Nature’s classroom in the city – Green miracle of Barclay Memorial Park

Barclay Memorial Park in Tainan City

(+8866) 278-3362

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 711301 No.1, Changda Rd., Gueiren District, Tainan City, Taiwan (R.O.C.)

The orange flowers of the red cotton tree blooming in early spring are followed by the golden strains of the purging cassia in early summer, the fiery royal poinciana, and the sounds of cicadas and frogs in mid-summer. As fall approaches, leaves of the Chinese tallow turn red, the yellow Taiwanese rain tree puts on a red hue, with the Leptocoris augur creating a bustling scene to mark the beginning of the poetic season. In winter, bald cypress by the Dream Lake is dressed in a flamboyant outfit, casting a graceful reflection on the lake surface and engendering a romantic ambiance. The changing seasons have endowed the Barclay Memorial Park in Tainan City with stunning colors. The park's modern, elegant appearance is a far cry from 2 decades ago, as the culmination of a process of transformation and rebirth, where collaborations between the public and the private sector have ended up in touching stories.

Formerly known as Park No. 18, Barclay Memorial Park is the most important oasis in the East District of Tainan City. Construction commenced on August 7, 1993, but since the land belongs to Tainan City and Tainan County, so it was closed after Tainan County Government filed a lawsuit. After nearly a decade of closing, it became a filthy corner of the city inundated with construction waste, and the park was given the moniker of Garbage Park. Since 2001, the chief of Chongming Borough Li Jen-Tzu has led residents to clear the mountains of wastes for 18 months, removing over 180 dump trucks of garbage and taste to restore the Barclay Memorial Park and local ecology. On June 5, 2003, in commemorating the selfless contribution of Dr. Thomas Barclay in Taiwan, the park was renamed Barclay Memorial Park, and a memorial stone sculpture was created to begin the rebirth of the park. With a clear set of visions and positioning as an ecological park, Barclay Memorial Park shed its infamous reputation as a Garbage Park and gradually transformed into the green miracle today. The most significant difference between Barclay Memorial Park and Tainan City Landscape Park is that the former places emphasis on blending in seamlessly with nature to provide citizens with an almost wild and forest-like natural environment. Minimizing manmade structures, becoming an ecological education-themed park, and inspiring the public to respect and preserve natural ecology has become the vision of Barclay Memorial Park Sustainability Management Association.

Barclay Memorial Park Sustainability Management Association's members comprise churches, art & cultural foundations, environmental organizations, schools, elected representatives, and distinguished figures who care about the environment. The association's goal is to respect nature, return to nature, become the first urban ecological park in Taiwan, and nature's classroom through environmental education. The transformation of Barclay Memorial Park is a unique case study in Taiwan's park construction projects because from a perspective of time it has facilitated the association between history and ecology. From a spatial and environmental viewpoint, it has overcome its predicament of dilapidation; from an aesthetical perspective, it has reshaped the brand new appearance of an ecological park, and as far as the rebirth process is concerned, it has allowed the park to engage in close dialogues with the people and opened a communication channel between the government and residents.

As a result, Barclay Memorial Park has developed a special operating model, where changes are implemented throughout different stages, encouraging more people to pay attention to the park and even join the volunteer squad. Apart from changing its Garbage Park appearance, hope engineering adopting concepts of natural ecology conservation has been launched to create this incredible green miracle. These endeavors have led the park to receive numerous domestic and international awards on behalf of Tainan City including the Construction & Planning Agency, Ministry of the Interior's “Taiwan Outstanding Park” and the Executive Yuan's National Landscape Development Awards in 2004; Kaohsiung City JCA South Taiwan Urban Landscape Yuan Ye Awards in 2005; FIABCI-Taiwan Real Estate Excellence Awards in 2006; Executive Yuan's National Landscape Development Awards in 2007; FIABCI World Prix d'Excellence Awards in 2007 on behalf of Taiwan.

