The time progression of the film follows the major point in this paper. This is a draft storyboard for the pieces, displayed in the movie.
0-5minutes: In the first 5 minutes or so, I am about to introduce myself and talk about the project and the premise. Here my main focus would be to grab the attention of the viewer and introduce them to Southern Taiwan, Hengchun Peninsula including history, culture and development.
5-12minutes: Context for explaing the situation. Introducing the main factors of this story such as the Aquarium, National Park, Hengchun Town, Power Plant etc. . My focus here is to make the view aware of all the controlling factors of the area. Make them sure, that they know what is the basic premise for the investigation.
12-23minutes: This section is where I focus on my research and investigation on the local communities and the natural ecosystem. Featuring interviews and contemplations about the phenomenon that is currently visible. Showing the ghost villages and the downfall of the area. The situation of corals are also represented to emphasize the seriousness of the situation in the viewer. My main focus here is to provide information and at the same time, make people think about the case. Why did this happen and what could be the treatment?
23-28minutes: In this ending segment, the alternatives and solution ideas are display. Eco-tourism and the Integrated Coastal Zone Management system. I would use it to support my final thoughts which are basicly summarizing, that only we can change this predicament. I want to concentrate on giving a strong message as a summary of what I’ve found through
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my investigations. Because if no steps are made towards the right direction, Taiwan’s so called „Paradise” will in 20 years, be completely abandoned and also continue to despair.28-30minutes: credits roll
Conclusion
I’ve seen with my own eyes, what happened to this gorgeous gorgeous place and that currently noone is trying to fix it. The local people are getting less and less benefits from what is rightfully theirs, because of their lack of integration into a system, that doesn’t even exist. All that is out there, accumulating reasonable amount of money is the National Aquraium and the hotels on the coastline. Local fishermen and sailors are seemingly diminishing in number and motivation. A very few people actually walk on the streets at night and because of the lack of infrastructure like convenient stores and restaurants, it doesn’t happen to be a fun place to be. Definitely hard to see large numbers on the beach, which may have to do something with the Taiwanese culture and their fear of sun tan.
Strangely enough, when I asked my friends and acquintances about beach resorts, they’ve been in their lives; they all had a long list of nice places happening to be in one of the neighbouring countries. It really makes the situation straight forward. Hengchun Peninsula still has more than 150 unique coral species and a decent fish biodiversity, that could drive thousands into the water throughout the year and could also facilitate the preservation and protection of these wonderful beings.
I believe this film shows a complete picture of this case and opens people eyes about the inevitable. If no action is taken, Taiwan’s Vanishing Paradise will evaporate in front of our very eyes.
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國立 政 治 大 學
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N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
53
References
Dictionary.com, "coral reef," in The American Heritage® Science Dictionary. Source location:
Houghton Mifflin Company. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/coral reef.
Available: http://dictionary.reference.com. Accessed: April 05, 2015.
Kleypas, J., 2012. Coral reef. Retrieved from http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/151486 Chen, Ta-Yuan, 2009: http://www.murdoch.edu.au/Research-capabilities/Asia-Research-Centre/_document/working-papers/wp159.pdf
www.upi.com:
http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2011/12/29/Taiwanese-seas-threatened-by-overfishing/79181325170080/
www.world66.com: http://www.world66.com/asia/northeastasia/taiwan/kenting/history www.travelking.com: http://www.travelking.com.tw/eng/tourguide/kenting/hengchun-old-town.html
www.cbd.int: https://www.cbd.int/marine/imcam.shtml
Michael Steenson, 2010: Applying Integrated Coastal Zone Management principles at a local community level: A Rakia Huts community case study
www.issuu.com: http://issuu.com/travelintaiwan/docs/travel_in_taiwan_2015.5-6
Gyan P. Nyaupane, 2007: Ecotourism versus Nature-based Tourism: Do Tourists Really Know the Difference?
