ATVs bringing noise, pollution and destruction to Taiwan’s beaches and forests

ATVs bringing noise, pollution and destruction to Taiwan’s beaches and forests

2022-10-09

Beaches on Taiwan’s east coast have become travel hotspots for domestic tourists, and beachgoers have turned to all-terrain vehicles, or ATVs and other activities to add to the excitement. Now, environmentalists are expressing concern that ATVs are damaging the ecosystem and driving out wildlife. Fines have had little impact in places where they are used. One expert says authorities must find a way to manage the activity and protect nature. Join us as we hear from people on all sides on what can be done to tackle the problem.

Manbo Beach in Hualien’s Xincheng Township has become a hot spot for domestic tourists.

In recent years, the beach has been taken over by shops renting out all-terrain vehicles. In the tiny village of Shun’an, which encompasses Manbo Beach, there are now 13 ATV rental shops, which together operate several hundred ATVs. Visitors renting the small recreational vehicles race across the beach and along nearby streams.

Yang Hua-mei
Hualien County councilor
A large number of ATVs can be seen whipping around the area, taking turns at high speed, and so on. They’ve created this racetrack-type atmosphere, to make it more exciting.

Led by rental shop owners, one ATV after another flies by amid screams of excitement, kicking dust and sand up into the air. This once green-and-yellow patch of coastal she-oak trees is now a swathe of white. Distraught by the scene, an environmentalist grabs hold of a tree branch and shakes off the dust.

These coastal trees have an important function as a windbreak, which protects the soil and prevents environmental degradation. Now, this forest area has become a racetrack for tourists. Through aerial footage, the destruction of the coastal trees is apparent. In recent months the situation has only worsened, as bus loads of tourists funnel into the area to experience the thrill of racing on ATVs.

ATVs are able to traverse all manner of terrain. In the past, they were used by Taiwanese farmers in farmlands. Now, they are used for recreational purposes.

Sung Ping-ming
Professor
There are many things living on the beach. This type of activity not only destroys this life or interferes with its daily activities, the more serious impact is the destruction of the overall ecosystem there. You’ve got dozens or even hundreds of these ATVs driving around, and they engage in this activity on a daily basis. When they drive over the beach and surrounding area, even if they don’t destroy living creatures, they will at least cause them to leave the area.

The Society of Wilderness said that Manbo Beach was once home to Class 2 protected species of birds. The frequent activity of ATVs has driven them out and seriously interfered with the lives of other small creatures.

Lee Chih-fen
The Society of Wilderness
A lot of living things go unseen to the casual observer. For example, there are land crabs, and over here there are hermit crabs. There are also ring-necked plovers and little terns, and of course there are other living things. They can’t live in these types of conditions, and nobody speaks on their behalf.

The ATVs also drive through Sanzhan River, and this has The Society of Wilderness worried. The ATVs present a threat to the ecosystem there too, and the river is legally off limits to vehicles.

Lee Chih-fen
The Society of Wilderness
This is a waterway, and under the Water Act, vehicles are prohibited from traversing it. We have looked into the issue of fines, which we brought up with the Hualien County Economic Affairs Department. We asked about it in our meeting with them, and pointed out that driving vehicles through a waterway is illegal, but they were indecisive, and wouldn’t offer any suggestions about how they’d deal with it. There is a law, but nobody wants to enforce it.

The beach and coastal forest are public resources, so can businesses operate there and earn money?

Lee Chih-fen
The Society of Wilderness
The Hualien County Government has insisted that since the beach is public, businesses can also use the space. However, the problem is that these businesses are excludable in nature. Their activities also kick up dust and make a lot of noise, as well as create danger, which naturally drives others away.

Currently there are ATV rental operators in Hualien, Pingtung, Yilan and New Taipei City. However, the central government has no laws in place regarding ATV use, which makes it difficult for local governments to manage the issue.

Yang Hua-mei
Hualien County councilor
Currently we have the Act for the Development of Tourism and the Regulations Governing Water Recreation Activities. However, neither of these includes provisions on the use of ATVs. Local governments also have no legal basis to say, for example, where ATV use is prohibited, or when to issue fines, or to protect the interests of local residents by delineating when tourists can engage in such activities. There are no such options.

Currently, the Hualien County Government requires ATV operators to have company or business registration, and insurance for the use of ATVs by tourists. However, there are no penalties or regulations to protect against the ecological impact of ATV use.

