Taiwan's government is using an international conservation forum to push itself onto the global stage of nature conservation, a positive development for both Taiwan's international image and its tourism industry.

• The Ministry of the Interior is holding the two-day "Formosa Sustainable Conservation International Forum" at the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park in Taipei.
• Former UN Assistant Secretary-General Trapasso delivered remarks by video, and experts from 12 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea and Sweden, attended.
• Discussions focused on biodiversity, protected-area governance, Austronesian culture and sustainable tourism, with the government hoping to secure substantive international cooperation.
• Taiwan is less than 220 kilometres wide from east to west, yet has an elevation range of nearly 4,000 metres, so a single day's drive can take a traveller from the tropics to a cold climate — its biggest selling point abroad.
• A special exhibition, "Formosa: Island of Mountains and Seas," was launched alongside the forum, featuring vertical ecosystems, Indigenous wisdom on living in harmony with nature, and 10 low-carbon travel routes.

Outlook: The government will expand national park governance from individual parks to the protection of whole ecosystems, and will link culture, conservation and tourism together in seeking more international cooperation.