Nathaniel Maynard, 2015: Seeing the Coral for the Reef (Written by Nathaniel Maynard, M.A., Middlebury Institute of International StudiesSaturday, 28 February 2015)
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SP1 - Sitting and talking
"My name is Marcell Varga and I am a foreigner in Taiwan.
This side of the planet was enitre blank for me, since I am coming from Europe.
While studying and working here, I realised how beautiful this country is.
What excited me the most? I can tell you without thinking. It was nature.
Abstract, introducing taiwan Chapter 1
SP2 - sitting and talking(same place)
"On the other side, there is everything else that is given less and less attention to preserve and keep intact.
Things that demand more attention and are part of this ecosystem for hundreds of years such as the coral, fish, crabs and turtles which are also reasons why many tourists come here.
Aside from the inhabitants of the sea, land-dwellers such also suffer from great losses. This is their story and hopefully a story that brings a little more understanding to the world.
Abstract end, Introduction voiceover Introduce Dr fan , Nate
SP3 - introducing the case a little bit, hypothesis and research question Chapter 2
History - Slideshow and clips with voiceover SP4 - sitting and talking(2nd place)
about hengchun, southern taiwan, National Park and the Coral Lab describing history and the different institutes
SP5 - The Museum, Power Plant (2nd place) talking about the institutions
organs with benefits
SP6 - Fishing History (2nd place)
talking about overfishing and the hard recovery
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talking about the corals, tell everything I know about them, everything else will be in voiceover
Quick Coral guide
Sealife, other sea creatures
Chapter 3
Vanishing paradise
SP7 - What is going on - introducing Maynard Studies (4th place) numbers
pollution, abandonment
open thesis and explain: story experiences 2 (as a foreigner)
SP8 - Balancing process (4th place) tourism - eco-tourism:
benefits and implementation explain the solution
Hengchun Serenity Association SP9 - idea that could work (5th place)
Integrated Coastal Zone Management and Eco-tourism Chapter 4
Conclusion Moral
Texts, used for voiceover:
The National Park was founded by Taiwan’s government in the early seventies to protect the natural habitat for marine and land animals. As a way to enpower the development of the area, the
government also built a nuclear power plant which is an iconic spectacle of Nanwan, the longest beach area along the coastline.
The national park was founded, but the overfishing in the previous decades left a huge scar on the marine life. Most of the fish population disappeared from the coastal waters also affecting the very
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susceptible corals. Over the years, the area started a slow recovery and in order to boost theconservation the government made a huge investment.
The National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium has officially opened its gates to viewers in 2004. Aside with the Museum, a massive research park was founded for marine and biology studies.
Probably the biggest of these institutions is the Coral Laboratory. This place provides the museum with corals, but they also study and reproduce them to help medicine industry and the development of science.
Dr. Fan installed all the coral tanks in the Aquarium mostly from local hard corals, that can only be found in these waters.
So even Dr. Fan thinks that tourism is good for the area, but then were are those visitors?
Knowing, that this area is the top tourist attraction for beach lovers, I expected to see a tropical paradise. To be frank, it has everything to be just like that. Unfortunately my experiences were on the contrary. I didn’t see many tourists or locals who were accomodating or serving them. The Aquarium is always full of visitors throughout the year, but they are mostly student groups or guided tours coming from the mainland.
We travelled around the whole peninsula, to see all the beach shores and the spectacles, that this place has. Again, my expectations as a foreigner was high, but I had to dissapoint again. All the coastal villages we visited were blank or scarcely while i was there in may. In houbihu, one of the main diving resorts, we could only find 1 restaurant that was open in the whole town and yes, we were searching for other options.
