The Current Status of Protected Areas

Taiwan’s protected areas, which have been established for ecological conservation purposes, can be divided into four categories, nature reserves, wildlife refuges and major wildlife habitats,  national parks and national nature parks, and forest reserves. There are 22 nature reserves in Taiwan now. They were announced by the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), local governments according to the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act. As for the wildlife refuges and major wildlife habitats, they were announced by the MOA, Special Municipality, county and city governments according to the Wildlife Conservation Act. Currently, there are 21 wildlife refuges, 39 major wildlife habitats. Nine national parks and 1 national nature park were announced by the Ministry of the Interior according to the National Park Act. There are 6 forest reserves, planned by MOA according to the Forestry Act. The total area of all the protected areas subtracting the overlapping areas and the sea areas is about 1,210,657.08 hectares, which is approximately 19% of the land area of Taiwan.

I. Nature reserves (22 locations):

Since June 27, 1986, according to the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act, 18 nature reserves have been announced by the MOA. In addition, Penghu County Government, Pingtung County Government, Taipei City Government, and Tainan City Government, announced 4 local nature reserves. Management authorities were assigned, in order to maintain and manage Taiwan's important ecological systems and unique topography and geology, as well as areas with genetic preservation, permanent observation and educational and research value.
 
FANCA provides the budget each year. It works with the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute,  management agencies of the competent county and city governments and academic research institutes to promote reserve management and maintenance, survey research, and educational advocacy. According to Article 86 of the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act, “Any alteration of or damage to the natural status of a natural reserve is prohibited.” The nature reserves are thus under the strict protection of the government, in order to maintain their original features and provide academic research and educational advocacy functions and value.

II. Wildlife refuges (21 locations) and major wildlife habitats (39 locations):

In order to preserve wild animals and habitats, since the promulgation of the Wildlife Conservation Act, we have been actively involved in promoting all kinds of wildlife conservation work and the establishment of wildlife refuges. FANCA and competent county and city governments provide the budget each year and promote protected area management and maintenance, survey research and educational advocacy, together with academic and research institutes and local conservation groups.  

III. National parks (9 locations) and national nature parks (1 location):

Since 1981, Taiwan has been conducting national park and protected area work. According to the National Park Act, we founded 9 National Parks and 1 National Nature Park. The national parks are different from metropolitan parks and theme parks. Their functions are to maintain unique natural scenery, wild animals and plants, and historic monuments. They are also used for recreation and research. According to the National Park Act, the national parks must be categorized according to the current land use characteristics: limited use areas, recreational areas, historical preservation areas, special scenic areas, and ecological reserves. The nine national parks have their own unique natural views. Development is heavily restricted. Shoushan National Nature Park was officially open on December 6, 2011. It is the first national nature park established through a community-led initiative by local conservation groups.

IV. Forest reserves (6 locations):

In order for the FANCA to protect the different ecological systems and rare animals and plants in the national forests, according to the Forestry Act, we established national forest reserves. After reviews of all the protected areas, most of them were designated as nature reserves, wildlife refuges, or major wildlife habitats by the MOA according to the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act or Wildlife Conservation Act. Currently, only 6 Forest Reserves have been announced. We still conduct outdoor surveys in all the forest reserves. Other than carrying out the usual ecological resources surveys and surveillance protection work, and collecting all the basic ecological information, we also focus on the implementation of monitoring plans regarding endangered, rare and valuable species. We have established management and monitoring stations. In addition, in response to the need for promoting ecological knowledge, we also established educational exhibition halls in or near to some forest reserves. We also provide natural and ecological education guidance services, in order for people to gain more knowledge regarding ecological preservation.
 
The nature conservation work under the existing policies and regulations, other than reinforcing promotion, should adapt to international conservation trends. We should be more actively involved with promoting the preservations of the habitats and landscapes of endangered wild animals and plants, strengthening educational advocacy for the citizens and upgrading the concepts of preservation, and in the meantime we also actively participate in all kinds of international conservation events, establish international channels of exchange, and share the responsibility as part of the international society.
 
Currently, we evaluate the effects of protected area management through the following four methods: expert and scholar reviews and evaluations; regular reviews by competent authorities and us; on-site evaluations by expert scholars, Wildlife Conservation Advisory Committee members and Natural Landscape Evaluation Committee members in all the protected areas; and daily monitoring evaluations by competent authorities. In the future, we plan to gradually and proactively establish all the management evaluation indices according to the basic information gathered, as reference for the long-term management strategies of protected areas.
 
As for the long-term monitoring of protected areas, other than hiring experts and scholars to gather basic information in the annual plans, training on-site staff with surveying and monitoring skills is also important. By establishing a comprehensive monitoring system, and adjusting the managerial directions and techniques of protected areas according to the monitoring results, the effectiveness of conservation of animals, plants, and habitats is increased. Therefore, the strengthening of the establishment and monitoring of protected areas will remain the focus of our work.