National Parks of Taiwan

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By Jack Hsu
Taiwan News, Supplement Writer

Redefining Taiwan's environmental assets, encouraging conservation research and ecotourism, as well as building international links sum up the direction priorities of the Construction and Planning Agency under the Ministry of Interior with Lin Ching-rong as director-general.

The agency headed by Lin manages Taiwan's national parks. With his four-year term ahead of him, he is actively promoting the development of Taiwan's valuable environmental assets. He is likewise working on international cooperation, information exchange, internationalization, and innovation for the future to help consolidate the goal of preserving the beauty of Taiwan.

Education, recreation and research are specific areas getting emphasis in the plans for the national parks, said Lin. In his opinion, national parks should function to protect the natural environment, preserve endangered species, serve as natural recreation and provide the reference for environmental education.

Through the agency's continuing efforts to develop and promote them, Taiwan's national parks are now included in the list of world parks.

Investing in assets

"Taiwan's national parks have unique natural features that have been well preserved under government regulation," said Lin. "The Construction and Planning Agency has aggressively promoted ecological conservation for decades so that these natural features can achieve sustained reproduction. At present, having achieved stability and equilibrium in our ecological environment, national parks have become important environmental assets."

To further develop these environmental assets, Taiwan has to push its efforts toward cooperating with international organizations engaged in environment protection, pointed out Lin. That way, Taiwan is able to form an international network in ecological preservation and at the same time build its international image, according to Lin.

Past efforts of the agency focused mostly on international cooperation as well as exchanges of opinion and experience. The national parks of Taiwan have formed partnerships with counterparts in other countries based on the mutual objectives of sustainable development and technological cooperation.

Successful cooperation

Previously successful cooperation projects have included the sister park agreements between the Taroko National Park and the Poas Volcano National Park in Costa Rica in 1992, between Yangmingshan National Park and Irazu Volcano National Park also in Costa Rica in 1993, and between Yushan National Park and La Tigra National Park in Honduras in 2002. These agreements have enabled Taiwan to establish connections with the world.

The Construction and Planning Agency has also actively participated in international symposiums, highlighting Taiwan's achievements in ecological conservation. In 2007, experts and scholars on national parks were invited through the National Park Association in Taiwan to participate in exchanges in Taiwan,. The agency also cooperated with this association to send its staff to Japan to acquire experience in national park management

Going international

"English is the communication medium if Taiwan seeks to reach out to the world," said Lin. "To facilitate the foreigners' understanding of Taiwan's national parks, bilingual websites are necessary. At present there is an entrance website for each national park, providing foreigners with basic information for their travel need. Currently, the government has seen to it that both the websites and publications about our national parks are available in bilingual version."

Lin Chin-rong, director general of Construction and Development Agency, is promoting the development of Taiwan's environmental assets.

In the future, the agency hopes to consolidate all the websites of each park to make information access dramatically more convenient, said Lin. A consolidated website will act as a one-stop window, providing all the necessary Web links to cover tourist spots, visitor services, transportation, accommodation, and ecological information.

"A resource exchange platform for environment protection should be created in the near future," said Lin. "This platform will serve as channel, which crosses borders, for the exchange of management experience and knowledge about national parks involving different nations. At the same time, it offers the opportunity for the discussion of contemporary environmental issues such as global warming."

"Exchange of opinion and knowledge is the essence of international cooperation," said l Lin. "Since Taiwan has limited access to international organizations, this resource platform can serve as the bridge for bilateral communication."

Lin urged the government to promote ecotourism as a way to attract more foreigners to visit the national parks in Taiwan and understand the ecology in these places. Each park in Taiwan has different natural characteristics such as the oceanic Dongsha Atoll and the mountain forest Ali Mountain.

"My long-term target is to have Lanyu or Orchid Island and Green Island integrated into national park system," said Lin. "With both outlying islands becoming our new national parks, Taiwan's ecotourism packages will have greater diversity. Through the promotion of ecotourism, we can present to the world the beauty of Taiwan and our achievement in environment preservation."

