Scientific forestry and colonial environmentalism in the controversy on vegetation history of Penghu Island in the Japanese colonial period

Abstract

The Penghu Island in Taiwan Straits were once a significant arena for Japanese colonial forestry in that they caused controversy on the cause of treeless landscape and ‘reconstruction’ of woodlands. Focusing on Seiroku Honda, Kanori Ino, and Yasusada Tashiro, this paper situates environmental discourses on the colonial Penghu in the context of scientific forestry and argues problematic relationship of Japanese conservationism and colonialism. The experience of the Penghu illustrates how Japanese colonial forestry constructed the conservational discourse, which supported colonial control of timber resource and vegetation.