The Modernization of Area-Based Marine Protection in Taiwan

Abstract

The main purpose of this article is to present the practices of Taiwan’s area-based management protection (abmp) through the lens of the legal modernization process of ocean governance. In particular, we divide Taiwan’s ABMP modernization process into three periods against the background of Taiwan’s democratization development. In the abmp modernization process, the laws enacted from 2010s have provided several contemporary ocean governance principles such as a citizen participatory or integrated management approach. However, we also identify three obstacles which may hinder the future of the abmp modernization process in Taiwan: lack of international and regional cooperation, lack of legal enforcement transparency and the absence of comprehensive/coherent ocean governance principles. Therefore, how Taiwan could contribute to the global and regional maritime conservation in the future, depends on these three obstacles being tackled in the long term marine policies agenda.