The Cultural Approach for Community-Based Conservation of River Basins: A Case Study of the Basin School Network, Taiwan

Tackling the gaps between diverse knowledge and interests among stakeholders in basin management, the chapter introduces a civil initiative named ‘Basin School’ in Taiwan. With the aim of orientating grassroots vitality into water environment issues, the new movement attempts to connect local culture, knowledge, and everyday life when empowering community-based basin conservation. Launched in 2017, the Basin School Network contains 69 member groups, covering urban and rural river basins. Based on first-hand observations and reflections by the author, the chapter portrays the practices of the Basin School Network, along with the cultural strategies in mobilising participants and networking the basin communities. The discussion focuses on the role of Basin School Network in incubating new basin citizenship, following the three principles of its membership: adoption of a basin, regular activities, and commitment to the water body. The chapter indicates that in addition to the formal deliberation in policy making, the soft approach integrates everyday, grassroots-based engagements by local communities, thus envisioning a more diversified and balanced partnership for basin conservation.