Kenting National Park, a popular tourist destination in Taiwan, faces challenges balancing local livelihoods with ecological concerns. Sixteen years ago, the park’s management initiated ecotourism in the Sheding tribal area, focusing on a niche market. Through training local residents to patrol and protect the environment, as well as guide and explain to tourists, it has become a small yet beautiful highlight of the park’s offerings.
Wanlitong Marine Protection area now includes the beach accessible from Yoho Beach Resort. We talked about this in this article.
Located on the west coast in Hengchun’s Wanlitong, marine resources have declined in recent years due to recreational activities and harvesting pressures. After designating a protected area, the park’s management established a patrol team at the end of this month, making it the 12th ecotourism community in Kenting.
Wanlitong in Hengchun is located on the west coast of Kenting National Park. In the past, the coastal ecological environment was rich. However, in recent years, the local marine biological resources have rapidly decreased due to human recreational activities and fishing pressures. Scholars have also warned that due to human recreational pressures and the discharge of community domestic wastewater into the sea, the intertidal and coral ecology is in a severe state of decline.
During the 4th comprehensive review, the Kenting Management Office changed part of the Wanlitong Marine Area to the highest marine ecological protection zone level. However, due to lax regulations, the results have been unsatisfactory.
Local residents mentioned that Wanlitong is located in a remote area of the western peninsula of Hengchun. For a long time, conservation regulations have been lax due to its remoteness and fewer local inhabitants. There’s no wastewater treatment facility, resulting in a continuous discharge of domestic wastewater into the sea. In recent years, tourists have shifted from popular areas like Nanwan and Xiaowan to the western peninsula’s Baisha and Wanlitong.
This has led to indiscriminate harvesting and trampling in the intertidal zones, causing harm to the local marine ecology.
In the past, the Kenting Yoho Beach Resort allowed its guests to harvest and trample, but after the area was designated as a marine ecological protection zone, the situation has improved.
Yoho Beach Resort – Wanlitong Marine Protection Area is just behind the palms there
The park management mentioned that after initiating dialogues with the local community two years ago, under the guidance of Zhuang Mengxian’s 莊孟憲 team from the Frog Fun Natural Ecology Consulting Company, they collaborated with the Shanhai Community Development Association.
Together, they reached a consensus, raised the community partners’ conservation awareness, and enhanced their interpretive and monitoring capabilities. They have trained and certified 12 tour guides, and this month, they established a patrol team. In the future, they aim to protect the marine environment and accumulate ecological data for the protected area through community-involved patrolling. They also plan to promote eco-tourism highlights that showcase local characteristics. Additionally, they are working with the county government to seek funding from the central government to set up a wastewater treatment facility
Kenting Management Office certifies Wanlitong tour guides.
Wanlitong Patrol Team Established
Wanlitong Patrol Team, the guidance team from Teacher Team of Zhuang, and the Conservation Department of the National Park Management Office.
12 Wanlitong tour guides
