Drought linked to tree loss
On April 25, the Taipei Times carried two stories on Taiwan's drought ("MAC approves water imports from China," page 1, and "Officials warn of more drought measures," page 2) as well as an article by Tien Chiou-Chin (田秋蓳) on deforestation ("Aborigines should act as forest protectors," page 8). I would like to point out the connections between Tien's piece and the drought stories.
Tien made a plea for better management and conservation of mountain areas in Ilan and Hsinchu counties.
One of the best ways to secure a proper water supply is to conserve river catchment areas. It just makes sense to protect and manage the source of the river (and therefore the source of the water); this will help you to have a far better control over water volumes and quality downstream. Conserving mountain catchment areas is critical. By chopping down the highlands' natural forest we are destroying our river catchment areas.
How can logging influence water volumes and water quality? The vegetation cover on the surface slows down run-off and allows rain water to seep into the ground and be added to the underground water table which serves as a back-up supply during times of lower rainfall.
Because it breaks the speed of the runoff, vegetation also serves as a flood control mechanism. With no vegetation to spread runoff over a period of time, floods will start to occur which can damage and break dam walls. With no ground cover to protect the steep mountain slopes against erosion, valuable topsoil will be washed away. More erosion leeds to less fertile soil and a general degradation of the area.
Erosion will also cause a tremendous amount of silt to be washed down to streams, rivers and eventually into dams. Silt doesn't just lower the quality of river life, but reduces reservoirs' capacity by filling them up.
Haven't we chopped down too many trees already on this beautiful island? Can the current water crisis not in part be blamed on the bad environmental management of the past? By protecting the Aboriginal land, we are actually protecting and managing our own water supply for now and for the future.
Cobus Olivier
Taoyuan
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