The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is promoting a tour to Tainan’s Jacana Ecological Education Park in recognition of the efforts to restore the propagation of pheasant-tailed jacanas in the past 20 years.
The ministry began contributing to the efforts to restore the shorebird’s population when it was planning the construction of the nation’s high-speed rail system, it said.
The number of pheasant-tailed jacanas at the time had dwindled to fewer than 50 nationwide, but a field research last year found that their population had recovered to 1,741, which shows that the efforts to conserve the species have produced significant results, it said.
Photo courtesy of Jacana Ecological Education Park
To illustrate the conservation efforts of the past two decades, the ministry has published a picture book, titled Floating Leaves of Pheasant-Tailed Jacanas (水雉的浮葉), which is available for purchase at bookstores, the ministry said.
The story in the picture book shows the relationship between jacanas and water chestnuts, and how eco-friendly farming methods help preserve the species and their natural habitats, it said.
The conservation efforts also led to the establishment of the Jacana Ecological Education Park in 2007, which is now a tourist attraction, the ministry said.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday visited an eco-friendly farm in Tainan and tried his hand at harvesting water chestnuts there.
He later visited the park and examined the conservation efforts there.
“The park was established to reduce the impact of the high-speed rail system on the habitats of jacanas, and it tells the story of a successful coexistence of economic development, transportation projects and the ecosystem,” Lin said.
Consumers should purchase water chestnuts with an eco-friendly label, he said.
The ministry is also planning to publish picture books on how it has helped protect leopard cats, milkweed butterflies and green sea turtles, he added.
The tour to the park is one of the best examples of high-quality domestic tours, which the Tourism Bureau is currently promoting, Lin said.
It not only allows tourists to harvest water chestnuts, an interesting and meaningful activity, but it also helps boost the local economy and bring job opportunities, he said.
Taiwan’s success in protecting jacanas has been recognized by the Jane Goodall Institute, the ministry said, adding that it is working with the institute and the park to host storytelling sessions with the picture book before Christmas, featuring Lin and Jane Goodall as storytellers.
Goodall would tell the story in English through a recorded video, the ministry said.
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
RSS