National Parks of Taiwan

As the first Director General of the National Park Service, Ministry of the Interior, Chen Mao-Chun has a wealth of management experience accumulated over his time overseeing different domains, including mountain recreational activities, historical battlefields, and alpine ecosystems. With a professional background in law, Chen has been a nature enthusiast since his student days, and by chance, he became involved in national parks. As someone who has both rational and sensibility qualities, he deeply understands the close interdependence among natural landscapes, cultural traditions, people and the land.

Deepening Opportunities for Cooperation, Increasing Participation

National parks are established not only to protect the natural environment, but also to conduct research and provide recreation for the general public. Conducting conservation researches has always been a mission of national parks. After being upgraded to become the National Park Service, a new generation of national parks system was established. It includes nine national parks, one national nature park, and 58 national wetlands and major coastal areas, forming a comprehensive national land conservation network.

Chen believes that in the future, the National Park Service will continue to focus on national parks and carry out inter-regional conservation collaboration programs. For example, the Formosan black bear conservation at Yushan not only brings together alpine-type national parks such as Shei-Pa and Taroko, but also promotes the conservation of bears in cooperation with private conservation organizations. The effort vastly increases the integrity and connectivity of bear habitats, and can thus effectively manage and ensure biodiversity.

One of the main responsibilities of National Park Service includes recreation management. When Chen served as the director of the Shei-Pa National Park Headquarters, in addition to promoting the study of the Formosan salamander, he also built the well-equipped Guanwu Salamander Ecological Center. The center comprises the Yunwu Trail and a scenic platform. Not only does it provide the general public with a pleasant recreational site, visitors also have an opportunity to learn about the habitat of this unique salamander species endemic in Taiwan. All in all, the center meets the needs of the general public for recreation and leisure, and at the same time, helps with the internalization of conservation concepts among people.

Expanding Partnerships to Market Taiwan

In response to the development goals of global conservation, climate change and environmental sustainability, the National Park Service has been proactively engaging with the international community. It has become one of the avenues for Taiwan to participate in international affairs. Over the past 40 years since their establishment, the national parks of Taiwan have been committed to conducting conservation researches. Chen believes that in the future, the national park brand should be shaped to highlight Taiwan’s unique natural and cultural features, thereby marking Taiwan as a force in promoting green sustainability on the global stage.

Nowadays, more than 130 countries around the world have pledged to work towards the goals of “zero net emissions” by 2050. Chen shared that the National Park Service has developed a carbon management plan to estimate carbon sinks and emissions. The agency is also working with industry and take the lead to lower carbon emissions. For example, the National Park Service is promoting a tree-planting program with private enterprises such as Wan Hai Lines. It is also cooperating with experts to perform carbon inventories, so that National Park Service can become a model for land use and resource conservation, as well as key player in marketing and connecting Taiwan with the rest of the world.