First marine national park

The Dongsha Marine National Park, the seventh national park of Taiwan, was established last January. Dongsha is Taiwan's first marine national park. The atoll consists of coral reefs and a lagoon. Its landscapes include reefs, lagoon, sandbanks, seashores, waterways and island.

The Dongsha Atoll has the potential of becoming a major tourist spot because of its rare ecological features. It took millions of years of reef building for it to come into existence. Firstly, the corals require at least hundreds of years to grow a fertile reef bed. Secondly, thousands of years are necessary to integrate groups of reefs to join together to become fringing reefs. The formation of an atoll, which is larger than fringing reefs, takes a much longer period of time. The best-grown corals are located in the northwest area of this island, where there are great views with unique characteristics.

The Dongsha Marine National Park has unique natural reserves to offer in terms of ecotourism. But for now it is still protected and not open to tourism. The Dongsha has not only beautiful sandbanks and lagoon, but also rich coral, fishery and bird ecological resources. Since ecotourism serves two purposes, meaning environment education and sustainable development, Dongsha has the potential to be a useful reference when dealing with recreation and education.

"The unique Dongsha, in fact, is expected to become a world heritage site in due time," said Lin.
The agency has established the Dongsha International Marine Research Station for the training of marine technology experts. The station has academic marine research and marine technology development for its main functions.

Another major objective for the establishment of this center is the building of the bridge for international cooperative studies. With this center in operation, Taiwan will have the knowledge and experience in marine research and technological development to exchange with international organizations.

Possibilities for future

Lin described the management and promotion of national parks as something requiring long-term planning. He called for increased government funding. He further pointed out that the plans for national parks should include cooperation and resource integration among government agencies. One potential cooperation plan brings the agency to work with the National Science Council to develop technological facilities such as satellite system for monitoring the change of environment.

Another cooperation option is to involve the Ministry of Education. Lin observed: "Since elementary education plays a key role in our perception, the government should include knowledge of our national parks in textbooks."

Partnerships with private enterprises could be a future option, according to Lin. The management of national parks should be open to private enterprises through a partnership arrangement, involving skilled individuals from a variety of disciplines such as ecology, forestry, biology, environmental science, marine aquaculture, and geology.

"The management experience is basically an integration of knowledge from multi-disciplines," said Lin. "Cooperation with private enterprises, which are willing to contribute to the development of national parks, opens up government access for the government to coordinate with experts in different fields. They possess the corporate management skill, high technology capability, and capital.

The development of national parks has immediate impact on our national affairs.

"Regulating environmental preservation inevitably affects the lives of many," said Lin. "Firstly, the government has to implement the new amendment to the laws on territory management since national parks account for 8.5% of our land. Residency in such areas could face some challenges. Secondly, since national parks are major tourist spots in the country, they boost the local economy in surrounding areas to some degree. However, supplementary measures should be implemented to benefit the economy. Therefore, the impact should be taken into consideration for future development plans."

The Construction and Planning Agency has always demonstrated an effort to follow the trend set by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Having done it for more than 25 years, the agency has matured in its experience in the management of national parks of Taiwan. But to step up the development, innovative measures are required, according to Lin.

Actions required

"Through bilateral cooperation, not only do we learn from the experiences in other countries, but we also gain awareness about global environmental issues such as global warming," remarked Lin. "This awareness can serve as a reference for future policy-making. Bilateral cooperation should increase. Internationalization plays a key role in the promotion of ecological conservation."

Technology and finance are important resources that are necessary for the development of national parks, reminded Lin. Technological facilities such as solar energy devices can boost the living standard of the inhabitants in the surrounding areas. On the other hand, high-end technology provides instant monitoring of environmental changes.

The funding policy requires new management system as well since the management of national parks and the conservation of natural environment both need long-term planning, said Lin.

In the future, Taiwan's national parks firstly must continue to undertake conservation work to keep the natural beauty which boosts tourism. Secondly, the parks should become the academic reference for environmental research in international studies on ecology. Thirdly, they must be showcases of achievements in protecting the environment and in sustainable development for international organizations to refer to. Carrying out all these will help give a new look to the national parks, concluded Lin.