臺灣農村永續性類型:以社區資本理論為框架

Abstract

現今許多農村地區和都市地區在資源上有巨大落差，不論是環境、經濟、社會等方面皆然，例如：水資源破壞與污染、缺乏就業機會、人口老化與教育資源不足等，如此情勢使農村地區在落實永續性上存在艱難挑戰，遂落實農村永續性，成為各國政府和研究單位關注的核心議題。自1980 年代以來，臺灣農村地區亦受全球經貿自由化的衝擊，且農村往往在公部門關注焦點的邊陲，使臺灣農村持續面臨諸多永續性問題。然而，目前探討國內農村永續性之研究亦存在缺失，例如：永續性的類型方面，因為缺乏總體的分析，所以缺少農村通盤性整合數據；此外，現有永續社區指標研究，大多非針對農村地區永續性所制定的指標，又或僅針對特定型態農村所建置，因此，本研究欲補足上述的不足。 本研究套疊了「永續性三大層面模型」及「社區資本框架理論」作為理論分析架構，並在資料方面使用「臺灣農村社會文化調查計畫」之「分項計畫一：農村人口、社會與經濟調查計畫」第一期第一次（2019年）和第二次（2021年）一般問卷調查資料，以探討臺灣農村永續性有哪些潛在結構？不同結構之間是正向關連的嗎？依照永續性程度可分為哪些類型？各種類型間有甚麼結構特性和差異？其中，問卷調查的總樣本數為2528筆，本研究透過理論內容對33題因素題項進行分析。 本研究結合社區資本理論和因素分析建立「臺灣農村永續性指標之量表」後，接著運用驗證性因素分析和結構方程模型觀察「自然資本」、「文化資本」、「人力資本」、「社會資本」、「政治資本」、「經濟資本」、「建設資本」之相關性，發現大部分的社區資本為正向相關，且「社會永續層面」中的「社會資本」和永續性三大層面中的各社區資本存在高程度的共變，代表「社會資本」是農村永續存量的重要媒介，此外，分析結果亦發現「社會永續層面」和「經濟永續層面」間的各社區資本皆為正向顯著相關，例如：「社會資本」和「政治資本」、「文化資本」和「經濟和人力資本」，兩者皆為正向顯著相關，表示農村的人力、經濟、文化資本存量和公共建設的擴充之間存在緊密的關係。 進而，本研究透過階層式集群分析，將臺灣農村社區永續性類型分為「永續平衡型」、「環境經濟並重型」、「環境社會失衡型」、「經濟建設薄弱型」、「低落永續型」五類，並發現五類型間確實存在永續程度和特性之差異，例如：「永續平衡型」之永續性程度最高；「環境經濟並重型」透過平衡經濟、建設、生態達到高永續性的狀態；「環境社會失衡型」的居民互動頻繁且文化資源保存完善，但缺乏自然資本；「經濟建設薄弱型」在經濟和人力、建設資本方面薄弱；「低落永續型」的永續性為五類中最低。此外，為了進一步了解五類型受訪者所在的農村，本研究將另結合第一期第一次調查所做的村里長問卷訪談資料，以及研究結果之發現予以對照和闡釋各類型農村之永續性實況。總言之，本研究建構出適用於臺灣總體農村地區的永續性指標系統，和描繪總體臺灣農村地區永續性類型之樣貌，為目前國內農村永續性研究的系統往前邁進一大步。

With rural areas lagging far behind urban areas in resources, in terms of environmental, economic, and social aspects, such as fewer job openings, absence of eldercare, and backward educational facilities, it is a challenging task for governments worldwide to improve and maintain rural sustainability. The problem in particular is a stark one in Taiwan because the impact of trade liberation since 1980s and negligence of the government. Existing studies on rural sustainability in Taiwan, however, are short of rigorous indicators and insufficient data on rural communities, partially due to absence of sustainability indicators focusing on rural areas. The study aims to rectify such deficiencies. This current study employed a three-dimension sustainability model and the Community Capitals Framework to explore the structure of rural sustainability in Taiwan, through drawing data from first- (2019) and second- (2021) wave of the General Questionnaire Surveys from a research project, “A Social and Cultural Survey of Rural Taiwan.” The study was carried out via an investigation of 33 factor items from the questionnaire surveys containing 2,528 respondents to answer such questions as: What are the latent structures of sustainability in rural Taiwan? Are the latent dimensions positively correlated? According to the variations of sustainability, can we classify the typology of rural sustainability and identify the characteristics along with them? After creating the sustainability indices based on the Community Capitals Framework and factor analysis, the study next looked into the associations among natural capital, cultural capital, human capital, social capital, political capital, economic capital, and build capital through employing the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural education model (SEM). The findings confirmed several significantly positive correlations among them. Social capital, in particular, exerted positive covariances with other community capitals, indicating that social capital plays an important role that links up different dimensions of sustainability. In addition, the results revealed a strong positive correlation between social sustainability dimension and economic sustainability dimension, such as between social capital and political capital, as well as between cultural capital and economic and human capital, pointing to a close relationship between human, economic, and cultural capital stock and the increase of public facilities in rural areas. The results from the hierarchical cluster analysis, based on index scores and their features, indicate five groups of rural sustainability, namely balanced sustainability, equal emphasis on environmental and economy, environmental & social imbalanced, weak economic construction, and low sustainability. The balanced sustainability category, for instance, boasts the highest sustainability degree, while equal emphasis on environment and economy group attains high sustainability by balancing the economy and environment, different from environmental & social imbalanced featuring frequent interaction among residents and well preserved cultural resources, despite lack of natural capital. The weak economic construction category is deficient in economic and human capital, while low sustainability type, as its name suggests, has the lowest sustainability degree. To ascertain the locations of the five types of respondents, the study incorporates surveys of village chiefs into the findings, in order to delineate the picture about various sustainability types in rural areas. In sum, the study constructs a sustainability indicator system applicable to and depicts a picture of sustainability types in rural Taiwan, thereby contributing to rural sustainability research in the nation.