The results of a survey on black-faced spoonbills are in: A total of 4,514 birds were counted, an increase of 410 from last year.
Taiwan is the world’s most important wintering site for these migratory birds, and they are found throughout the southwestern coastal zone between the months of September and May.
Home to Kaohsiung’s highest share of the population is the Cieding Wetland (茄萣濕地), a site which is being reassessed to determine its boundary line, and whether its official protection status should be elevated to that of a wetland of national importance.
It is an administrative and procedural matter, but also a key test of whether Taiwan is meaningfully upholding the principles of the Wetland Conservation Act (濕地保育法).
Wetland assessments are rooted in ecological value and biological importance, for which the Cieding Wetland has long met the standards of national importance.
In fact, given that it is rich in mangroves and tidal ecosystems, and is the black-faced spoonbill’s preferred Kaohsiung wintering site with a complete habitat and stable food source, it could be a wetland of global ecological significance.
A wetland is considered to be of international importance if it regularly supports 1 percent of a population of waterbird species, according to the Ramsar Convention.
By measure of black-faced spoonbills alone, the Cieding Wetland is already well within this threshold.
If the government nevertheless still assesses the wetland to only qualify for local significance, it would amount to a failure to represent the true ecological value of the area.
Thriving wetlands function as natural sponges for flood retention by absorbing and retaining water, slowly releasing the excess, and acting as natural filters by locking up sediments, nutrients and toxins.
What is more, they do it far more efficiently and cost-effectively than raising dykes or laying drainage works.
Granting Cieding Wetland the status of national importance would allow it to come under the closer hydrological and ecological management of the National Land Management Agency, Water Resources Agency and the Ministry of Environment.
In keeping with the “wise use” principle of the Wetland Conservation Act, it would be a win-win for conservation, and disaster prevention and mitigation.
After the fragmentation and decline of the Kaohsiung’s neighboring Yongan Wetland (永安濕地), Cieding has come to serve as the southernmost stronghold of Taiwan’s southwest coastal corridor for migratory birds.
If it becomes subject to the same kind of pressure and fragmentation that Yongan did due to new road and infrastructure developments, it would be of serious consequence not just for the black-faced spoonbill, but for all migratory birds that the corridor supports.
In the face of climate change and extreme weather events, losing this corridor would only expedite a biodiversity crisis for Taiwan.
The review panel should, on the basis of the ecological importance of the black-faced spoonbill population, the south-western migratory corridor and the wetland itself, designate Cieding Wetland as nationally important.
In doing so, it would be responsibly setting a strong example of balance between local development and land conservation, and leaving a sustainable asset for the benefit of the next generation.
Yang Chih-chiang is an outreach lecturer for the Society of Wilderness, and a Kaohsiung resident.
Translated by Gilda Knox Streader
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