SDG15
NCKU Science Station Links Central and Local Authorities to Advance Full-Watershed Resilient Governance for Matai'an Creek
To continuously drive post-disaster recovery and long-term watershed governance for the Matai'an Creek barrier lake, the Executive Yuan held its 29th working meeting of the "Central Coordination Committee for Post-Disaster Recovery and Reconstruction of the Matai'an Creek Barrier Lake" on August 21 at the "NCKU Science Station" in Guangfu Township, Hualien County. The meeting was chaired by Minister without Portfolio Chin-Te Chen. President Meng-Ru Shen of National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), along with representatives from the Public Construction Commission, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Water Resources Agency of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Hualien County Government, the Guangfu Township Office, and other relevant entities, gathered to exchange views on post-disaster recovery, risk management, and full-watershed resilient governance.
NCKU is currently executing the Public Construction Commission's "Barrier Lake Dam-Break Risk Management and Watershed Resilient Governance Project." Aiming to "construct comprehensive governance solutions for the Matai'an Creek and Hualien Creek," the project expands the governance perspective from single-disaster handling to full-watershed, long-term risk management. The initiative integrates five major strategies: "Full-Watershed Risk Analysis Integration and Decision Support Platform," "Hydrological Scenarios and Sediment Sources," "Water-Sediment Monitoring and Transport Simulation," "Environmental Sanitation and Farmland Recovery," and "University Social Responsibility." Encompassing a total of 11 task items, it links diverse dimensions including engineering, environment, agriculture, public health, and local governance.
During the working meeting, the NCKU team presented its current implementation progress and milestone achievements. These included the quantification of unstable sediment sources, automated monitoring of river sediment concentration, high-sediment water transport simulations, evaluation of sediment material properties and resource utilization, soil microbes and farmland restoration, as well as environmental pathogen monitoring and risk early warning. Many of these technologies were independently developed by the NCKU team, emphasizing the use of indigenous R&D to address local Matai'an Creek challenges and progressively converting research results into actionable monitoring and analysis tools for disaster management.
Among these achievements, the "Full-Watershed Risk Analysis Integration and Decision Support Platform" stood out as a key highlight. The platform consolidates watershed engineering, risk, environmental, and governance information into a unified framework. By integrating Large Language Models (LLM) and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) technologies, it enhances the efficiency of information retrieval and knowledge synthesis. On one hand, the platform provides decision support for governing authorities to quickly grasp governance data and risks; on the other hand, it aims to establish a user-friendly channel for the public to understand engineering and governance details, moving toward a goal where "decision-makers get integrated information and master risks, while the public can easily query engineering details and get answers to their questions."
Post-disaster farmland restoration was another major focus of the meeting. The Hualien District Agricultural Research and Extension Station of the Ministry of Agriculture signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with NCKU's College of Biosciences and Biotechnology. The MOU was signed by Director Ta-Chi Yang of the Hualien Station and Dean Yu-Min Wang of the NCKU College of Biosciences and Biotechnology, witnessed jointly by Minister without Portfolio Chin-Te Chen and NCKU President Meng-Ru Shen. Moving forward, both parties will combine their expertise in agricultural research, biotechnology, and soil and microbial analysis to deepen collaboration in post-disaster farmland monitoring, restoration technology, and local agricultural development, allowing scientific research achievements to address recovery needs in disaster-affected areas more directly.
Since establishing the "NCKU Science Station" in Guangfu, Hualien at the end of May this year (2026), NCKU has continued to promote watershed governance and social collaboration through a local stationing approach. Recent efforts include local interviews, post-disaster environmental monitoring and medical sampling, agricultural restoration workshops, site inspections for river sediment monitoring systems, sediment and environmental sample collection, monitoring of pathogenic bacteria and disease vectors, and exchanges with local indigenous tribes, civic organizations, and government agencies. Through long-term stationing, NCKU aims to make local needs the starting point for research, returning scientific findings back to the field to create a sustainable cycle of "local dialogue, cross-disciplinary collaboration, scientific research, and governance practice."
Prior to this central-local exchange meeting, the NCKU team held the 8th working meeting for the "Barrier Lake Dam-Break Risk Management and Watershed Resilient Governance Project" on the afternoon of August 20 at the NCKU Science Station. Chaired by President Meng-Ru Shen, the session featured interdisciplinary discussions and an inventory of achievements across full-watershed risk integration, hydrology and sediment, water-sediment monitoring and simulation, farmland restoration, and environmental health, providing a solid scientific foundation for subsequent governance collaboration.
Transitioning from post-disaster recovery to long-term governance, the "NCKU Science Station" is gradually becoming a vital platform connecting central authorities, local governments, academia, and local communities. Through long-term local monitoring, indigenous technology R&D, cross-disciplinary information integration, and local collaboration, NCKU expects to establish a sustainable, scalable, and resilient full-watershed governance model, continually building up scientific research and practical governance experience for Taiwan in facing future barrier lakes and complex compound disasters.
