On 2–3 October 2026, I represented CitizenScience.Asia at the Formosa Sustainable Conservation International Forum in Taipei, organised by Taiwan’s National Park Service under the Ministry of the Interior. The forum was held at the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park under the theme “At the Crest of the Tropic of Cancer: Coexistence of Mountains and Seas — Nature Conservation and Sustainable Tourism.” It was an exceptionally well-organised event, bringing together more than 50 speakers and practitioners, from Taiwanese experts to international delegates from a dozen countries.
Two global frameworks ran through the programme, set out by the host and by an international guest. Opening for the host, Tung Chien-hung, Deputy Minister of the Interior, described Taiwan’s shift from managing individual parks to safeguarding whole ecosystems as its response to 30×30, the global goal of protecting 30% of land and sea by 2030. He framed this as a model “rooted in culture, grounded in conservation and bridged by tourism.” In the guest keynote, Harvey Locke, Vice Chair for Nature Positive at the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas, made the case for Nature Positive: protected areas and cross-sector partnerships must actively reverse biodiversity loss, not merely slow its decline.
Sharing Our Story: “Observation, Dialogue, Action”
In Session D2 (Citizen Science & Conservation) on 3 October, I presented “Observation, Dialogue, Action: Citizen science mobilizing communities into conservation stewards.” I built the talk on the same framing Deputy Minister Tung set out (以文化為根、保育為本、觀光為橋) and added a fourth strand: partnership.
- Rooted in Culture: Citizen science captures local ecological knowledge through the people who live in these landscapes.
- Grounded in Conservation: Public participation puts eyes on the ground at a scale no single agency could staff. In our flagship regional bioblitz, the Asia Nature Challenge (ANC), a dedicated identification phase turns casual observations into Research Grade records. Openly licensed records are shared with GBIF, where researchers and decision-makers can use them.
- Bridged by Tourism: Inviting residents and visitors alike to observe nature turns ecotourism into active stewardship.
- Walking with Partners: Citizen science builds local capacity and turns awareness into long-term community action.
ANC 2025 showed what this looks like at regional scale. 119 organisers across 28 countries recorded 106,380 observations of 17,115 species, 34.8% more observations than in 2024. Those records include 740 species on the IUCN Red List of threatened species and around 40,000 Research Grade observations.
Taiwan already has one of the region’s best examples of this in action: the Taiwan Roadkill Observation Network (TaiRON). It began in 2011 as a Facebook group where people shared photos of reptiles killed on roads, and is now hosted by Taiwan’s Biodiversity Research Institute (formerly the Endemic Species Research Institute). By 2023, 6,722 contributors had submitted close to 250,000 reports, making it widely regarded as Taiwan’s largest citizen science project. Experts identify each photo, and the data is published openly through GBIF. Its analysis has pinpointed 138 roadkill hotspots and revealed that the problem is not concentrated in national parks and protected areas, as one might expect. TaiRON covers the whole chain in one project: everyday observations, expert identification, open data, and evidence that agencies can use to reduce wildlife deaths on roads.
Key Takeaways and Personal Reflections
Three moments from the forum speak directly to our work at CitizenScience.Asia.
- Taiwan’s fast-moving protected area governance. Taiwan has a long history of national parks and extraordinary biodiversity along its mountain-to-sea corridor. Yet its National Park Service was only established in September 2023, bringing national parks, national nature parks, wetlands and coastal areas under one agency. Seeing how quickly Taiwan is linking public participation, open data and landscape-scale conservation was striking.
- Stewardship across generations. Conservation gatherings rightly give young people a seat at the table, and this forum went further: youth observers followed both days and presented their own reflections at the close. What surprised me was the equal interest in engaging older adults. Seniors often hold deep historical ties to their local environments and irreplaceable traditional ecological knowledge. Bringing them in alongside youth creates genuinely intergenerational stewardship and keeps citizen science open to every age.
- Turning dialogue into action. Taiwan is building toward a 2027 Tropic of Cancer Year, and the forum made clear that conservation cannot happen in isolation. Citizen science is a concrete bridge from everyday community observations to high-level decisions and measurable Nature Positive outcomes.
Reconnecting and Moving Forward Together
Between sessions, the forum offered space for real dialogue with government agencies, research institutions, NGOs and corporate partners. It was a catalyst for new cross-border connections and for strengthening existing ones across the region.
A personal highlight was running into our long-time friend TP Lim, President of Roots & Shoots Malaysia. In his talk on empowering youth and communities, TP shared a quote from the late Dr Jane Goodall that stayed with me:
“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”
That sentiment sits at the core of our mission. We believe everyone can make a positive impact through citizen science, given the tools, connections and platforms to turn everyday observations into lasting stewardship.
This talk was a team effort. My thanks to our pillar leads Fara Badruesham (Connections), Smriti Safaya (Capacity) and Emu-Felicitas Miyashita (Conversations) for shaping its content, and to Ram Dayal Vaishnav and Anukriti Sharma for driving the Asia Nature Challenge and providing the supporting evidence of our effort.
Your turn
I closed the talk with a simple challenge, and I’ll extend it to you:
- Identify one local environmental issue you care about.
- Connect with one new partner who could help address it.
- Decide what the community could help observe or document to make a difference.
- Share it with us. Join the community at join.citizenscience.asia, take part in the Asia Nature Challenge, or volunteer for a working group by contacting info@citizenscience.asia.
A heartfelt thank you to Taiwan’s National Park Service and all the organisers for an impactful event. We look forward to continuing these conversations and strengthening our network across Asia.
