin, plus it can cut through the land needed by Kuokuang Petrochemical. Then in the second and third stages, they plan to raise money to buy 1,800 hectares around the periphery.

"One share or 100 shares, anyone can be a landowner!" says Chen. In the first stage, it is estimated that they will need 2 million shares. As of July 7, they have come quite close to their goal, with 35,000 people pitching in, pooling over NT$180 million, or 1.5 million shares.

Tsai says that this national trust will follow Chapter 8 of the Trust Act. In the past, most charitable trusts were portions of an estate left to banks rather than next of kin after the death of a business owner. The banks then determined what charitable work the assets would support. But this is the first time in Taiwan that a natural setting or a cultural landscape has become the object of a charitable trust.

Some people have asked, "But what if the government refuses to sell the land to environmental groups?"

"In such a case, I'd ask the government why they wouldn't sell it," says Tsai. The fact that there are 35,000 people willing to donate their own money to support this cause means that this is a strong outpouring of public support that shouldn't be ignored. This trust case has now been submitted to the Ministry of the Interior, and the results will come out in a month's time.

In front of the Ximen Red House Theater, kids and grownups alike are working hard to give a voice to the humpback dolphin, canvassing passersby to take part in their efforts to buy coastal land to save these splendid marine animals.

There's a long history behind the idea of the national trust. It started in Britain in 1895, when three people, alarmed by rapid urbanization and industrialization following the industrial revolution, hoped that the people could gain stewardship of the rustic landscapes and historic buildings that faced destruction. In 1907, the UK passed the National Trust Act, providing a legal basis for a building or a tract of land to be placed under a permanent trust, such that even the government can't develop over it.

The most famous instance is when, after her success, Beatrix Potter, author of the children's book The Tale of Peter Rabbit, bought 1,600 hectares of land and 14 granges in the Lake District of northwestern coastal England that were filled with childhood memories and were a source of inspiration to her. After she died, the land was passed over to the National Trust, and now the Lake District retains the charm of old stone houses scattered amid lakes and meadows.

After a century of growth, Britain's National Trust properties now surpass 240,000 hectares, including rural pasturelands, at least 1,127 km of coastline, and hundreds of castles and other historic buildings. As such it has been said the National Trust's land ownership is second only to that of the Queen! At present, Britain's National Trust boasts over 3.4 million members, and every year 5 million people buy tickets to visit National Trust sites, with the proceeds going to management of the sites.

In front of the Ximen Red House Theater, kids and grownups alike are working hard to give a voice to the humpback dolphin, canvassing passersby to take part in their efforts to buy coastal land to save these splendid marine animals.

Japan's national trust movement has a 45-year history. A most delightful case is that of elementary-school students who chipped in and purchased "Totoro's hometown" (the setting of anime maestro Hayao Miyazaki's film My Neighbor Totoro). It's an area alive with wild animals and birds, and dotted with Shinto shrines. To accommodate the dream of "If Totoro comes back one day, he'll need somewhere to stay," local residents created the Totoro no Furusato ("Hometown of Totoro") Foundation, which has been enthusiastically received. Kids appeared in droves to donate pocket money, and over a decade later, nine tracts of forest near Tokyo have been bought, for a total area of 1.56 hectares.

On his April visit to Taiwan, Oliver Maurice, director of the International National Trusts Organization, noted that environmental protection requires long-term planning. The governments of too many countries look only to economic and social development, and national trusts can make up for government ineffectiveness in this area. With the concept of the national trust just starting in Taiwan, he said, it is of utmost importance to educate young people to encourage them to participate, fostering from a young age an appreciation for cultural heritage and the environment, so that precious human heritage can be forever preserved.

In late June, in front of Ximen Red House Theater, a large group of kids assembled to save the humpback dolphin. In their hands were gongs, cymbals, tambourines and even plastic bottles, a unique "moving concert," clanging away as they passed through Ximending's pedestrian areas. In this parade there was no flag-waving or radical language. But the passion and hope radiating from them was like an endless proliferation of ripples from a stone tossed into the water, so that this beautiful land can have a new lease on life.

Britain's century-old national trust system has successfully preserved 240,000 hectares of countryside, hundreds of historic buildings, and over 1,000 kilometers of coastline. Shown here is some scenery in England's Lake District, which was donated by Beatrix Potter and is managed by the National Trust.