The UMC-initiated "Eco Echo Award" has entered its fifth year. The award ceremony was held at the National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall on November 27. This year’s winners include 5 outstanding ecological conservation projects from the adult group, and 4 student teams from the student group. The Eco Echo Award is the most iconic award for ecological conservation in Taiwan, with a total of 30 projects in ecological conservation and youth environmental actions having been implemented across Taiwan. UMC hopes that through the establishment of the Eco Echo Award, all ecological conservation groups in Taiwan can be encouraged and the power of the supply chain can be combined to jointly protect Taiwan’s green ecology.
The review panel of the 5th Eco Echo Award is composed of several well-known scholars and experts. For the adult group, the reviewers include Kwang-Tsao Shao (former director of the Institute of Zoology, Academia Sinica), Jia-Dong Yang (director of the Endemic Species Research Institute, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan), and Jue-Ming Mai (producer of the MIT--Made in Taiwan TV program). For the student group, the reviewers include Chin-Shou Wang, (associate dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, National Tsing Hua University), Hong-Ren Su (professor of the Graduate Institute of Mathematics and Science Education, National Tsing Hua University), and Jia-Lin Huang (senior journalist and writer on ocean issues). The contents of this year’s winning projects are exciting and abundant, ranging from macaques on land to birds flying in the sky, down to marine coral. The contents include Taiwan’s diverse and rich biological species as well as natural environments on land, in the ocean and in the air. The ecological conservation groups proposed innovation projects to promote biodiversity, realizing the harmonious coexistence of man and nature, while the young people’s environmental actions showed their enthusiasm and creativity.
Introduction of the winning projects in the adult group ⦁ Raptor Research Group of Taiwan Name of the winning project:Window Killing of Birds—Window Killing Investigation, Prevention and Promotion of Bird-Friendly Buildings Injuries and deaths caused by birds hitting glass windows (also referred to as "window killing") have been a concern in many countries. Last year, the Raptor Research Group of Taiwan won the Eco Echo Award and was able to implement a project called “Invisible Glass Trap - Investigation of the killing of wild birds by glass windows in the northern region and the education & promotion of bird-friendly glass windows.” During the implementation of the project, it was found that there were wild bird window killing incidents in all areas of Taiwan, suggesting that further promotion of wild bird window killing prevention is required. This year, to expand the promotion of wild bird window killing prevention in Taiwan, educational tours and activities will be implemented to lower window killing cases, promoting the concept of window killing prevention and bird-friendly buildings. For places such as campuses, public buildings, restaurants, farms and hotels that have implemented improvement measures or installed bird-friendly glass windows, the "Bird-Friendly Building Label" will be provided and the information will be revealed via the Internet, hoping to attract the attention of the public regarding the window killing issue. The ultimate goal is to include bird-friendly glass windows in the green building regulations of Taiwan.
⦁ Wild Bird Society of Taipei Guandu Nature Park Management Office Name of the winning project: Saving the Habitat of Winter Wandering Birds--The Restoration Project for the Luzhou Wetland along the Danshui River The Luzhou Wetland is one of the wetlands along the Danshui River with rich biodiversity. At low tide, the area of the Wetland is about 67 hectares, and there are a lot of wading birds staying in the area during the winter. Since 2005, the Kandelia mangrove forest began to grow and expand in the Luzhou Wetland. By 2020, the area of the mangrove forest has exceeded 25 hectares, resulting in the disappearance of the habitat of wading birds.
The main tasks of the project include: (1) reducing the area of the Kandelia mangrove forest, (2) performing bird monitoring and surveying in the Luzhou Wetland, and (3) conducting environmental education activities. In addition to guiding people and volunteers to remove Kandelia, local schools will also be invited to join the seed school network, providing training for teachers to care for the wetland ecology and protect wading birds.
⦁ Formosan Macaque Coexistence Promotion Association Name of the winning project:Relationship Garden--Harmony between People and the Formosan Macaque After macaques were classified as a general animal in 2019, some people mistakenly believed that macaques could be hunted or kept privately. In fact, Formosan macaques are still protected by the Wildlife Conservation Act, national parks, and protected areas, and they are not allowed to be kept privately or hunted at will. The winning project hopes to cultivate full-time investigators, providing data to relevant units for carrying out related studies. In terms of environmental education, promotional seminars will be held in elementary schools in Kaohsiung, experience and educational camps will be conducted during winter/summer vacations, and citizen participation workshops will be organized to improve the public's awareness in ecological conservation, achieving the mutual-benefit of peaceful coexistence between wild animals and humans.
