Communicating environmental protests: the National Rescue Chilan Cypress Forests Campaign in Taiwan

Abstract

The National Rescue Chilan Cypress Forests Campaign between 1998 and 2000 was one of Taiwan's most high-profile environmental movements. The campaign began as a concerted effort to put a stop to the operations implemented by the Veterans Affairs Commission, the managing authority of the old-growth forests in Chilan. The environmental activists then went on to demand a new national park in the area, which was approved by the central government in 2000. Focusing on the ways in which activists articulated the rationale for their protest against a seemingly technical issue, this discussion centres on the discursive themes in the activists’ narration of relevant events and environmental history of endemic cypress forests. Drawing on Luhmann's thinking, it argues that an assessment of such discourses should take into consideration the protest/issue distinction specific to modern social movements.