AccScience Publishing / AJWEP / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/AJWEP025090059
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

Key OECM policies for Taiwan’s marine conservation

Cheng-Yu Hu1 ,  Wei-Chung Chen2 ,  Chun-Yi Li1 ,  Jia-Bin Lin1 ,  Yi-Che Shih1*
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1 Institute of Ocean Technology and Marine Affairs, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
2 Division of Marine Bioresource and Environmental Science, Graduate School of Fisheries Sciences, Hokkaido University, Hakodate City, Japan
AJWEP, 025090059 https://doi.org/10.36922/AJWEP025090059
Received: 28 February 2025 | Revised: 8 August 2025 | Accepted: 15 August 2025 | Published online: 9 December 2025
© 2025 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
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Abstract

The Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECMs) represent a transformative shift in global conservation by recognizing diverse governance systems and conservation outcomes beyond traditional protected areas (PAs). They are crucial for achieving the 30 by 30 target under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which aims to conserve 30% of the of the world’s land, inland water, and coastal and marine areas by 2030. As such, understanding and implementing effective OECMs is a global priority. This study presents a preliminary assessment of existing policies and key considerations in Taiwan’s OECMs, offering insights for developing more effective environmental policies. Using a mixed-methods approach, we combine analysis of protected area data from the World Database on PAs with a systematic review of relevant literature. Our findings reveal that Taiwan currently has 92 designated PAs and OECMs, with national parks accounting for 99.9% of the total marine protected area. To date, due to the fact that the regulations regarding OECM in the Ocean Conservation Act passed in 2024 were only announced and implemented on 1st of July this year, the Marine Conservation Administration has not yet announced any OECM sites in Taiwan. Therefore, we analyzed and researched external public databases for reference. The qualitative analysis identifies three primary policy themes: marine spatial planning, environmental impact assessment, and marine scientific research. While Taiwan’s recent Marine Conservation Act (2024) demonstrates progress in aligning with global conservation frameworks, our analysis suggests that OECM implementation remains at an early stage. The study highlights the need for more integrated governance approaches and identifies gaps in current conservation strategies. These findings contribute to ongoing discussions about area-based conservation measures in high-density coastal regions and provide a foundation for future research on OECM effectiveness in Taiwan.

Keywords
Biodiversity
Protected areas
Marine spatial planning
In situ conservation
Other Effective area-based conservation measure
Funding
This research was funded by the Taiwan National Science and Technology Council (NSTC 114-2410-H- 006-108, NSTC 114-2119-M-004-003).
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
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Asian Journal of Water, Environment and Pollution, Electronic ISSN: 1875-8568 Print ISSN: 0972-9860, Published by AccScience Publishing
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