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202501/23
To effectively prevent and control the threats posed by green iguanas, an invasive exotic species, to the environment and agriculture, the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) held the first inter-ministerial work meeting of the Green Iguana Removal Response Team today (01/23). The meeting was convened by Deputy Minister Tu Wen-Jane, inviting representatives from the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Environment to discuss relevant prevention and control measures. The central and local governments have worked together to set up 14 removal teams in the first quarter of this year and trained more than 1,100 enthusiastic citizens to participate in the removal tasks. The "Crop Natural Disaster Instant Reporting System" app now includes a green iguana reporting function. This new feature, developed through inter-ministerial reporting and promotion cooperation, allows users to instantly track green iguana distribution for removal efforts. All removal results will be announced monthly through a digital dashboard on the Nature Conservation website of the FANCA.
The FANCA stated that a total of 82,595 green iguanas were removed nationwide in 2024. The FANCA will set up 4 teams of indigenous hunters in the first quarter of this year. They will work together with 10 professional commissioned teams by local governments to remove green iguanas in the wild, targeting areas such as river basins where the capture of green iguanas is difficult. Furthermore, local governments have actively expanded the number of public training sessions, anticipating that over 1,100 individuals will be trained for participation in removal efforts. All removal results have been compiled into the digital dashboard and published on the Nature Conservation website of the FANCA.
The MOA established the Green Iguana Removal Response Team on December 5, 2024. In terms of green iguana reporting, a green iguana reporting and feedback function has been added to the real-time Crop Natural Disaster Instant Reporting System developed by the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute, providing relevant ministries and units of the MOA with the ability to report the locations of green iguanas. In the future, a dedicated section will be added for use by the central and local capture and removal teams as well as citizens who have completed the removal training. Users must simply photograph captured green iguanas, report the location, and record details like snout-vent length (SVL) and sex. This information will then be sent to the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute via the system, enabling scientific analysis of green iguana distribution and abundance changes.
The FANCA explained that the response team discussed the main distribution areas of green iguanas in Pingtung, Kaohsiung, Tainan, and Chiayi today. In particular, the Ministry of National Defense will assist in re-inventorying the distribution of green iguanas in military camps and other restricted areas, and cooperate with local governments to carry out removal operations in such areas. The Ministry of Education will strengthen promotion and publicity on campuses, reminding teachers and students to proactively report to the local government removal team if they spot green iguanas. At the same time, the Ministry of the Interior will launch a green iguana removal plan for national parks, including Kenting and Shoushan, which will be incorporated into the training of volunteer tour guides to strengthen the content of guided tours for tourists.
The FANCA emphasized that a complete division of labor has been established for green iguana prevention and control, and the reporting and capture operations have been fully launched. In the future, the FANCA will continue to optimize the horizontal coordination between monitoring and removal efforts, adjust the removal areas on a rolling basis, and strengthen the cooperation between local governments and civil forces. It is hoped that these efforts can effectively suppress the green iguana population in the wild, reduce ecological and agricultural losses, and jointly protect Taiwan’s precious natural resources.