I. Objective
According to paragraph 4 of Article 21 of the Indigenous Peoples Basic Law (Basic Law) promulgated in June 2015, the competent authority of indigenous peoples of the central government shall establish the regulations for demarcation of indigenous lands and the scope of the indigenous villages. The Council of Indigenous Peoples thus promulgated and implemented the Regulations for Demarcation of the Traditional Territory of Indigenous Peoples and Villages (Demarcation Regulations) with the Order Yuan-Min-Tu-Zi (Indigenous lands) No. 10600074622 on February 18, 2017 as the principled guide for implementation. To realize the spirit to protect the indigenous lands rights in the Basic Law, this Implementation Plan is established for the survey and demarcation of the traditional territory of the land of indigenous peoples and villages in accordance with the Demarcation Regulations, in consideration of the experience and recommendations (including human resources, funds, and schedules) from the implementation of the Plan for Determination of the Traditional Territory of Indigenous lands in 2015 and 2016, with reference to the cultural diversity and special societal structure of indigenous peoples, and with respect to the autonomy and subjectivity of indigenous villages and peoples. It is hoped that the demarcation of the traditional territory of indigenous lands will be implemented through the assistance of the local (county/city) governments, indigenous township (towns, cities, districts) offices, and the demarcation groups formed by indigenous villages and peoples with the approval of the Council of Indigenous Peoples.
It is expected that the announcement of the traditional territories and lands of 748 indigenous villages will be completed under this Implementation Plan to realize the right of informed consent in the Basic Law.
In addition, in the supplementary demarcation of lands reserved for indigenous peoples, guidance will be arranged to help indigenous peoples acquire the government land that has been occupied by their ancestors prior to February 1, 1988 and used by them until today, in order to stabilize the basic right to life in such regions of indigenous peoples and thereby resolve the long-time insufficiency of land for living in indigenous regions.
Goal:Demarcation of Indigenous Lands Across Taiwan
Objective:
1.Completion of indigenous land survey and guidance for education of local management talents.
2.Supplementary demarcation of land reserved for indigenous peoples.
3.Integration of cadastral data of indigenous land and construction of a big data analysis database.
Targets:
•Subsidization of the survey of local governments and indigenous villages/groups.
•Periodic review and amendment of related laws and regulations and support measures.
•Subsidization for local governments to hire local talents and commission entities or institutions to integrate the local land management matters of traditional territory.
•Demarcation of land reserved for indigenous peoples; solving the long-time insufficiency of land for living in indigenous regions; and protection of the basic right of life of indigenous peoples.
•Completion of the survey and metadata of the cadastral data of indigenous lands.
•Construction of a database for the cadastral data of indigenous lands to promote the open information and value-added application of such cadastral data.
1.Implementation of indigenous lands survey
To clearly present the traditional territory (ancestral land) of indigenous peoples, the Council of Indigenous Peoples subsidizes the survey of the traditional territory of indigenous villages and peoples to legalize their traditional territories, protect their rights and interests, and realize their right to informed consent as specified in the Indigenous Peoples Basic Law.
2.Guidance for education of local land management talents for traditional territories
In consideration of the cultural diversity and special societal structure of indigenous peoples and with respect to the autonomy and subjectivity of indigenous villages and peoples, traditional territories will be demarcated in a bottom-up approach. Indigenous youths will learn from indigenous seniors the knowledge and stories about the traditional territories of their villages. In addition, the inventory of development sources and spatial use methods of the land within the traditional territory will be promoted and developed to educate land management talents in the traditional territories of villages.
3.Supplementary demarcation of lands reserved for indigenous peoples
Government land that has been occupied by the ancestors of indigenous peoples before February 1, 1988 and used by indigenous peoples until today will be demarcated as lands for indigenous peoples to resolve the prolonged insufficiency of land for living in indigenous regions to protect the basic right to the life of indigenous peoples.
4.Construction of a cadastral database of indigenous lands to assist with government policy-making
A geographic information system (GIS) of indigenous lands will be established for the public to enquire and browse the cadastral data of the traditional territory of indigenous lands to facilitate the development of traditional territories in pace with time. In addition, the public can learn about the history, culture, and background of the traditional territories of indigenous lands from the open information to assist indigenous villages in developing guided cultural tours.
II.Methods and procedures of implementation
(1)Subsidization of surveys by indigenous villages/peoples and local governmentsThe Council of Indigenous Peoples subsidizes indigenous villages or groups with administrative resources to demarcate traditional territory across Taiwan by year and by region.
(2)Periodic review and amendment of related laws and regulations and support measuresWith respect to obstacles or improvement needs found in the implementation, the Demarcation Regulations will be reviewed comprehensively at planned intervals and adjusted in the future to coordinate with the actual demarcation needs. In addition, related support measures or regulations will be reviewed periodically to facilitate demarcation.
2.Guidance for development of local land management talents for traditional territory
The Council of Indigenous Peoples subsidizes local governments with human resources for the restoration of the rights and interests of the lands reserved for indigenous peoples. The restoration covers review of the creation and transfer of other rights of the lands reserved for indigenous peoples according to the Regulations on Development and Management of the Lands Reserved for Indigenous Peoples, which is different from the nature of the development of local land management talents for traditional territory under this subparagraph.
Local governments are subsidized to hire local talents and commission entities or institutions to integrate the local land management matters of traditional territory to realize autonomous management of indigenous residents, in order to enhance the land use management of indigenous lands within the traditional territories and enhance self cultural identity. In addition, in 2013 the Council of Indigenous Peoples began to subsidize the pilot empowerment and talent pool construction of seed instructors for traditional territory management. The Council of Indigenous Peoples will subsidize the local guidance team to expand local talent cultivation.
Under this Implementation Plan, guidance for development of local land management talents for traditional territory aims to develop talents to help resolve potential disputes over the overlapping traditional territories among neighboring indigenous groups and assist with the feasibility study of the integration of the special district plans and traditional territories of indigenous lands after the implementation of the Spatial Planning Act in the future, without engaging in land management, land use, and rights change.
3.Supplementary demarcation of lands reserved for indigenous peoples
Guidance will be arranged to help indigenous peoples acquire the government land that has been occupied by their ancestors prior to February 1, 1988 and used by them until today, in order to stabilize the basic right to life in such regions of indigenous peoples and thereby resolve the prolonged insufficiency of land for living in indigenous regions.
4.Construction of a cadastral database of indigenous lands to assist with government policy-making
(1)Construction of a cadastral database of indigenous lands to promote the open information and value-added application of such cadastral data.
The traditional territory of indigenous lands involves the exercise of the right of informed consent of indigenous villages. A cadastral database of indigenous lands in the traditional territory will be constructed and linked to the GIS to create full information about the indigenous lands in traditional territory as an important reference for making indigenous policies in the future.
(2)Completion of the survey and metadata of the cadastral data of indigenous lands
To synchronize indigenous lands data more conveniently and create the geographic data of indigenous lands in Taiwan, comprehensive knowledge of the traditional territory of indigenous peoples promoted on existing social media extracted to the cloud computing system with IT hardware and software for the value-added use of the public, such as making maps of the traditional territories of indigenous peoples with the GIS and cadastral data. In addition, the cadastral data of indigenous traditional territories across Taiwan will be inventoried and consolidated as a data service website for the public to access required information in real time through personalized channels with spatial dimensions, in order to disseminate the contents regarding the traditional territory of indigenous peoples over the Internet for visitors and people interested in indigenous culture and art to access such information and understand the special cultural heritages of local indigenous villages.