⦁ Wild Bird Society of Keelung Name of the winning project: The Seal Rock and Badouzi Fishing Village Protection Project In 2018, the Seal Rock was discovered on Daping coastal reefs. After media reports, the site became popular and was visited by many tourists, leading to the negative impact of damaging the ecology of the Daping intertidal zone. For this reason, the Wild Bird Society of Keelung proposed a protection plan, which includes: (1) reporting the Seal Rock as a natural monument, (2) raising people’s awareness on the issue of cherishing the ecology of the original Daping coast and intertidal zone of Badouzi, (3) allowing the traditional buildings, traditional fishing methods, traditional fishing lodges and cultural assets of the Badouzi fishing village to be seen, and (4) making the young people who moved out from the Badouzi fishing village to return home to revitalize the Badouzi fishing village.
⦁ Marine Citizens Foundation Name of the winning project:Return to the Pearl of the Inland Sea--Dacang Islet Dacang Islet is small island located in the inland sea of Penghu. It is surrounded by the main island of Penghu, Baisha and Xiyu. The entire Islet has an area of only 18 hectares; however, between high tide and low tide, the area changes three times. It has a very large intertidal zone and shallow coral reef area, which is home to a diverse and rich marine ecology and is also known as the "Pearl of the Inland Sea." With the emigration of the youth population, the island’s economy has gradually transformed into a tourism-based economy in the past decade. This project focuses on marine coral restoration, species survey, environmental education and marine cultural heritage, hoping to use images and words to earn recognition from the general public, making Dacang Islet a "sustainable island" where people can live and work in peace and contentment.
Introduction of the winning projects in the student group 【First Prize】Frogs Love Xikou Yin-En Huang and his father from Xikou, Chiayi found that there are fewer and fewer tree frogs in Chiayi, and initiated a frog protection plan. In 2018, they carried out the habitat survey for the entire town to find out the locations of the tree frog habitat, and still continue to investigate the habitat changes every year. They also conducted the habitat creation project in the Zhuluoji Farm in Xikou with Rong-Xiao Lai, who is a retired teacher, and regularly check the number of tree frogs in the farm. Since 2020, they began to organize night-time tree frog observation activities with elementary schools, junior high schools, and communities, allowing children and the communities to understand more about Zhangixalus arvalis. The activities aim to promote the concept of integrating ecology, production and life, hoping to achieve the goal of helping bamboo shoot farmers improve their quality of life, revitalizing the communities, and protecting the tree frogs.
【Merit Award】Old Tree Protection Formula Jun-Yu Lin and a group of high school students in Taichung saw the problems faced by the old trees in Taichung; therefore, they initiated actions to protect the old trees in 2017, hoping that everyone could pay attention to the issue of the old trees. After checking several old trees and carrying out surveys of local residents, a fan page about the old trees was set up on Facebook called “Old Tree Protection Formula.” Through texts and drawings, the stories of these old trees were used to build an old-tree map for Taichung, allowing more people to know about them. In addition, a set of teaching plans was designed - The Old Tree Treasure Hunt and Teaching Materials for Taichung Park, which adopts a game-playing approach to allow children to learn and appreciate the value of old trees. In addition to guiding the activities, the teaching materials are open for teachers or the public who are interested to rent and use.. It is hoped that through the implementation of these actions, people will pay attention to the old trees, always care about them, and have the courage to fight for their preservation.
【Merit Award】The Air of the Taoyuan Night Market is Very Fresh--Action Research on the Impact of Environmental-Friendly Night Market on Improving Air Quality Kai-Xiang Zhuang and his research team found that night markets have one thing in common; when you pass by frying or barbecue stalls, you always see a lot of white smoke around them. At that moment, they had the feeling that such air quality must be terrible. Is this the kind of air that we need to breathe while enjoying the night market food? Is there no better way to deal with the produced smoke? The research team found that Taoyuan has an "environmental-friendly night market," and wanted to know more about it. Regarding the white smoke that is produced by the frying or barbecue stalls, what measures does the environmental-friendly night market take to reduce air pollution? They allow more people to understand the actual practices done by the environmental-friendly night market and how such practices help improve air quality, inviting more night markets to duplicate the measures.
【Merit Award】Journey to Reduce Styrofoam Ri-Yang Guo, a student from southern Taiwan, and his research team discovered that one of the largest sources of Styrofoam debris pollution on the beaches of southwestern Taiwan is aquaculture, especially the waste produced by oyster farming along the coast of Tainan - oyster bed Styrofoam. The "Journey to reduce Styrofoam" action plan explores and investigates issues including whether the government has appropriate measures to regulate the use of Styrofoam for oyster beds, and the methods that the users and the environmental protection groups employ to reduce Styrofoam debris being flushed out into the sea that eventually washes up on shore, achieving the goal of pollution reduction through change from the source.
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