The Ministry of Agriculture plans to roll out a forest therapy certificate program in 2025 at the earliest in a boost to the development of sustainable tourism, it said on Tuesday.
Forest therapy benefits a person’s mental and physical health due to the naturally occurring phytoncides and negative air ionization in forests to which people are exposed, Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency Director-General Lin Hua-ching (林華慶) said.
Taiwan in 2021 launched a forest therapy training platform, which is a six-month course consisting of online classes and real-world exercises with a test at the end, he said.
Photo courtesy of the Taiwan Forest Therapy Society
Lin said that 3,402 people had enrolled since its establishment, adding that the next step is to upgrade the program to a vocational certificate system.
The qualification test does not require test takers to have any other degrees or diplomas, he added.
The agency’s policy is to facilitate the Taiwanese forest therapy profession’s integration with international standards as part of a drive toward meeting environmental, social and governance goals, and growing an “under-forest” economy, Lin said.
Venues that qualify to be used for forest therapy must be larger than 0.5 hectares and be populated by trees that are at least 10m tall, with the forest canopy covering no less than 10 percent of the area, he said.
Forest therapists and guides must organize events and design activities to meet clients’ needs, Lin said.
Taipingshan (太平山), Dongyanshan (東眼山), Basianshan (八仙山), Aowanda (奧萬大) and Shuangliu (雙流) are among the eight national parks and forest recreational areas that are to serve as demonstration areas for forest therapy, he said.
Taiwanese forest therapist certificates are recognized in China, Japan, South Korea and the US, Society for Wildlife And Nature chairman Lin Chia-min (林家民) said.
This means Taiwanese certificate holders can practice in China and attend academic conferences in Japan and South Korea, where forestry therapists must be government workers, he said.
Lin Chia-min said he is to lead Taiwan’s delegation to the world’s first international forest therapy conference in Gyeongju, South Korea, today.
The majority of Taiwan’s forest therapists are part-timers who are mainly employed as psychiatrists, aromatherapists and national park workers, while some indigenous Taiwanese who live in cities have also taken part in the program, he said.
Forest therapists typically receive clients in groups, and their rate is about NT$6,000 for a three-hour session, Lin Chia-min said, adding that they can earn them about NT$50,000 per month, but as much as NT$100,000 per month during the summer.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RSS