The Forestry Bureau yesterday said it planned to establish a new wildlife management area — the nation’s largest — in the Danda (丹大) area of Nantou County, amid renewed efforts to monitor and protect the environment and promote biological diversity and a sustainable ecological environment.
The bureau said it would develop the protected area in terms of the Wildlife Conservation Act (野生動物保育法). It will consist of 109,952 hectares in the mountainous area, making it the country’s largest wildlife conservation area.
The Nantou Forest District Office said the planned Danda -wildlife conservation area contains a diverse array of organisms. Aside from rare animals, there are also rare plants, such as red and yellow cypresses, Taiwan yews, firs, Torreya trees and orchids, as well as plant species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species.
Photo: Courtesy of the Nantou Forest District Office
The bureau’s monitoring records show that endangered mammals in the area include Formosan macaques, pangolins, Formosan clouded leopards, Formosan bears, yellow-throated martens, ferrets, weasels, brown Mino cats, muntjacs, Taiwan mountain goats and Formosan sambars.
The protected bird species are also diverse and include the crested goshawk, the crested serpent eagle, the forest eagle, the bear eagle, the Swinhoe’s pheasant, the green pigeon, the brown wood owl, the grey owl, the spotted Scops owl (Otus spilocephalus), the small swallowtail, the white-tailed robin, the yellow-bellied fairy flycatcher, the Huangshan bird, the green-backed tit, the Taiwan Dai Ju and the Taiwan blue magpie.
Liu Fu-cheng (劉福成), director of the forest’s district office, said ecological conservation was an important international issue and the creation of the conservation area would help protect biological diversity and provide useful resources for ecological research and monitoring.
Human intrusion has caused a lot of damage to natural habitats and the task of ecological monitoring and management is now more important than ever, he said.
First-time politician Mai Yamada’s (山田摩衣) Japanese name has attracted attention in Chinese-language media after her win in the New Taipei City Council election on Saturday. Born to a Taiwanese mother and Japanese father, the 32-year-old Taiwanese-Japanese stood out after becoming one of nine elected city councilors in Banciao District (板橋) in the nation’s local government elections on Saturday. Although she has a Japanese name, she grew up and was educated in Taiwan, Yamada said, adding that “Taiwan is my home.” Before running for local government, Yamada, who speaks fluent Japanese and English, was Legislative Speaker You Si-kun’s (游錫堃) secretary. She has been involved in
Mask easing: Teachers are allowed to take their masks off while lecturing indoors, but students should keep theirs on, as COVID-19 measures ease this week The Ministry of Education (MOE) yesterday released new on-campus COVID-19 prevention guidelines, stating that masks can be taken off while exercising, singing, dancing, performing, taking photographs, dining, drinking, video and voice recording, hosting events, presenting speeches and lecturing outdoors. Large outdoor events organized by schools should comply with the mask regulations issued by the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), it added. The new guidelines came into effect yesterday, and people in Taiwan are no longer required to wear masks outdoors for the first time since May 19 last year. The CECC announced the easing of the mask mandate on Monday, adding that it
CROSS-PARTY SUPPORT: For the amendment to pass, 50% of all eligible voters would have had to support the initiative, with about 9.62 million ‘yes’ votes cast Non-governmental organizations and student groups expressed disappointment on Saturday evening at the failure of a referendum that would have lowered the voting age in Taiwan from 20 to 18, and they hinted at other steps to address the issue. The referendum, which asked voters to approve a proposed constitutional amendment granting voting rights to citizens aged 18 and over along with the right to run for office, was held in conjunction with local government elections on Saturday. The referendum fell short of the threshold — nearly 9.62 million “yes” votes — needed to pass, as only 5.65 million voters backed the proposed
‘SEXUAL ASSAULT’: Taipei prosecutors said that cooperation agreements between Taiwan and the Czech Republic grant Czech officials protection against prosecution The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday reaffirmed that it would not charge a Czech official with sexual assault because he is protected by diplomatic immunity. The office released a statement saying it has verified that the man works for the Czech Economic and Cultural Office Taipei’s foreign affairs corps and is thereby protected from criminal prosecution. A foreign graduate student in Taiwan had filed a complaint alleging that the section head of the Czech Economic and Trade Section had sexually assaulted her on April 21 last year. The woman said the Czech official had invited her to his home and then forced her
RSS