Barclay Memorial Park was named after Dr. Barclay in memory of his contribution to Tainan. As a youth, Dr. Barclay aspired to dedicate himself to society and arrived in Taiwan to introduce education, new technology, and knowledge to the country. At such a young age, he was able to set his mind on fulfilling his social responsibilities. His aspirations coincided with the USR project's mission of talent cultivation. Consequently, the Barclay Memorial Park Sustainability Management Association formed a partnership with the “CJCU's Roots & Shoots Together We Can - USR (University Social Responsibility) Project” to let more young people become aware of Dr. Barclay's selfless spirit. In conjunction with the chaplain's office of the school, the USR hosted the “Love in Formosa – Dr. Barclay and Barclay Memorial Park Story Exhibition”. Furthermore, the association set up stalls and staged crosstalk performances at the animal carnival event held by the Erren River on November 21 this year, allowing more students, teachers, and the general public to gain insight into Dr. Barclay's lifelong commitment to society, hoping they will follow in his footsteps.

The project has sought collaboration with the Department of Green Energy and Environmental Resources, Department of Tourism, Food & Beverage Management, and International Program for Sustainable Development to design the park's guided tour app that enables more young students to become familiar with Barclay Memorial Park's ecology, history, and culture. The USR project intends to encourage students and teachers to make use of Barclay Memorial Park as the venue for conducting their courses in a bid to advance environmental education through the knowledge and drive of university students. In 2019, CJCU International Jane Goodall's Roots & Shoots Eco-Center's “In Search of Fairies Barclay Memorial Park” Animal Carnival, where guided tours of different species and animal challenge stalls are designed inspired by 14 local organisms including those living in the forest such as crested goshawk, squirrel, Crytotympana pustulata, Dysdercus cingulatus; those living by the water such as the fickle dragonfly, Ischnura senegalensis, water striders, and Microhyla fissipes boulenger; those hiding in the grass such as praying mantis, Cheilomenes sexmaculata; those love to gather nectar such as Papilio demoleus, Italian bee and the Pyrocoelia analis that sparkles at night. By merging ecology with life, people will be able to appreciate and listen to the magnificence of Mother Nature at the Barclay Memorial Park.

To let more people understand the abundant ecology at Barclay Memorial Park and interact with Mother Nature, the association has also designed the Barclay Memorial Park orienteering activity through the USR project. Orienteering is an international sport where participates must locate several control points marked on the map within the shortest time and return to the finish point using only a map and a compass. Besides allowing people to learn how to read a map, the event also features questions placed at the control points to let them understand Barclay Memorial Park's culture, history, geographic environment, and natural ecology in an effort to integrate environmental education in everyday life and turn Barclay Memorial Park into ideal nature's classroom in the city. The event commenced the training program and practical drills in April this year, while group applications are accepted for the Barclay orienteering experience. According to the parents that have participated in the event with their children, the fun and educational learning method helps them to enhance their awareness and sensitivity towards nature, and they can learn to cherish the environment while experiencing the beauty of the natural environment.

In the future, the association will share its resources with the Ministry of Education's USR project to rejuvenate the park. Environmental education at Barclay Memorial Park will be promoted by engaging in an ongoing collaboration with the USR project to realize the SDG-11 of the sustainable city (make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable). Inspired by the philosophy of “Preserving Wilderness”, “Spirit of Adventure”, “Feast of Aesthetics”, and “Life Observation”, a wide range of environmental education courses and activities will be conducted to cultivate the lifestyle and attitude of a sustainable city through the urban ecological park. The park's “Environmental Education Center” is revitalized by tidying up and refurbishing the interior so that the space emanating with environmental education energy can be officially opened to the public to unleash more possibilities while materializing a better environment and future.

Dr. Jane Goodall once said “Only if we understand, can we care. Only if we care, we will help. Only if we help, we shall be saved.” “People” are the core element of sustainable development, we wish to promote environmental education to cultivate everyone's environmental awareness, knowledge, ethics, values, and mobility skills for the sake of creating environmental action experiences and contributing to environmental sustainability. Barclay Memorial Park is the perfect cradle of environmental education, so let us continue to inspire more people through action and engender a brighter future that is full of hope!

Further Reading:
Fan page: Barclay Memorial Park – Tainan City Barclay Memorial Park Sustainability Management Association

https://www.facebook.com/barclay.org