The Council of Indigenous Peoples held the “2021 Lands Reserved for Indigenous Peoples Logging Ban Compensation National Annual Meeting” in Pingtung County today and yesterday. A total of 175 supervisors, coordinators, and inspectors from 12 county (city) governments and 51 indigenous township (city, district) offices attended the two-day meeting. Minister of the CIP Icyang·Parod announced at the meeting today (24) that since the implementation of the Logging Ban Compensation for Lands Reserved for Indigenous Peoples Act on Jul. 1, 2016, the compensation amount has been raised from NT$ 20,000 per hectare of land to NT$ 30,000 and the total compensation amount has reached over NT$ 8.2 billion. In addition, following the review of the CIP, lands used for environmental conservation are expected be included within the logging ban compensation starting on January 1, 2022. Such a measure is expected to add 273 hectares of compensatory area and increase the total compensatory area to 63,000 hectare, thus further ensuring that indigenous peoples who own restricted reserved land will receive their rightful compensation.

A transcript of Minister Icyang 's remarks follows:

    2021 marks the sixth year of our efforts to promote compensation for the logging ban on lands reserved for indigenous peoples. First and foremost, I would like to thank all the supervisors, coordinators and inspectors from local governments and township offices in attendance today for their hard work.

    Looking back, since the beginning of our efforts in 2016, the number of people who have been compensated reached 42,738 this year, and the total compensation amount has reached NT$ 1.88672 billion. We have been able to protect at least 62,000 hectares of forest, helping Taiwan to achieve the goals of environmental conservation, water conservation, and wildlife conservation, while also generating over NT$ 12.25 billion in economic benefits. 

In the report given by the CIP Economic Development Department prior in the meeting, we can see that President Tsai amended The Logging Ban Compensation for Lands Reserved for Indigenous Peoples Act on Dec. 31, 2019 to include restricted lands located in urban planning zones, national parks, water management zones, natural reserves, or conservation areas that have been reserved for indigenous peoples within the scope of compensation. As we welcome Christmas and New Year’s Day, I also have two more pieces of good news for everyone.

    First, starting from January 1, 2022, the CIP will also include lands used for environmental conservation within the logging ban compensation, which is estimated to add 273 hectares of new compensatory land. In other words, for restricted conservation lands that have been reserved for indigenous peoples, indigenous peoples will be able to apply for a logging ban compensation starting next year.

    Second, President Tsai announced The Indigenous Languages Development Act on Jun. 14, 2017. Although indigenous languages have been recognized national languages, the act aims to foster a friendlier indigenous language environment for inspectors with indigenous language abilities by rewarding them according to their indigenous language certification levels.

    We have over 48 inspectors in attendance who have engaged in logging ban compensatory work since 2016. For six years, you have worked tirelessly in accompanying indigenous peoples to their land to perform inspections, assuring that they would receive their compensation successfully each year. For this, I thank you all dearly.

    Lastly, in light of Christmas being upon us tomorrow, I wish everyone here joy and peace and a merry Christmas. With 2022 not far behind, I also wish everyone all the best for the new year, Aray!