Over the past few years, the media have been critical of the damage caused by natural disasters such as typhoons. They have even criticized ecological engineering, causing misunderstandings among the general public.
Ecological engineering uses a deep knowledge of the ecosystem to ensure biodiversity and sustainable development.
With the ecosystem as its basis and security as the guiding light, ecological engineering is a sustainable system that can be used to minimize damage to the ecosystem.
It by no means favors ecology at the cost of security. Nor does it rule out the use of man-made materials such as concrete or simply serve to provide superficial beautification.
When dredging a river, for example, planning under an ecological engineering approach would include gaining an understanding of the catchment area as a whole, carrying out hydrological, hydraulic and ecological analyses of the area, and taking full consideration of the situation along the upper and lower reaches of the river before put-ting forth a proposal.
Engineers have a duty to design safe structures and, just like other types of construction, ecological engineering methods must conform to structural safety rules.
The general public tends to believe that concrete structures are safer, but in fact safety standards differ depending on design requirements, not on the method used.
For example, ecological engineering methods such as using gabions or pilings tied together with nets to protect hillsides produce softer structures, while bridge columns or dam structures require stiffer designs. There is no conflict between these two methods.
For example, statistics compiled last year by the Soil and Water Conservation Bureau (
After Typhoon Nari hit the island in 2001, ecological engineering methods were used to protect 40km of the bank of the Nankan River in Taoyuan County. Despite the flooding on July 2 and Sept. 11 last year, as well as the onslaught of Typhoon Aere in August that year, no destruction has occurred.
This year, there has been no reported damage after Typhoon Haitang and Matsa ravaged the island. Instead, it is the concrete embankments built at an earlier time that were damaged.
The statistics and data collected during the serious flooding last year show that ecological engineering projects clearly can withstand attacks, and that it indeed is an effective method.
Huang Hsi-hsung is the director of the Department of Technology of the Public Construction Commission, Executive Yuan.
Translated by Daniel Cheng
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