NCKU is currently executing the Public Construction Commission's "Barrier Lake Dam-Break Risk Management and Watershed Resilient Governance Project." Aiming to "construct comprehensive governance solutions for the Matai'an Creek and Hualien Creek," the project expands the governance perspective from single-disaster handling to full-watershed, long-term risk management. The initiative integrates five major strategies: "Full-Watershed Risk Analysis Integration and Decision Support Platform," "Hydrological Scenarios and Sediment Sources," "Water-Sediment Monitoring and Transport Simulation," "Environmental Sanitation and Farmland Recovery," and "University Social Responsibility." Encompassing a total of 11 task items, it links diverse dimensions including engineering, environment, agriculture, public health, and local governance.
During the working meeting, the NCKU team presented its current implementation progress and milestone achievements. These included the quantification of unstable sediment sources, automated monitoring of river sediment concentration, high-sediment water transport simulations, evaluation of sediment material properties and resource utilization, soil microbes and farmland restoration, as well as environmental pathogen monitoring and risk early warning. Many of these technologies were independently developed by the NCKU team, emphasizing the use of indigenous R&D to address local Matai'an Creek challenges and progressively converting research results into actionable monitoring and analysis tools for disaster management.
Among these achievements, the "Full-Watershed Risk Analysis Integration and Decision Support Platform" stood out as a key highlight. The platform consolidates watershed engineering, risk, environmental, and governance information into a unified framework. By integrating Large Language Models (LLM) and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) technologies, it enhances the efficiency of information retrieval and knowledge synthesis. On one hand, the platform provides decision support for governing authorities to quickly grasp governance data and risks; on the other hand, it aims to establish a user-friendly channel for the public to understand engineering and governance details, moving toward a goal where "decision-makers get integrated information and master risks, while the public can easily query engineering details and get answers to their questions."
Post-disaster farmland restoration was another major focus of the meeting. The Hualien District Agricultural Research and Extension Station of the Ministry of Agriculture signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with NCKU's College of Biosciences and Biotechnology. The MOU was signed by Director Ta-Chi Yang of the Hualien Station and Dean Yu-Min Wang of the NCKU College of Biosciences and Biotechnology, witnessed jointly by Minister without Portfolio Chin-Te Chen and NCKU President Meng-Ru Shen. Moving forward, both parties will combine their expertise in agricultural research, biotechnology, and soil and microbial analysis to deepen collaboration in post-disaster farmland monitoring, restoration technology, and local agricultural development, allowing scientific research achievements to address recovery needs in disaster-affected areas more directly.
Since establishing the "NCKU Science Station" in Guangfu, Hualien at the end of May this year (2026), NCKU has continued to promote watershed governance and social collaboration through a local stationing approach. Recent efforts include local interviews, post-disaster environmental monitoring and medical sampling, agricultural restoration workshops, site inspections for river sediment monitoring systems, sediment and environmental sample collection, monitoring of pathogenic bacteria and disease vectors, and exchanges with local indigenous tribes, civic organizations, and government agencies. Through long-term stationing, NCKU aims to make local needs the starting point for research, returning scientific findings back to the field to create a sustainable cycle of "local dialogue, cross-disciplinary collaboration, scientific research, and governance practice."
Prior to this central-local exchange meeting, the NCKU team held the 8th working meeting for the "Barrier Lake Dam-Break Risk Management and Watershed Resilient Governance Project" on the afternoon of August 20 at the NCKU Science Station. Chaired by President Meng-Ru Shen, the session featured interdisciplinary discussions and an inventory of achievements across full-watershed risk integration, hydrology and sediment, water-sediment monitoring and simulation, farmland restoration, and environmental health, providing a solid scientific foundation for subsequent governance collaboration.
Transitioning from post-disaster recovery to long-term governance, the "NCKU Science Station" is gradually becoming a vital platform connecting central authorities, local governments, academia, and local communities. Through long-term local monitoring, indigenous technology R&D, cross-disciplinary information integration, and local collaboration, NCKU expects to establish a sustainable, scalable, and resilient full-watershed governance model, continually building up scientific research and practical governance experience for Taiwan in facing future barrier lakes and complex compound disasters.
On August 21, Minister without Portfolio Chin-Te Chen of the Executive Yuan chaired the "Central Coordination Committee for Post-Disaster Recovery and Reconstruction of the Matai'an Creek Barrier Lake" working meeting at the NCKU Science Station.
NCKU President Meng-Ru Shen Personally Leads the Team to Participate in the Working Meeting
NCKU College of Biosciences and Biotechnology signs a Memorandum of Understanding with the Hualien District Agricultural Research and Extension Station, Ministry of Agriculture, signed by Dean Yu-Min Wang (second from right) and Director Ta-Chi Yang (second from left), witnessed by Minister without Portfolio Chin-Te Chen (first from left) and NCKU President Meng-Ru Shen (first from right).
Section Chief Yi-Chen Tsai of the Hualien District Agricultural Research and Extension Station, Ministry of Agriculture, shares collaborative research on recultivation
