Hum Ecol (2010) 38:101–111 DOI 10.1007/s10745-009-9292-8 Institutional Adaptation and Community-Based Conservation of Natural Resources: The Cases of the Tao and Atayal in Taiwan Ching-Ping Tang & Shui-Yan Tang Published online: 30 September 2009 # Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2009 Abstract Traditional institutional rules, values, and beliefs the incentives and knowledge to conserve local natural help support conservation regimes of natural resources in resources for sustainable use (Folke et al. 1998). Many, but many indigenous communities. Such traditional conservation not all, aboriginal peoples have been identified as successful regimes may break down as a result of influences from the in preserving such local natural resources as coastal fisheries, outside world. This paper examines two cases in Taiwan—the forests, and water systems by means of self-governing Tao communities on Orchid Island and the Atayal community arrangements that effectively limit the rate of resource in Smangus. The former illustrates a process in which extraction and use (Kellert et al. 2000;Ostrom1990, 2005). traditional institutions supporting local conservation broke It is possible that such successes result less from effective down as a result of external influences, leading to the loss of conservation practices than from low demand relative to the local community’s ability to govern the use of a coastal supply or poorly developed resource distribution networks fishery. The latter, in contrast, demonstrates how local people (Hunn 1982;Alvard1995). Nevertheless, in many cases, are able to adapt their traditional institutions to meet the there is evidence that aboriginal institutions did function challenges from the outside world while preserving a local effectively in preventing overconsumption of renewable forest. The paper concludes by examining factors that affect local resources and thus played a vital role in conservation institutional adaptation in community-based conservation of (Gibson et al. 2000; Warren and Pinkston 1998). Can these natural resources. aboriginal institutions survive the increasing pressures on their local resource systems triggered by various internal and Keywords Taiwan . Institutional change . external socioeconomic changes (cf. Ross 1978)? Community-based conservation . Forests . Fisheries As part of the overall trends of modernization and globalization, for example, many historically isolated indigenous communities have come into contact with the Introduction outside world and begun to undergo social, economic, and cultural transformations; their traditional arrange- Community-based governance has gained increasing attention ments for natural resource governance are being chal- as an effective approach to natural resource conservation lenged, often leading to an imbalance between supply (Agrawal and Gibson 1999). At the interface between social and demand. As a result, local resources in these and ecological systems, local appropriators tend to have both indigenous communities could be ruined within a relatively short period of time, manifesting what some refer to as the “real tragedy of the commons” (Anoliefo C.-P. Tang (*) National ChengChi University, et al. 2003; Monbiot 1993). Taipei, Taiwan One often-suggested solution is the involvement of e-mail: [email protected] indigenous communities as partners in modern conserva- tion efforts (Rangan and Lane 2001; Ross and Pickering S.-Y. Tang University of Southern California, 2002). This approach advocates the application of local Los Angeles, CA, USA knowledge (Berkes 1999) and, in some cases, the revival 102 Hum Ecol (2010) 38:101–111 of indigenous cultural practices that have historically support effective systems of natural resource conserva- proven successful (Colding and Folke 2001). Despite such tion. In some situations, such transformations may lead an argument, little attention has been devoted to explain- to the breakdown of an effective conservation regime; in ing the circumstances in which indigenous institutions can other situations, such transformations may lead to the help, and if so how they can be adjusted, transformed, or refashioning of old cultural practices such that alternative rebuilt amidst rapid social changes triggered by forces of approaches to resource conservation can be adopted. Our modernization and globalization such that they remain study of two cases with divergent outcomes adds to the effective in natural resource governance. literature by showing the role of aboriginal communities In this paper, we explore how such institutional in natural resource conservation as well as the conditions adaptation processes are possible by focusing on how and dynamics for institutional adaptation in the midst of traditional values and beliefs may contribute to nature modernization and globalization. conservation in indigenous communities. As indigenous values and beliefs are replaced by those from the outside, to what extent would traditional practices in nature conserva- Aboriginal Communities and Natural Resource tion be affected? Can outside influences be combined with Conservation indigenous practices to support effective governing institu- tions for environmental conservation? What are the poten- In a struggle to survive in harsh physical and biological tial challenges in these institutional adaptation processes? environments, aboriginal communities often need to In what ways do various physical, cultural, and economic develop social institutions, such as hunting and diet factors combine to shape such processes? We address these restrictions, to regulate the consumption of scarce questions by examining the evolution of two aboriginal resources (Ross 1978). As argued in the anthropological communities in Taiwan. literature on cultural materialism, material conditions In one case, the Tao people on Orchid Island had shape social institutions and human behaviors (Price traditionally maintained communal rituals that governed 1982). While this functionalist perspective helps explain how boats were built, fish were caught, and seafood was the existence of specific social institutions related to cooked and served. These rituals contributed to the resource use, it is not particularly helpful in explaining maintenance of a sustainable stock in its coastal fishery. how social institutions evolve, especially when the Yet in recent years, with increased outside influences and changes are not associated with changes in the physical other social transformations, traditional values and norms world. In this regard, the political-economic literature have begun to lose their importance among the local provides more useful insights for understanding institu- population. As a result, the traditional rules governing the tional evolution as not just a result of changes in physical use of the coastal fishery have become ineffective. This, and biological systems but also strategic choices of and together with increasing consumer demands and extraction interactions among individual resource users, in the activities from the outside world, has led to rapid depletion context of interlocking layers of institutional influences, of the fish stock. various collective learning processes, and distributional In the other case, an aboriginal Atayal tribal community conflicts among resource users (cf. Thelen 1999;Berkes in the mountainous area was initially faced with a similar and Turner 2006). Institutions and processes for natural challenge as indigenous practices became ineffective for resource governance are intricately tied to such issues as governing their nearby forests. This tribal community economic development, property rights, cultural preserva- underwent key social transformations as the local economy tion, social justice, and democratic participation. became increasingly tied to the outside economy and From a political-economic perspective, residents in rural Christianity began to displace traditional values and beliefs. communities are motivated to preserve their local resources Leaders in the Christian church in this community were only if they are able to overcome many obstacles, for able to blend Christian values with some indigenous beliefs example, by (1) resolving collective-action problems and and practices to develop a new cooperative arrangement for distributional conflicts inherent in resource governance, (2) preserving the forest. developing effective monitoring arrangements to guard Both cases illustrate how forces of modernization and against free-riding behaviors, (3) developing solutions to globalization may open up economic and social oppor- their resource governance problems that are compatible tunities for people in indigenous communities, giving with traditional social values and local socioeconomic them greater opportunities to pursue a potentially more realities, and (4) gaining recognition from external author- individualist and economically secure way of life. These ities to have the rights to govern their local resources forces, however, may also transform traditional beliefs, (Berkes 1999; Kellert et al. 2000; Ostrom 1990, 1995; Tang values, and cultural practices that in the past helped to 1992). As these are often formidable obstacles to overcome, Hum Ecol (2010) 38:101–111 103 not all indigenous communities are equally successful in communities have to adapt their community-based institu- preserving their local natural resources. Some indigenous tions to these new realities. tribes, for example, lack the social structures