Public participation in the planning systems of protected areas

There are three statutory categories of natural protected areas in Taiwan (COA 1997, Lee 2001): National Parks, Nature Reserves, and Wildlife Refuges (Figure 1-2), which are correspondingly designated under the National Park Law (enacted in

1972), the Culture Heritage Preservation Law (enacted in 1982), and the Wildlife Conservation Law (enacted in 1989 and amended in 1994). Figure 1-3 shows the legal and administrative framework of these three protected areas.

National Parks in Taiwan, in-line 'with lUCN’s category II (Table 1-1), are planned and designated by the central Ministry of Interior. There are 6 National Park in Taiwan and each has a National Park Headquarters responsible for its management. Nature Reserves, equivalent to lUCN’s category I, are planned and designated by the central Council of Agriculture. 19 Nature Reserves have been designated in Taiwan and most of them are managed by the national Forestry Bureau or by Local Governments. Wildlife Refuges, parallel lUCN’s category IV, are planned, designated, and managed by Local Governments.

The designation procedures for National Park (Figure 1-4) and Nature Reserves (Figure 1-5) show a very ‘top-down’ decision-making process underpinned by a scientific, rationalist approach. The central authority of National Parks, the Ministry of Interior, sets up a National Park Advisory Committee as a legal consultation body comprising 16 high-level officials from central and provincial government institutions and 5 specialists from academic institutions. The central authority of Nature Reserves, the Council of Agriculture, also sets up a Natural and Cultural Landscape Standing Committee and a Technical Committee as formal consultation bodies. The Standing Committee comprises 7 high-level officials from central government institutions and the Technical Committee involves 10 experts from academic institutions. These consultation bodies (the National Park Advisory Committee, and the Natural and Cultural Landscape Standing and Technical

Committees) form a tight official and expert community who dominates the decision-making process of planning and management for National Parks and Nature Reserves. No statutory opportunity is provided for the involvement of environmental NGOs, local people, or other interest groups.

The designation procedure of the Wildlife Refuge under the Wildlife Conservation Law provides opportunities for a more ‘bottom up’ approach unlike the ‘top-down’ processes of National Parks and Nature Reserves (Figure 1-6). The Wildlife Conservation Law is the most recent one and was enacted in 1989 and amended in 1994, at a time when public concern about the environment has also increased (Section 1.5.1). It embraces new ideas about wildlife conservation in Taiwan. More importantly, the amendment process o f the Wildlife Conservation Law involved a remarkable degree of public participation: a total o f six revisions of the Law were proposed under the amendment. Except for the one revision proposed by the government department, the other five revisions were proposed by legislators who had been lobbied by various non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

As a result of this lobbying process, opportunities for public participation via voluntary groups and members of the public in the planning and management of Wildlife Refuges were enhanced under the amendments in four ways:

• A Wildlife Refuge should be planned and managed by the local county government through a collaborative and bottom-up process.

• Before the establishment or modification of a Wildlife Refuge, an on-site public hearing of the plan, ‘if necessary, should be held to sufficiently adopt the opinions

of local residents’.

• Before the establishment or modification of a Wildlife Refuge, the plan should be approved by the Wildlife Conservation Advisory Committee\ Non-governmental representatives should comprise not less than two-thirds of the total committee membership (Appendix I).

• Local governments may commission other public or private organisations to manage the Wildlife Refuge.

However, the amendments do not provide a clear definition of what ‘if necessary’ means or of how to ‘sufficiently adopt’ the opinions of local residents. Hence these conditions are necessarily open to interpretation. Nevertheless, these amendments associated with planning and management of the Wildlife Refuges are new and promote a more participatory approach than earlier nature conservation laws. Thus, the amendments to the Wildlife Conservation Law in 1994 formed something of a turning point in the planning systems of protected areas in Taiwan. Since then, there has been a greater opportunity for a more participatory and bottom-up process in the planning and management of Wildlife Refuges.

' The Committee is established by the Council o f Agriculture under W ildlife Conservation Law to assist with wildlife conservation.

F orm osan Landlocked Salm on W ildlife Refuge

She! -P a N ational P a rk

S c a le National Parks

Nature Reserves

W ild life Refuges

60 km

D esignated Protected Areas Central G. A gencies Local G. A gencies (LG A s) Designation Procedure

N ational Parks

;

No: 6 No: 19 a

Area: 322,845 ha. Area: 64,477 ha. 1

A rea/Taiw an: 8.6% A rea/Taiw an: 1.8% B

ILC N category: II ...:v'f " ILCN category: 1 K iMinistry o f Interior (M l) W ildlife Refuges No: 13 Area: 23,201 ha. A rea/Taiw an: 0.6% lU C N category: IV

N ational Park H eadquarters (N PH )

C ouncil o f A griculture (C O A )

Provinces K Special M unicipalities

C ounties

Planned, designated by MI; M anaged by NPHs

Planned, designated by COA; M anaged by LG As

Planned, designated, and m anaged by LG As;

A pproved by C O A before designation Figure 1-3 Legal and administrative framework of protected areas in Taiwan

Site se

Survey by M inistry o f Interior (M I)

ection Consultation o f M i's N ational

Park A dvisory Com m ittee

Site selection by MI

Drawing up the National Park M aster Plan

Designation

Discussion by M l's N ational Park Advisory Com m ittee

Subm it to the national Executive Y uan for approval

Approval by the Executive Yuan

>-

i.

Legal announcem ent o f the establishment o f the N ational

Park by the Executive Yuan

Legal announcem ent o f the N ational Park M aster Plan by

the Ml

S urvey and site selectio n by the C ouncil o f A g ric u ltu re (C O A )

C o n sultation o f C O A 's N a tu ra l and C ultural L an d scap e A d v iso ry T e c h n ic a l

C o m m ittees

A pproval by C O A 's N a tu ra l and C u ltu ral L andscape S tan d in g A d v iso ry C o m m ittees

Legal anno u n cem en t o f the A ssig n m en t o f the estab lish m en t o f the N atu re m an ag e m en t au th o rity fo r the

R eserve by C O A % T

N a tu re R eserv e by C O A

Figure 1-5 Procedure of selection and designation of Nature Reserves (Based on the Cultural Heritage Preservation Law, 1982)

Survey o f proposed areas

Proposal o f draft plan

I f public hearing is necessary

Acceptance of

public hearing If public hearing is not necessary No

Yes / No

Yes

Approval by

the Wildlife Conservation Advisory

w Committee _

Yes No

Authorization by the Council o f Agriculture

Yes

Announcement / Implementation by local governments

Im m ediately

Deposit o f plan on public at least 30 days

Monitoring

If m odifications recom m ended

Modification

Figure 1-6 Procedure of selection and designation of Wildlife Refuges (Based on the Wildlife Conservation Law, 1994)