Taiwan Today

Ecosystem conservation around the country protects precious wildlife.

The Taipei International Birdwatching Fair is organized by the Wild Bird Society of Taipei (WBST) and comprises exhibits, forums, performances and birding tours. The 2024 edition, held in October at Guandu Nature Park in Taipei City, saw booths set up by student groups from elementary and high schools throughout the region to share their knowledge of such issues as invasive species, tern conservation and bird rescue with visitors of all ages. Representatives from domestic conservation groups as well as foreign environmental activists from Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines all attended the event.
 

The WBST-managed park has been a member of the U.K.-based Wetland Link International since 2014 as a way to support its work to educate and inform people about the valuable ecosystem. In November the park and other Tamsui River wetlands including Huajiang Wild Duck Nature Park were selected as field trip destinations for the first annual meeting of the U.S.-based Society of Wetland Scientists to be held in Asia. Huajiang is one of several riverside parks adjacent to the 245-hectare Taipei City Waterbird Refuge, which the WBST helps maintain under the jurisdiction of the city government’s animal protection office. “We’re proud to contribute and work with local groups to protect this area and others like it,” said WBST CEO Nelson Chen (陳仕泓). The organization, which was founded in 1973 as the Taiwan Bird Watcher’s Club before taking its current name in 1984, is also responsible for managing Aogu Wetland Ecology Exhibition Center in southern Taiwan’s Chiayi County.

Wildlife Zones
The WBST was formed as a pioneering environmental advocacy group during Taiwan’s social liberalization movement in the 1980s. The emergence of voices calling for conservation led to the 1982 Cultural Heritage Preservation Act. In the decades since the country has expanded its protected areas to guard against irresponsible land development. To date these include 22 nature reserves, six forest reserves, 10 national parks and 39 major wildlife habitats, which together account for nearly 20 percent of the nation’s total land area. Most of the refuges are administered by regional offices of the Ministry of Agriculture’s (MOA) Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency through the Forestry Act, National Park Law and Wildlife Conservation Act. Of the 39 wildlife habitats, six are protected under the Cabinet-level Ocean Affairs Council’s Ocean Conservation Administration established in 2018, while 21 are run according to the special conservation needs of local governments. The management of these areas may be delegated to other organizations like the WBST, with support from both the public and private sectors.

In 2015 the Wetland Conservation Act took effect and established further protections for flora and fauna habitats, leading to the designation of more than 60 wetlands across the country as important at a global, national or local level. Both Guandu in Taipei and Aogu in Chiayi were determined to be of national significance, in part due to their recognition by the U.K.-headquartered conservation network Birdlife International as ecosystems serving as crucial stopover sites for a stunning variety of migratory birds including waterfowl, shorebirds and the endangered black-faced spoonbill.

Interlinked Systems
Likening wetlands and woodlands to a country’s kidneys and lungs, WBST’s Chen suggests incorporating the Guandu park and neighboring mangrove reserve, totaling 120 hectares, into the National Nature Park system under the Ministry of the Interior. The system currently includes one nature park and two metropolitan parks in Taichung and Kaohsiung Cities in central and southern Taiwan, respectively. “Not only would this arrangement maintain the regional ecosystem, but we’d also see greater financial and personnel resources brought to bear on habitat maintenance,” he said.
  “Our core mission is to nurture the area’s biodiversity,” Chen asserted on a tour of Guandu Nature Park. “Taking care of birds is a demanding job, and caring for freshwater fish is no different,” he explained, indicating an on-site pond that functions as both a haven for native fish species and a nursery for water plant regrowth. A larger pond at the 1.11-hectare Gaorong Wildlife Refuge in the northern city of Taoyuan is key to a project working to preserve the endangered Taipei frog. The species—only 2 to 4 centimeters in length—was first documented in the early 20th century in what is now New Taipei City’s Bali District. The refuge in Gaorong was established in 2012 after the frog population experienced a considerable decline based on a 2005 survey by Taipei Zoo. Shieh Ming (謝銘), a division chief in Taoyuan City Government’s Department of Agriculture, said that collaboration between the government and civil sector is essential to building a sustainable model. “We’re pleased to see that this conservation program has yielded significant results,” he added. Annual surveys conducted since 2013 by the Taoyuan-based Taiwan Wetland Restoration Society (TWRS), commissioned to manage the refuge, have shown a gradual increase in the amphibian’s population over the past two years. Shieh is optimistic about the future, as there are signs of the frogs expanding their range.
 

 

Pond Life

The Gaorong pond was once part of an irrigation network of thousands of connected pools serving rice fields in Taoyuan. More advanced water transmission systems, in conjunction with the completion of Shihmen Reservoir in 1964, left the ponds vulnerable to developers. TWRS Secretary-General Huang Yen-ling (黃彥霖) views himself as a spokesperson for such orphaned ponds. “These constructed environments have been integrated into the ecosystem as wildlife and plant habitats,” he said. “They can be privately owned, administered by the MOA’s Irrigation Agency or held by the state-run Taiwan Water Corp., as is the case with Gaorong,” he explained, calling for collaboration with local communities to conserve the unique landscape features. “One of our greatest success stories has been convincing farmers of the benefits of avoiding chemical pesticides to reduce pond pollution. In return, we assist with the marketing of their organic products.”

 

Huang cited another former irrigation facility turned conservation project in Taoyuan that, like seven similar sites around the city, is charged with the additional mission of raising environmental awareness. The 5-hectare Bade Pond Ecology Park was recognized in 2018 under 2011’s Environmental Education Act. Huang and WBST’s Chen believe that enlightening people on the importance of safeguarding the country’s ecosystems is a top goal for civic groups like theirs. They both applauded enterprises that focus on environmental, social and governance considerations for their ongoing financial and volunteer labor contributions to conservation-related campaigns. “Public and private operators have made great strides to protect the land,” Chen said. “It’s exciting to consider possibilities for cooperation and collaboration that we have yet to explore.”

Write to Pat Gao at cjkao@mofa.gov.tw