Land Rights of Taiwanese Indigenous Peoples under Natural Disasters: Analysis of Post-Typhoon Morakot Reconstruction from Legal, Historical, and Cultural Perspectives Yung-hua Kuo A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2018 Reading Committee: John O Haley, Chair Daniel B Abramson Robert T Anderson Stevan Harrell Program Authorized to Offer Degree: School of Law ©Copyright 2018 Yung-hua Kuo University of Washington Abstract Land Rights of Taiwanese Indigenous Peoples under Natural Disasters: Analysis of Post-Typhoon Morakot Reconstruction from Legal, Historical, and Cultural Perspectives Yung-hua Kuo Chair of the Supervisory Committee: John O Haley School of Law This dissertation discusses indigenous land rights, disaster management law, and recovery problems after Typhoon Morakot in Taiwan, analyzing these issues from legal, historical, and cultural perspectives. The study traces land history of indigenous peoples and development of disaster laws in Taiwan. Based on the history, the study takes post–Typhoon Morakot recovery as an example to examine reconstruction laws and indigenous adaptive strategies in response to natural disaster effects in contemporary Taiwan. By presenting the problems, this dissertation aims to provide suggestions for enhancing protection on Taiwanese indigenous land rights in natural disaster situations. Since the seventeenth century, indigenous peoples’ land has been encroached by settlers and taken by the governments as state-owned property. Indigenous communities were relocated to reach assimilation and development. Only in recent decades, social movements have urged the government to recognize the collective and individual rights of indigenous people. In regard of disaster laws in Taiwan, from 1945 to 1999, disaster effects were handled by executive power through local administrative regulations and presidential emergency decrees, whose function was limited to retrospective measures. After 1999, the legislature assumes a key role in passing laws to establish a disaster management framework, but none of the fragmented disaster management authorities has adequate power, personnel, and resource to comprehensively address disasters. The serious disaster of Typhoon Morakot in 2009 posed new challenges to not only disaster management law but also land rights, cultures, and subsistence of Taiwanese indigenous peoples. The disaster recovery laws required risky land to be designated as Special Zone to restrict land use and relocate residents. The land zoning and relocation process was criticized as hurried, careless, and limited local participation. Yet, the affected indigenous people have strived to adapt to the impact of construction laws and natural disasters. In Namasia District, Kanakanavu and Bunun tribal people dealt with environmental changes by adopting multiple strategies. They resettled, rebuilt at the original site, or returned to their ancestral land to recover from disaster effects and reduce future disaster risks. This dissertation suggests that future legal reform should enhance indigenous land rights by promoting right registration on indigenous reserved land and recognizing their traditional territories. It is important to create an agency fully committed to and responsible for all disasters stages and coordination between government levels and jurisdictions. This reorganized structure will a bottom-up system that local governments, communities, and individuals have greater capacity for and engagement in disaster management programs. Indigenous peoples should be granted more determination on their land to prevent involuntary displacement, as their traditional yet dynamic knowledge will also inspire flexible ways to handle drastic environmental changes. Table of Content Chapter 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Background ........................................................................................................................ 1 1.1.1 An Unprecedented Disaster and Reconstruction Laws .............................................. 1 1.1.2 Problems of Land Zoning and Relocation Policy ....................................................... 4 1.2 Literature Review ............................................................................................................... 8 1.2.1 Natural Disaster Legal Management .......................................................................... 9 1.2.2 Vulnerable Groups under Natural Disasters: Indigenous Peoples ............................ 13 1.2.3 Indigenous Land Rights in Natural Disaster Situations ............................................ 18 1.3 Research Methods: Historical Approach and Qualitative Study ..................................... 23 1.4 Structure of Dissertation .................................................................................................. 28 Chapter 2 Taiwanese Indigenous Peoples and Their Land Rights ............................................ 33 2.1 Indigenous Peoples in Taiwan ......................................................................................... 34 2.1.1 Categories of Indigenous Tribes ............................................................................... 34 2.1.2 Livelihood and Migration of Taiwanese Indigenous Peoples .................................. 36 2.2 History of Taiwanese Indigenous Peoples and Their Land ............................................. 39 2.2.1 Rule of Dutch and Rule of Zheng Regime ............................................................... 39 2.2.2 Indigenous Land in the Qing Empire Era (1683–1895) ........................................... 43 2.2.3 Japanese-Ruled Period (1895–1945) ........................................................................ 53 2.2.4 Republic of China Assimilation and Relocation Policy (1945–1987) ...................... 61 2.2.5 Indigenous Movements and Reclaiming Land Rights (1987–present) ..................... 71 Chapter 3 Development of Disaster Management Law in Taiwan ........................................... 81 3.1 Executive Authority to Respond to Natural Disasters (1945–1999) ............................... 82 3.1.1 Local Administrative Regulation on Disaster Management ..................................... 82 3.1.2 Presidential Emergency Decree ................................................................................ 93 3.2 Legislation on Disaster Management (2000–present) ................................................... 102 3.2.1 Laws for 9/21 Earthquake Reconstruction ............................................................. 102 3.2.2 A New National Disaster Management Legal Framework ..................................... 111 Chapter 4 Reconstruction Laws after Typhoon Morakot ........................................................ 127 4.1 Typhoon Morakot and Disaster Recovery Laws ........................................................... 128 4.1.1 The Unprecedented Disaster of Typhoon Morakot ................................................ 128 4.1.2 Legislation for Typhoon Morakot Recovery .......................................................... 131 4.2 Disaster Risk and Land Use Regulation ........................................................................ 134 4.2.1 Regulating Vulnerable Lands for Disaster Recovery ............................................. 134 4.2.2 Land Examination, Disaster Risk, and Safety Assessment .................................... 136 4.2.3 Disaster Cause and Compensation .......................................................................... 140 4.3 Regulating Disaster-Prone Lands through Zoning ........................................................ 147 4.3.1 Process and Requirement for Designating Special Zones ...................................... 147 4.3.2 Zoning Effects: Forced Relocation and Land Use Restriction? ............................. 154 4.4 Relocation Policy ........................................................................................................... 160 Chapter 5 Indigenous Indigenous Adaptive Strategies to Disaster Effects and Reconstruction Laws ........................................................................................................................ 167 5.1 Indigenous People in Namasia, Kaohsiung, Taiwan ..................................................... 168 5.1.1 History of Indigenous Communities in Namasia .................................................... 168 5.1.2 Indigenous Communities in Namasia under ROC Rule ......................................... 176 5.2 Indigenous Adaptive Strategies after Typhoon Morakot ............................................... 179 5.2.1 Typhoon Morakot’s Effects on Namasia ................................................................ 179 5.2.2 Adaptive Strategies in Namasia after Typhoon Morakot ....................................... 182 5.3 Summary ........................................................................................................................ 199 Chapter 6 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 202 6.1 Summary of the Study ................................................................................................... 202 6.2 Suggestions ...................................................................................................................