Governance of Biodiversity Conservation in China And Taiwan

protected within a conservation unit.^78 Along the west coast are numerous
estuaries and shallow sea bays with many intertidal mud flats and offshore
islands. The north and south coasts have unique geographic features and
diverse ecosystems; they support a large number of soft coral reefs. Pacific
Ocean waters near the east coast are a habitat for whales and dolphins.
The Executive Yuan promulgated a Taiwan Coastal Area Natural
Environment Protection Plan in 1982, and it designated seven coastal
protection areas.^79 Another five coastal protection areas joined the list in 1985.
Activities detrimental to the environmental quality of these coastal areas are
prohibited, and environmental impact assessments are required for any
proposed developments within them.

COORDINATION, MANAGEMENT AND FISCAL ISSUES

The most serious problem in the management of Taiwan’s PAs is lack of
coordination and the inappropriate division of labor among governmental
agencies. Coordination problems are rooted in conflict among laws. Article 11
of the National Park Law assigned authority for parks to the Ministry of the
Interior (MOI). However, Article 16 of the Forestry Act (1985) states: ‘Should
a national park be designated in a forest area, the forest area within the
demarcated boundaries shall be managed by the agency that is in conjunction
with the relevant national park’.^80 For example, when Kenting National Park
became Taiwan’s first national park in 1984, the park administration had to
contend with the Forestry Bureau, two other government bureaus and
thousands of residents who farmed, lived, and ran businesses inside the land
of Kenting National Park^81 All claimed authority under Article 16 of the
Forestry Act.
Policy goals of economic development prevail over the long-term agenda of
nature conservation and environmental protection. The Deputy Director of
Taiwan’s EPA maintained:

‘There are four major tasks of the management of protected areas: conservation,

protection, development and resource utilization. At the current stage, all these four

tasks belong to the jurisdiction of one single administration unit. For instance, the

conservation, protection, development and resource utilization tasks of the forest

belong to the jurisdiction of the Forest Bureau of the COA. In order to improve its

records of performance, the natural tendency of the Bureau is to promote

development and profitable utilization of forest resources. Tasks for conservation

and protection are put aside and neglected.’^82

Yet the territories of national parks and national forests overlap by as much as
90 percent in some cases. The supervising agency for national parks is the

124 Governance of biodiversity conservation in China and Taiwan