ABSTRACT
Disasters trigger reflections on human–environment relations. Taiwan's Typhoon Morakot dropped copious rain during a short period, causing diverse people to reflect on the factors that had aggravated the disaster. These included climate change, the impact of larger storms, soil erosion, landslides, inappropriate large-scale developments and construction projects in environmentally inappropriate areas. This chapter analyses four post-Morakot environmentally friendly reconstruction cases to consider the contextual requirements for sustainable, local, long-term community reconstruction programmes. It focuses on local green social work practices in Taiwan. The chapter illustrates attempts to change dominant frameworks and strike a balance between conserving livelihoods and local environments. A capitalist approach reproduces the vulnerabilities of agricultural villages and tribes. The chapter presents case studies, which indicates that organisations following individualistic economic development endeavours avoid their environmental impact without mitigating neoliberalism's negative influences on disadvantaged groups or communities, especially tribes.
