Taiwan participates in global efforts to enhance conservation through projects closely linked to the targets of the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity.
The notion of satoyama stems from the Japanese word for the semiwild area between villages, arable land and mountain foothills. The mixed landscape found in such areas facilitates conservation and movement of wildlife across a variety of habitats. UNESCO recognized the concept as a good model for the protection of biodiversity and human well-being, and in 2010 the Satoyama Initiative was announced in Decision X/32 of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
A red mangrove seedling thrives at Tamsui River Mangrove Nature Reserve in New Taipei City. (Photo by Pang Chia-shan)
As the lead body overseeing Taiwan’s ecological efforts, the Cabinet-level Council of Agriculture’s (COA) Forestry Bureau (FB) has promoted the Taiwan Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative (TPSI) since 2016. Lo Yu-chuan (羅尤娟), who heads the Conservation Division of the FB, explains that the ongoing program brings together resources from central and local government agencies as well as nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to help link biodiverse spaces from alpine to coastal areas.
The TPSI aims to revitalize and support landscapes and seascapes by identifying Key Biodiversity Areas via comprehensive ecological surveys. Such areas are targeted for protection under a Cabinet-led project called the Taiwan Ecological Network (TEN) implemented in 2018. The TEN project covers not only locations between wilderness and urban areas like secondary forests, rivers and wetlands—which are more subject to human disturbance—but also remote, rarely visited nature reserves and protected habitats.
International Participation
In the draft goals of the CBD post-2020 framework, ensuring connectivity between ecologically representative land and waterways is a top priority, hence the TEN project. “Taiwan isn’t a U.N. member, but our involvement in its activities, mechanisms and meetings has never ceased,” Lo said. Together with local NGO Society for Wildlife and Nature (SWAN) International, the FB sends a group of public and private sector representatives to the COP every other year. “We continue to conduct exchanges and collect information from global sources to keep up with the latest policymaking trends,” Lo added.
The ring-necked pheasant, one of Taiwan’s endemic bird subspecies (Photo courtesy of Chen Wang-shih)
Established in 1982, SWAN International is based in the Biodiversity Research Center at Taipei City-headquartered Academia Sinica (AS), Taiwan’s foremost research organization and where the society’s president Jeng Ming-shiou (鄭明修) is a research fellow. According to Jeng, who led the group to COP14 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, in 2018, Taiwan’s continuing presence at the COP helps craft a more active role for the country to engage internationally. As a leading member of the AS-based Taiwanese Coral Reef Society and head of the AS branch of Paris-based International Science Council’s Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment, Jeng emphasizes the necessity of building international participation since the country lost its U.N. seat in the early 1970s. In addition to focusing on local conservation, SWAN International has chapters in other countries, including Australia and Japan. It also partners with U.K.-based wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC, a strategic alliance between Switzerland-headquartered World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Sustainability Goals
A pair of Formosan sika deer, an endemic subspecies, graze at Taipei Zoo in the capital. (Photo by Chin Hung-hao)
SWAN International sends representatives, local scholars and experts to IUCN and WWF conferences and events such as meetings of CBD’s Subsidiary Body for Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice. The latter, held annually in its Canadian base, plays a key role in assessing biodiversity status and giving recommendations that may be endorsed or accepted in a modified form by the COP. These events provide a platform for Taiwan to update international participants on its progress in realizing the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Jeng is a former member of the Executive Yuan’s National Council for Sustainable Development (NCSD) and is its consultant for biodiversity-related affairs. The NCSD is divided into taskforces according to SDGs, two of which promote the conservation of ecosystems and the sustainable use of resources below water and on land, with corresponding working groups staffed by the COA and the Cabinet-level Ocean Affairs Council (OAC).
Lo highlights the need to foster a biodiversity-oriented mentality among the public and government agencies. For example, ocean pollution should be addressed by tracing its origins to the industrial or household wastewater sent to various river sections rather than being solely the OAC’s responsibility. The FB recognizes that staunch commitment to facilitating communication and coordination with other government units, such as the Ministry of Transportation and Communications and the Water Resources Agency under the Ministry of Economic Affairs, is vital to the success of conservation.
Black-winged stilts face into the wind at a major water bird habitat in the northeastern county of Yilan. (Photo courtesy of Forestry Bureau)
After a decade of preliminary subsidy programs in locations like terraced paddy fields in New Taipei City’s coastal Gongliao District, the FB launched a Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) project in 2021. Lo pointed out that nearly 60 percent of Taiwan’s protected wildlife species’ habitats are private agricultural or forest land, which are vulnerable to development and industrialization. The program has two categories: PES for endangered species and PES for critical habitats. The four endangered species are the leopard cat, grass owl, otter and pheasant-tailed jacana, while the four critical habitats are rice paddies, rice terraces, land-based fish farms and private forests. Among eco-friendly behavior remunerated under the scheme is abstention from herbicides, raticides, poisoned bait and animal traps. At the same time, residents are encouraged to report sightings of wildlife species to local governments. There are also incentive payments for landowners to set up automatic cameras in areas frequented by leopard cats and to leave jacana nests on farmland untouched. This ongoing initiative is intended to protect Satoyama land located outside government-designated forest reserves, national parks, nature reserves and wildlife habitats, which accounts for around 20 percent of Taiwan’s total landmass.
Public Awareness
FB’s calendar features hand-drawn illustrations of local flora and fauna, with the 2022 edition presenting images of deceptive natural mimicry. (Photos courtesy of FB)
Involving landowners through PES is one arm of a strategy to raise wider awareness of Taiwan’s biodiversity. To extend this to urban populations who have little contact with the natural environment, the FB launched a revamped public information campaign. Animated movies, illustrated books and calendars with local flora and fauna themes are all part of a fresh visual image for an audience educated by the cultural creative industry aesthetic. The hand-drawn illustrations of the newer campaign are a distinct departure from the formulaic style of previous calendars featuring scenic photos. The 2022 edition focuses on animal and plant camouflage, with intriguing images of deceptive natural mimicry. These works are among a growing collection of learning materials raising familiarity and curiosity about Taiwan’s ecosystems and local biodiversity.
A national report to be published later this year showcases the FB’s achievements and its vision to uphold and enhance biodiversity through public-private collaboration. This will be Taiwan’s first countrywide report in the format other CBD signatories use for their National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans. Taipei-based National Taiwan University’s Biodiversity Research Center, which helped draft the report, formed a partnership with the Legislature’s U.N. SDGs Advisory Council, which in turn precipitated the 2021 launch of the Climate Team Taiwan initiative by legislators, experts and climate advocates. This calls for a comprehensive legal framework for climate governance and stronger nationwide dedication to a sustainable future. “Global warming poses a threat to all aspects of life,” Lo said. “Both its imminent and long-term impacts on biodiversity will be thoroughly investigated and incorporated into the national report.”
Write to Pat Gao at cjkao@mofa.gov.tw