新作坊 Humanity Innovation and Social Practice

Following the 1999 Chi-Chi Earthquake, the Taomi community in Nantou’s Puli Township transformed into a renowned ecovillage. After years of ecological knowledge acquisition and social practice, the community has developed an operational model that integrates local industries with natural ecological capital. This model has not only facilitated the community’s economic transition from traditional agriculture to ecotourism but also positioned Taomi as a model for post-disaster reconstruction both domestically and internationally. In recognition of this success, the community was awarded the Gold Medal Rural Award by the Executive Yuan’s Council of Agriculture in 2021 and received the National Sustainable Development Award from the xecutive Yuan in 2022. Despite the community’s success, a critical challenge has emerged: how can the existing ecological resources be preserved given the steady flow of tourists? This question tests the collective wisdom of various stakeholders responsible for
safeguarding the community’s ecology, including community organizations, tourism service providers, local residents, professional advisory teams, and National Chi Nan University (NCNU).

This study adopts an action research approach, using Berkes et al.'s (2007) Adaptive Co-Management (ACM) maturity assessment framework to analyze the environmental governance challenges faced by the Taomi community since 2014. The research focuses on how the Taomi-based NCNU Humanities and Social Sciences Research Team has designed and implemented various environmental governance initiatives to address local issues. Additionally, this study explores how these initiatives have facilitated social learning among community stakeholders and assesses their tangible impacts on the local ecology. Through this study, we aim to examine how a community has put ecological conservation at the center of its long-term disaster recovery efforts, providing valuable insights for similar communitybased initiatives.