The National Science Council recently released a "Sustainable Taiwan -- Vision and Strategy" white paper. The paper indicates that Taiwan's past economic development "earned [computer sales to] the whole world but lost Taiwan's [environment]," concluding that we have "became so impoverished with nothing left but money."
If we fail to positively change the direction of national economic development and press on with the conservation of our environment, Taiwan will gradually become "unsustainable."
Natural resources are limited. British scholars recently estimated that we will seriously deplete our planet faster than we can restore it if we live the American lifestyle of consumption.
They addressed three guidelines for sustainable living on only one globe: the use of local recycled and waste materials to meet the needs of daily life; propelling sustainability by industrial groups and service industries; living a thrifty life and leaving some space for wild animals and the wilderness.
How small island of Taiwan will sustain limited resources needs policies with vision and a solid system. The government needs to effectively manage and carry out the plans in order to promote growth in local economies.
The people should also be guided by the government to not just pursue wealth and fortune. The feeling of contentment should be planted in the hearts and souls of people, which would put them in the state of mind in which they would take time to appreciate and conserve our environment.
Take ecotourism for example. Last year was declared the "Year of Ecotourism in Taiwan." According to the principles of ecotourism, the environment needs to be conserved while sustaining the economic interests of local residents. It is a travel industry without the smokestack.
If circumstances permit, the tourists, with respect and care, may enjoy and experience the wonders of nature and human culture. At the same time, revenue from tourists would go back to local environmental conservation and community development.
As our people now have two days off per week and the level of leisure consumption has increased, the domestic travel industry has expanded as well. Many tour operators hold up the slogan of ecotourism, but there are cases of environmental degradation resulting from their tour activities.
For example, many people attended an ecotourism tour sponsored by a legislator at Chiku Lagoon near the estuary of Tsengwen Creek in Tainan County on Nov. 3 last year.
The fact that they danced and sang with high-decibel music seriously disturbed the black-faced spoonbills in the region, thereby setting a bad example.
Government units at all levels have been active in demonstrating and setting examples for ecotourism. They, however, have only provided related studies and plans regarding the guidance and administration of various issues such as ecotourism propaganda, guided tours, traffic control, dining, accommodation and community development.
As for improving the quality of ecotourism, the government has only continued their usual practice of concentrating on the "hardware,"particularly building big, superb facilities. The small-scale "software" projects tend to be wasteful. They may even contribute to environmental degradation because they receive little supervision due to low-budgets.
For example, the visitor centers and exhibition halls at many tourist destinations are splendid and incorporate modern-day technologies.
These facilities, however, seem to be incompatible with the natural environment. The dismantling of cobblestone walking trails in order to pave new concrete ones, for example, tends to damagethe natural environment.
Government units once again need to clarify their role in administration and operational management. When that is done, tour operators who fail to comply with established standards must be eliminated from the market.
The promotion of ecotourism must also be subject to the same mechanism governing the travel industry. Although the ecotourism industry concerns our natural environment and future generations, the fact that it has a low profit margin means our government has to actively educate and subsidize ecotour operators in order to set the industry into motion.
The construction of facilities must also be standardized and prioritized. The administrative achievements of government units should not be simply judged by the extent to which the budget is spent.
The officials should not be the only ones responsible for budget spending and policy proposals. The processes of budget implementation and policy-making should be made open and transparent. The experts, scholars and the people must supervise the processes before policy implementation.
The direction of the entire country, cognitive effort by our leaders and contributions from our government are the key factors.
People's economic practices should not destroy the environment; their spending dollars can -- and should -- be used to improve the environment. Money is like water which is capable of both bearing the boat and swallowing it; it can create a clean stream or a devastating mudslide.
Chen Chang-po is a research fellow at Academia Sinica's Institute of Zoology and a member of the Taipei Society.
Translated by Grace Shaw
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