An investigation of the environmental loads of Shei-Pa National Park in Taiwan

Recreation is one of the functions of national parks. Nevertheless, heavy tourism has started to impose serious problems on the maintenance of some national parks in Taiwan. This study has tried to survey as well as calculate the impact problems resulting from park tourism in terms of environmental loads. A simple method is proposed to calculate the quantity of environmental loads. Only visitor information from questionnaires and per capita data are needed in the calculation process. Shei-Pa National Park was taken as an example. The water demand, the electricity used and the various forms of the environmental loads, including wastewater and solid waste discharge, were all surveyed and calculated on a per capita basis.