Can Electricity Development Assistance Funds Support Marine Conservation amid Offshore Wind Development? Evidence from Taiwan

Taiwan’s electricity-development assistance funds offer potential resources for marine conservation, but allocation practices still treat ecological purposes as marginal. This participatory action research examines efforts from 2017 to 2026 to redirect the Power Development Assistance Fund (DAF) and the Fund for Assisting Power Development and Operation (DOAF) toward marine conservation, with the critically endangered Taiwanese humpback dolphin as the focal concern. Institutional records and participant observations are combined with an analysis of 2025 funding disclosures from four coastal jurisdictions. Of NT$1,225.89 million (approximately US$39.54 million) in combined allocations, only NT$3.09 million (approximately US$99,500), or 0.25%, supported substantive marine conservation. Expenditure potentially addressing dolphin threats represented an even smaller subset. These findings reveal a persistent gap between legal eligibility and conservation-oriented allocation. The study identifies four complementary governance conditions: legal eligibility, local implementation capacity, incentive alignment, and transparent fiscal accountability. DAF and DOAF can serve as a financial fulcrum by connecting recurring funding with conservation proposals, fisheries transition, and sustained institutional coordination. The findings inform the next action-research cycle of collaborative proposal development and fiscal monitoring, while distinguishing expenditure commitments from demonstrated ecological outcomes.