Taiwan

Taiwanese Indigenous Land defenders

Indigenous groups in Taiwan are still fighting to be recognized by local government.

There are 16 tribes officially recognized by the government (up from nine originally)- Pangcah/Amis, Atayal, Bunun, Paiwan, Pinuyumayan/Puyuma, Rukai/Drekav, Saisiyat, Tao, Thao, Kebalan/Kavalan, Truku, Cou/Tsou, Sakizaya, Seediq, Kanakanayu, and Hla’alua.

The indigenous peoples of Taiwan face the erosion of traditional cultures and languages under the pressure of assimilation of the main society, and due to the policy imposed by the state to use Mandarin Chinese. The government ministry known as the Council of Indigenous Peoples (CIP), created in 1996, works to protect the rights and well-being of indigenous peoples.

Relation to the climate crisis

In rural areas, Aboriginal Taiwanese farmers are typically small-scale and are adversely affected by the agricultural sector’s increasing openness to foreign agribusiness imports.

Studies done on Taiwan's natural environment suggest that both warming and climate variations have a significant but non-monotonic impact on crop yields. Society as a whole would not suffer from warming, but a precipitation increase may be devastating to farmers.

In addition to this from 1930 authorities started to embark in policies aimed at turning the Aborigines into Japanese: whole communities were forcibly moved to low-lying areas near Japanese military and police outposts, the hunting down and killing of rebels, and enforcing the use of Japanese language and names.

Violations of the rights to land and natural resources by commercial, mining and tourism development are other key challenges that indigenous peoples still face in their own land. In that sense, several indigenous activists have held a sustained protest centered on the rights to land and the return of traditional territories during 2017.

How to help

You can visit this website to find more ways to help

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Loading www.iwgia.org⁠

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Further resources:

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Refworld | World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - Taiwan : Indigenous peoples⁠

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The potential impact of climate change on Taiwan’s agriculture⁠

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