National Parks of Taiwan

The Construction and Planning Agency (CPA) under the Ministry of the Interior will be holding a “National Park Partnership Experience Sharing Forum” in the International Conference Room of the College of Science, National Taiwan University (Shih-Liang Hall at No.1, Sec.4, Roosevelt Rd., Daan District, Taipei City) on November 12th, 2015 (Thursday), in hopes of promoting partnerships with national parks. Experts, scholars and NGO representatives will be invited to the forum, where they will explore opportunities for future partnerships with national parks together with staff members and volunteers of national park headquarters. The CPA enacted the “Construction and Planning Agency Directions for Subsidizing NGOs in National Park Partnerships and Resource Conservation and Monitoring Projects” in 2012, and subsidized 13 projects in 2012, 10 projects in 2013, and 15 projects in 2014; in total, 38 projects have been subsidized, including resource monitoring, training courses, eco-tourism, and working holiday projects. To provide a basis for the CPA and national park headquarters (including preparatory offices) to carry out related affairs, the CPA invited experts, scholars and NGOs that received subsidies to share their experiences, building the foundation for improving partnerships with national parks. This forum was co-organized with the National Park Association in Taiwan and consisted of 6 topics: national park policies and partnerships with indigenous peoples, practices in community communication and coordination, promotion of national park eco-tourism in communities, participation of communities in resource monitoring, national park nature experience, and national park traditional settlements and local industries. The forum invited Professor Chang Chang-Yi, Professor Huang Yao-Wen, Associate Professor Chen Mei-Hui, Associate Professor Hsueh Yi-Chen, Miss Yang Pin-Yu (Director-General of the Takao Hill Association), Mr. Tsai Cheng-Jung (Former Head of KentingVillage, Pingtung County), and Mr. Wu Yin-Shui (Chairman of Taiwan Indigo Dyeing Society), as well as representatives of NGOs, who gave in-depth analyses based on their cooperation experience and research. The attendees discussed and analyzed national park partnerships and operating strategies with the CPA and national park headquarters (including preparatory offices). The CPA hopes that dialogue between industry, government and academia will expand ecological conservation research in national parks and increase the results of positive interactions with partners. The CPA welcomes anyone who is interested to attend and listen to the discussions.