CORALS
By the most recent study, Hengchun Peninsula’s Coral habitat’s economic value is more than
40billion NT dollars, yet they seem very underutilized by the community. This could be a paradise for divers and people who supply them with housing and convenience. But there is one man, who knows
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more about these corals and the area than anyone else on this planet. Dr Fan is the lead researches of the Wanlitong Coral Laboratory.Solution
The answer seems to be very simple, change is needed. What I want to emphasize in this film, is that this place has a huge potential to be one of the highest rated tourist areas and also natural wonders of the world. The problem is that, if the locals stay powerless and poor, the corals and the marine life has a higher chance of being a victim of the exploitation of the current unsustainable system. All over the coastline you can see a massive growth of algae, which offurs because of pollution that is coming from uncontrolled human activities. If everything stays like this, there is no hope for either people or nature having a mutual development in the peninsula.
ICZM
Taiwan’s Paradise seems to disappear in front of my very eyes. What is the solution then? After visiting the Kenting National Park Headquarters, The National Park Visitor’s Center, Yoho Hotel and staying in the area for weeks, the answer seems to be very simple yet the government gives no money for implementing the plan. Integrated Coastal Zone Management would be an ideal scenario for the local people and also for the marine habitat. If the government would boost eco-tourism and start promoting this area, Taiwan’s Vanishing Paradise could shine once again.
Wide adoption and implementation of integrated marine and coastal area management are necessary for effective conservation and sustainable use of marine and coastal biological diversity. It requires a full framework of information collection, planning, decision making, management and monitoring.
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ICZM is a dynamic, multidisciplinary and iterative process to promote sustainablemanagement of coastal zones. It covers the full cycle of information collection, planning (in its broadest sense), decision making, management and monitoring of implementation. ICZM uses the informed participation and cooperation of all stakeholders to assess the societal goals in a given coastal area, and to take actions towards meeting these objectives.
Coastal Zone management is a popular way of organized protection of the coastal areas.
There is an increasing shift in management responsibilities to local governments or coastal communities. This trend is illustrated within both existing and proposed management
initiatives in the Philippines,24 Sri Lanka,25 Barbados,26 Tanzania,27 Ecuador,28 Bulgaria,29 the U.S.,30 and Australia.31 The Tanga Coastal Zone Conservation and Development
Programme in Tanzania has successfully introduced a particpatory, 'bottom-up' community-based and community led ICZM programme community-based on the principle of sustainable resource use, integration and primary environmental care (PEC).
Taiwan could use the similar principles to help both natural environment and the locals of this wonderful piece of paradise, since their current practise doesn’t show overwhelmingly positive results.
Everything needs to work at the same time to be helpful for both sides, which seems impossible without the help of the government. Let’s hope for the best and wish Hengchun Peninsula a better future.
There were no Taiwanese national parks before Kenting. The first Taiwanese National Park Law was decreed in 1972, claiming that spots with ecological, historical and recreational value to the country would be eligible to become national parks.
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In 1977, the Taiwanese premier at the time, Chiang Jing-Guo(蔣經國), reacted to studies ofecological damage done in the Kenting area as the result of overzealous farming and
construction, by determining that the government had to take steps to preserve the natural resources of the area. In 1979, the Ministry of the Interior then asked National Taiwan University to conduct an in-depth ecological and topological survey on the Kenting area, in order for the Taiwan Housing and Urban Development Bureau to draw up a plan for the Kenting National Park Project.
. The aim of making Kenting a national park was to preserve the land for educational,
scientific and recreational purposes for generations to come. Kenting became a national park in 1982. In 1984, Kenting's National Park Headquarters was established and continues to be administered by the Executive Yuan's Ministry of the Interior.
A proper implementation of eco-tourism could be a huge part of the success in the kick start of the zone management. Instead of the currently ongoing nature based tourism, eco
tourism could minimize the impact on the environment and also giving money for conservation and protection of marine and forest life. It could build environmental
awareness and respect for the values of this region. Furthermore it would also provide more positive experiences for both visitors and hosts as well. Financial benefits of this system could also open a new forum for conversation between government, academic institutions and local communities. It would accelerate the empowerment of local people making them learning about their values and the importance of nature and humans living in mutual harmony.