Wang Chih-yi
Tourism Bureau
I don’t think this is an unmanageable problem, it just comes down to whether you want to do something about it. Although you can’t impose fines for the issues of concern, land-management authorities have their own laws. For example, there’s the Forestry Bureau – if the land under their management is getting completely messed up, they would have laws related to the protection of forests. They could invoke the Forestry Act to impose penalties.

In the face of various concerns, operators said they were prepared to comply with county government rules, but they hoped a way could be found for them to continue earning money.

Huang Hung-ta
ATV operators’ association
As I’m sure you’re aware, work opportunities in Hualien are fairly limited. We were fortunate to hit upon something popular. For the local economy, tourism, local residents and instructors it’s been quite helpful, financially speaking.

Yang Hua-mei
Hualien County councilor
We aren’t trying to have ATVs banned, we’re just thinking about how to manage them. Otherwise, there will be losses on many fronts, including ecological damage and dangers to tourists. The industry will also be stigmatized.

One academic feels that as new types of recreational activities emerge, the government should hire experts to assess the environmental impact of those activities. They suggest that the government delineate less-environmentally sensitive areas for outdoor activities, and limit the amount of such activity, rather than letting business operators act without restraint.

Sung Ping-ming
Professor
After we make an assessment, we can specify what is a suitable amount of ATV activity for the area. Even if the activity is permitted, we want to have a set of specifications to regulate it. Only by managing it in this way can we use resources in a friendly manner, in a sustainable manner.

Hualien’s problems with ATVs have just begun, but in Southern Taiwan’s Kenting National Park, ATVs have been a threat for more than 30 years already. Kenting is home to an abundance of species, which the park sought to protect early on with strict regulations. ATV use is not permitted in the park, but rental operators have ignored the rules for years now, and continue to operate despite repeated fines.

Seeing water on the ground, park officials determine there are ATVs in the vicinity.

The park official stops a group of more than half a dozen ATV riders, and police arrive to issue fines to the rental operator in the amount of NT$3,000 per ATV.

ATV rental businesses have been operating illegally in the national park for years now, which has caused serious erosion of the soil. For example, Longpan Park – which is within Kenting National Park – has world-class coastal scenery, but it’s been scarred in several areas by ATV tracks, which turn into barren troughs.

It’s difficult for areas of erosion to recover, and when there is heavy rain, these eroded areas become sources of silt that contributes to coral bleaching.

Hsu Shu-kuo
Kenting National Park office
The main cause for concern is that when ATVs operate in the area for a long time, the tires cause the grassland to become barren. When there is rainfall, the surface soil in these areas of erosion gets washed out to sea where it gathers on the seabed. When the soil washes out to sea like that, it could end up covering coral, and when that happens the coral suffocates.

One of the major selling points for these ATV businesses was night trips within Longpan Park, where visitors could have the opportunity to see wild deer. Their activities have become a major source of disturbance for this and other wildlife.

Hsu Shu-kuo
Kenting National Park office
The sound of the engines and the action of chasing the deer causes them serious anxiety. Mammals like these deer are inherently frightened more easily, and when they are put under pressure like that – especially when it comes to the younger deer – it can cause heart problems, which could even lead to death.

In 2021, the Kenting National Park office began collecting evidence that soil damage was being caused by ATVs. After evidence against four rental operators was sent to the local prosecutors’ office for investigation, the four stopped hosting ATV tours in Longpan Park. Evidence against other operators is also mounting.

Tourists pay NT$1,200 to ride an ATV in the national park for one hour, netting roughly NT$10,000 per hour of revenue for the average rental operator. Even if they get stopped occasionally and are forced to pay fines, they can still earn a hefty profit.

Hsu Shu-kuo
Kenting National Park office
The highest fine that we can issue in a national park in Taiwan is NT$3,000. When you look at the profits that these operators make, obviously the fines aren’t going to deter them. That’s why we’re looking into whether we can increase the amounts of these fines.

Sung Ping-ming
Professor
I can understand it. These tourists want excitement, speed, and a sense of danger. What I really want to say to these people is, “Don’t look for your excitement in the mountains and forests, because after you get your excitement, the ecosystem is dead.”

Profit and personal entertainment should not come at the cost of sacrificing the environment. Activists hope they can strike the right balance, so that the nation’s beaches, forests and parks can be enjoyed by everyone for generations to come.