Earthquake to ecotourism in Taiwan : Sustainable livelihoods challenges following a crisis event

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.