Penghu County (CNA file photo)
Kuala Lumpur, Dec. 29 (CNA) Three scenic areas in Taiwan -- Nanliao in Penghu County, Pinglin in New Taipei City, and the Northeast and Yilan Coast National Scenic Area -- have been named among the world's top 100 green destinations of 2018.
The three were highlighted in the latest 2018 Sustainable Destinations Top 100 report published by Green Destinations (GD), a Dutch nonprofit organization focused on efforts to create sustainable tourism.
GD described Nanliao as a rural landscape whose locals are committed to promoting low-carbon tourism.
"To promote sustainable tourism in the destination, unused space has been reactivated to show early life and provides tourists with some early agriculture village life experiences," the report said.
"Thanks to this, the Nanliao community earns some revenue and the people here are more willing to treasure and share the culture and wisdom of early life."
Pinglin, meanwhile, was touted for promoting sustainable development through the use of toxin- and pesticide-free farming methods in order to enhance the quality and safety of tea, the crop the district is known for.
As for the Northeast and Yilan Coast National Scenic Area, GD also commended the area for developing eco-friendly tourism, saying people there have been working on improving wastewater treatment and solid waste management and reducing the use of water and carbon emissions.
According to the report, Taiwan tied with the Philippines for having the highest number of green destinations in an Asian country this year.
The three areas selected to represent the Philippines were Bojo, the Lio Tourism Estate on El Nido, and San Carlos City.
Other Asian countries that also made it on to the list were India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia and Palau, which each had one green destination of their own.
Globally, the Netherlands was described as the most eco-friendly country with 11 destinations, followed by Portugal with 10, and Canada and Slovenia with six each.
2018 was the fourth year that the Netherlands-based foundation made a selection of global tourism destinations based on criteria such as sustainable development, social, cultural and economic conservation, and environmental protection.
The awards will be handed out at one of the largest tourism events in the world, the ITB (Internationale Tourismus-Börse) Berlin travel fair in Berlin on March 6.
(By Kuay Chau-churh and Ko Lin)
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