Ecosystem Support Strategies

Cultivate the ecological awareness of faculty, staff and students

1.Training of faculty and staff:

In 2024, through the environmental education and training programs such as "National Parks Wild View Film Festival – Living on Our Planet", "Going to the South Pole" and "Carbon Emissions Trading System", the school aimed to enhance the colleagues' understanding of the environment and to maintain a balanced environment and ecology in order to achieve sustainable development.

2.Foster Students' Environmental Awareness:

Through the environmental education in General Education Curriculum, the school conveys the basic concepts of nature conservation, the impact of global warming on natural resources, an overview of Taiwan's natural resources, the current state of conservation, and related laws and regulations.

3.Create Environmentally Diverse Habitats

Although the University does not have protected or restored habitats, it is committed to creating a sustainable ecological environment. 51.6% of the campus is covered by greenery, with 145 tree species, and an eco pond, a man-made wetland, has been the most important campus attraction since the founding of the University.
   The University has recorded a total of 68 species of birds in 36 families over the years. In recent years, 59 species in 30 families are regularly sighted, including the rare second-class protected species, crested goshawk, black-winged kite, yellow oriole, and the third-class protected species red-tailed shrike. Since 2021, NUK and Kaohsiung Wild Bird Society have been monitoring the conservation of orioles and conducting monthly surveys.

Number of butterfly and tree species

Build animal-friendly campus

Since August 1, 2015, the Environmental Safety and Health Section has cooperated with the Student Pet Research Society to solve the problem of stray dogs on campus. The faculty and students seek help and guidance from different animal protection groups, such as Dogs Lover and Heart of Taiwan Animal Care to treat the stray dogs more friendly and humanely. When the dogs become tame and controllable, they are given sterilization and vaccines and then are listed for control and regularly receive heartworm medicine, rabies vaccine and other medical attention. The school has also adopted the strategy to use the tamed campus dogs to keep the new stray ones out. In addition, a kennel was set up to care for the injured and sick dogs waiting for adoption. A website is constructed to report about the dogs and educate the faculty, staff and students, and announce adoption information in order to create a canine-friendly campus.

No. Rescued dogs on campus

Promote Farming in School to Reduce Food Carbon Footprints

Recently, the awareness of food safety has been on the rise, and in view of the growing popularity of the concept of homegrown food, in order to satisfy the needs of teachers and students for teaching or experimental farming on campus, the school has provided space on campus for teachers and students, or dependents of faculty and staff to achieve the functions of teaching, food and farming, and recreation, and has made available 10 allotments for practice in the open space opposite the 2nd Student Dormitory (the old nursery area), with the area of each allotment averaging 26 square meters to be used for a period of 4 months. 177 people have participated in the program so far.

Eco-Environment Volunteer and Community Partnership Program

1.Train Community Volunteers for Ecological Conservation

Since 2014, the University has formed an eco-guard volunteer team with teachers, students and residents from the surrounding communities to carry out ecological monitoring, explanation, butterfly restoration and other projects. By opening up opportunities for environmental creation in the school campus, it has encouraged the community's senior citizens as volunteers in their capacity, and has also organized professional training courses and environmental enrichment courses to enhance the participants' knowledge of environment; it has also designed environmental courses for primary and secondary schools that can be carried out on their school grounds. The volunteers also help to lead eco-tours, so as to pass down the experience. The service-learning students have participated in the construction of environmental education sites, and carried out habitat maintenance for the butterfly trail, so as to advance the butterfly trail from 250 meters to 300 meters. It is hoped that through the creative venues and the promotion of teaching, young people and the elderly will have the opportunity to participate in and serve as seed soldiers for environmental education, or as an extension of the environmental education program in the national education system, in order to achieve the goal of "SDG3 Good Health and Social Welfare," which is to promote the health and well-being of all ages, and to implement the goal of "SDG4 Quality Education" to provide high-quality environmental education content in primary and secondary schools.

Eco-Environmental Conservation Education Achievements

Combine resources from different sectors to organize sustainable activities

   Since NUK signed “Talloires Declaration" in 2004, it has organized a series of "Sustainable Week" activities every year. It has become a school tradition to promote sustainable education. Through different topics and activities, faculty, staff, students, community members, and teachers and students in primary and secondary schools are able to obtain comprehensive environmental information and establish environmental ethics. In the early days, NUK held action dramas, road running competitions, several second-hand book and article sales, energy-saving workshops, and film appreciations to enhance the environmental awareness, and to conduct laboratory or fire drills. Electric vehicles were also displayed to encourage the use of green energy. Faculty and students can acquire the integrated knowledge of sustainable development and environmental protection in all aspects. Since 2021, complying with the national policy, NUK has used the rich ecological resources on campus to conduct various environmental education. In 2021, signing a working partnership with Kaohsiung City Wild Bird Society, NUK began to conserve orioles. Through the workshops and a series of activities in Sustainability Week, the faculty, students and the general public not only gained a better understanding of avian conservations but participated in monitoring and guarding the birds’ nests. In recent years, the school has continued to promote the theme and encourage participation of the Environmental Sustainability Week.