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Environmental education
Environmental education
Coastal geoparks provide opportunities for people, either local or non-local, to get closer to nature and to understand it with the assistance of local interpretation facilities. More than often the sites at geoparks themselves could become the facilities and venues for environmental education and enjoyment (Wu and Chang 2017, 2018; Wu and Wang 2012).
In the Northern Coast Bitou – Longdong Geopark. Environmental education activities take place in a variety of forms and are aimed at all ages and interests. The first one is environmental education activities with local elementary schools.
Environmental Education at Bitou Elementary - The Northeast Coast's Most Scenic School [1]
Bitou Elementary School sits midway up the mountainous landscape. It is Taiwan’s northern most elementary school that faces the Pacific. With only 28 students (including 12 kindergarten students), Bitou Elementary is tiny by any standard, but it sits amid stunning natural surroundings.
Bitou Elementary offers ocean-based outdoor learning during autumn and spring—at the start of the school year in September and October, before the monsoon winds arrive; and in May and June when the days become hotter and the seawater is not too cold. At these times, the school arranges for students go kayak¬ing and snorkeling. Students also visit the famous sea erosion platform on the coast below the school. There they study the landscape and its ecology. On the day of our visit, Bitou Elementary and the Village of Angelic Children have arranged for a visit to the erosion platform for disadvantaged children from rural areas.
Aside from the erosion platform, students find a treasury of rich course material about the sea at Bitou Fishing Harbor. The children learn about the varieties of fishing boats and the tides from local fishermen and elderly residents. Even the local seafood restaurants provide living classrooms for the students, where they learn about Bitou Cape’s marine environment through the variations in the content of the local catch in different seasons.
The students at Bitou Elementary gain first-hand knowledge of the natural world. (photo by Lin Min-hsuan)
Cleaning the coast
In the Northern Coast Bitou – Longdong Geopark. Environmental education activities take place in a variety of forms and are aimed at all ages and interests. The first one is environmental education activities with local elementary schools.
Environmental Education at Bitou Elementary - The Northeast Coast's Most Scenic School [1]
Bitou Elementary School sits midway up the mountainous landscape. It is Taiwan’s northern most elementary school that faces the Pacific. With only 28 students (including 12 kindergarten students), Bitou Elementary is tiny by any standard, but it sits amid stunning natural surroundings.
Bitou Elementary offers ocean-based outdoor learning during autumn and spring—at the start of the school year in September and October, before the monsoon winds arrive; and in May and June when the days become hotter and the seawater is not too cold. At these times, the school arranges for students go kayak¬ing and snorkeling. Students also visit the famous sea erosion platform on the coast below the school. There they study the landscape and its ecology. On the day of our visit, Bitou Elementary and the Village of Angelic Children have arranged for a visit to the erosion platform for disadvantaged children from rural areas.
Aside from the erosion platform, students find a treasury of rich course material about the sea at Bitou Fishing Harbor. The children learn about the varieties of fishing boats and the tides from local fishermen and elderly residents. Even the local seafood restaurants provide living classrooms for the students, where they learn about Bitou Cape’s marine environment through the variations in the content of the local catch in different seasons.
The students at Bitou Elementary gain first-hand knowledge of the natural world. (photo by Lin Min-hsuan)
Cleaning the coast
Much of the trash is carried across the ocean and washes ashore in Taiwan on sea currents or with passing typhoons. Ocean trash has become a global problem.
On Christmas Eve last year, the administrators of Longdong Bay Ocean Park organized a cleanup of the seabed and the coastline. Participants included diving enthusiasts and other concerned citizens from various walks of life, including doctors, police officers, office workers, teachers and students. In one day they removed about 60 bags of garbage, weighing around 200 kilograms. In addition, staff from the Northeast and Yilan Coast National Scenic Area Administration (NYCNSA) have stepped up patrols during the breeding season of the pere¬grine falcon and enlisted the aid of volunteers from the Wild Bird Society of Kee¬lung to stand guard over breeding grounds to ensure that the birds are not disturbed. They also provide telescopes to allow tourists to observe the birds without disturbing them.
On March 21, the NYCNSA held an environmental education event to replant the Formosa lily. Students and teachers from Bi¬tou Elementary and local residents joined representatives from the New Tai¬pei City Government and businesses based in New Tai¬pei to plant 1,500 Formosa lily seedlings on Goat¬grass Slope on the school grounds and on Moon-Facing Hillside adjacent to the Bitou Cape Trail. Environmental preservation efforts on the Northeast Coast have found success through the combined efforts of the government and concerned citizens, and have been praised by international groups. In 2015 the World Travel and Tourism Council’s Tourism for Tomorrow Awards listed the Old Caoling Loop Line Bicycle Path, which runs around the coast of Sandiao Cape, as a finalist for a Destination Award, considered the Nobel Prize for the tourism industry. In both 2016 and 2017 the Northeast Coast was selected as one of the Top 100 Green Destinations, and in 2017 the unique geology of Bi¬tou and Long-dong received further publicity when the Geological Society Located in Taipei held an international seminar promoting the area. In the future, the NYCNSA will continue its efforts to protect breeding peregrine falcons and to replant Formosa lilies, and will work with civic groups to clean up the ocean and shoreline. Furthermore, unused barracks along the Bi¬tou Cape Trail will be repurposed to promote conservation and ecological education and will be a potential resource for future recreational activities. Preserving Taiwan’s beautiful coastline and its unique geological features will require the combined efforts of the entire community.
Training activities for sea sportsWith the advantages of biodiversity and marine ecosystems, there are many training courses offered here including scuba diving, snorkeling, etc.
Scuba diving training at Northeast Coastal Bitou-Longdon Geopark [2]
Snorkeling course at Bitou-Londong Geopark [2]
Source:
[1]: https://nspp.mofa.gov.tw/nsppe/news.php?post=142504&unit=410
[2]: Lin JC., Su SJ. (2019) Environmental Education for Geoparks—Practices and Challenges. In: Geoparks of Taiwan. Geoheritage, Geoparks and Geotourism (Conservation and Management Series). Springer, Cham