One Park,Two EJs: When Two Environmental Justices Collide Head-on in Taiwanese National Parks

Abstract

Abstract

This article focuses on the way Taiwanese activists used environmental justice (EJ) as a rhetorical tool to promote their campaigns and to fight against each other. In order to highlight the arguments from both sides, the anti-national-park movement is examined in depth. In this specific case, the concept of EJ has been advanced along two paths: for indigenous rights advocates, EJ is about protecting indigenous peoples' traditions and livelihoods; environmentalists however insist that EJ refers to protecting the environment for future generations or for its own sake. Since making compromises is seen as accommodating injustice/evils, the Taiwanese EJ movement ends in stalemate. It argues that unless activists break the present deadlock, the government may gradually take the initiative and redefine EJ to meet its own ends. For the further development of the Taiwanese EJ movement, that is undoubtedly something we should avoid.