The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency is hosting a special exhibition titled “100Y Forest Rhythms” to demonstrate the century-old history of forestry development in Taiwan, with interactive installations and free audio guide provided to enrich visitor experience.
The exhibition, at the Taiwan Design Museum of the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park in Taipei, began last week and is to run through July 26.
It begins with the scientific approach-based forest planning project launched in 1925 during the Japanese colonial era.
Photo: Screen grab from the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency’s Facebook page
The exhibition illustrates the “forest-protection first” policy of the 1950s and the Great Forestation Campaign in the 1960s.
It then reaches the turning point of 1975, when forestry development shifted from a focus on economic growth to forest conservation.
Following the natural-forest logging ban promulgated in 1991, the government announced 2017 to be the year of domestic timber, with the goal of reducing reliance on imported timber and promoting a reduction in the transportation carbon footprint, the exhibition shows.
Forestry policies became more focused on biodiversity, conservation and sustainable development of forest resources after the bureau was restructured as the agency in 2023, it shows.
Agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) said Taiwan’s forestry policies varied with contemporary needs under different governments, leading to significant changes in forest landscapes and ecosystems over the past century.
Forests are not only about trees and timber, but also about wildlife and human communities, he said.
The needs of people and wildlife that live in forests and rely on the woods for their livelihoods should also be considered in forestry policies and forest management, he said.
While timber has been the focus of forestry policy over the past century, given its economic benefits, non-timber forest resources, such as biodiversity or cultural heritage, could also be leveraged to develop ecotourism or non-timber forestry products such as wood oil, thereby creating a more diverse and sustainable forestry industry, Lin said.
The benefits of Taiwan’s rich forest resources should be shared among people and wildlife living in the woods, as well as be extended to urban residents, he said.
The exhibition showcases now rarely seen devices like a hand-cranked telephone, as well as other tools often used in forestry, including wood-marking hammers and small timber scribes.
It also allows visitors to experience aerial photography with a telescope and navigation in an era without GPS, while songs sung by forest workers are presented to provide a glimpse of the life of working in forests in the past century.
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