The Ministry of the Interior on Thursday passed the nation’s first special district plan for land use in an Aboriginal community, which Deputy Minister of the Interior Hua Ching-chun (花敬群) yesterday lauded as “a huge step” toward implementation of Aboriginal autonomy.
Ministry officials told a news conference yesterday that the plan would be implemented in the Atayal communities of Cinsbu (鎮西堡) and Smangus (司馬庫斯) in Hsinchu County.
The plan was made in accordance with the Regional Plan Act (區域計畫法), as well as Article 21 of the Indigenous Peoples Basic Act (原住民族基本法), which requires the government and private parties to “consult and obtain consent by indigenous peoples” or communities when engaging in land development, resource utilization, ecological conservation and academic research on Aboriginal land and adjoining land owned by the government, the ministry said.
Photo: Chen Yu-fu, Taipei Times
Aboriginal communities were invited to discussions on solving the lack of construction land, farmland and burial land in Cinsbu and Smangus, the ministry said.
The two communities developed a sustainable model of land use based on the Atayal “gaga” spirit, which the ministry said it incorporated into its management of a water resource protection area.
Their land overlaps with the catchment areas of the Shihmen Reservoir (石門水庫) and the Ronghua Dam (榮華壩), which are level-one environmentally sensitive areas, it said.
Under current law, apart from public facilities and services, nonurban land cannot be divided for different purposes and changes cannot be made to the purpose of the land, the ministry said, adding that it has made the use of land by many local communities unlawful.
The Aboriginal communities lived in the area before the regional land use plan was implemented and current regulations did not take their needs into consideration when they were drafted, ministry officials said.
After multiple discussions with local Aboriginal leaders, five functional divisions — disaster potential management; water resource protection; growth management; residential and farming; and natural ecological development — are to be made based on the results of land use suitability analyses, the ministry said.
The five areas are to span about 2,758 hectares, while existing buildings are to be evaluated for safety, it added.
The nation’s first special district plan for an Aboriginal community carries a special meaning, Deputy Minister of the Interior Lin Tzu-ling (林慈玲) said.
The government has been communicating with Aboriginal communities about the plan since 2014, she said.
It hopes to build Aborigines’ confidence in the government and allow them to see that it is willing to solve their problems, she added.
“The passing of the plan is a huge step for Aboriginal self-governance and national land use planning,” Hua said.
Earlier national land use plans lacked an emphasis on Aboriginal self-governance and values, he said.
However, each Aboriginal community is different, so there is no need for such plans in every community, Lin said.
The ministry would select specific areas for the drafting of special district plans, she said, adding that a similar plan is under development for Yilan County’s Pyanan community (南山部落)
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