Cultural taboo and inadequate government policy make it incredibly difficult to conserve Taiwan’s Green Sea Turtles.
The News Lens
Date: 2019/10/09
By Dr. Liu Tzu-ming
Many conservation measures, such as ecotourism, have been implemented to protect green sea turtles but not all are successful. Some successful international models of conservation were implemented in Taiwan, but the results were not as positive as expected. We find that the conflict of cultural beliefs regarding green sea turtles and the government’s conservation grants scheme is key to this failure.
Green sea turtles are distributed across the northern, eastern, and southern areas of Taiwan, as well as on Lanyu Island and Penghu Islands. However, because of long-term excessive poaching, combined with habitat destruction caused by construction projects, their nesting habitat is limited in Wangan (Penghu Islands) and Lanyu islands. [FULL STORY]