A coalition of wildlife conservation groups on Thursday called for greater national efforts to protect endangered species by helping them recover and regenerate, and to bolster enforcement of conservation and protection laws.
Most people in Taiwan would say that the nation has made great strides in its efforts to protect animals, wild and domesticated, in the three decades since the Wildlife Conservation Act (野生動物保育法) was promulgated on June 23, 1989, and they would be right.
However, there is so much that has been left undone and much more that needs to be done.
Much of the impetus for the act, and enforcement of it, came from international pressure, not from lawmakers or government bodies. For example, it was the European Commission declaring Taiwan to be an uncooperative nation in the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and issuing it a “yellow card” on Oct. 1, 2015, that forced the government and the fisheries industry to take seriously the need to improve regulations.
Just as the passage of three fisheries acts and new enforcement regulations that took effect in January 2017 were not enough to convince the commission to retract the yellow card, passage of the wildlife act did not really change much on the ground when it came to ending poaching and trafficking of endangered species.
It took the US government invoking the Pelly Amendment in 1994 to impose a trade embargo on Taiwan because of the continued trade in rhino horns and tiger bones to force Taipei to toughen enforcement of the wildlife act and increase the penalties for contravening it. The Pelly-mandated embargo was lifted in 1995.
Since then, more reserves, wildlife refuges and habitats have been established, but endangered species’ populations in Taiwan continue to decline, largely due to human encroachment and loss of habitat propelled by the development-first mentality of many local governments and the Executive Yuan. Meanwhile, too many endemic and non-endemic wild animals are held by private individuals or institutions in abysmal conditions.
In early June, the Miaoli County Council rejected a bill to protect the endemic leopard cat that was drafted last year by the Miaoli County Government by a 25-9 vote out of concern that it might hinder development projects.
That led the Executive Yuan to order local authorities to consider the effect on leopard cat habitats when conducting environmental assessments.
A few days later, the Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals held a news conference to highlight the plight of Asian black bears, gibbons, orangutans and Bengal tigers kept in captivity in the nation, and criticized the lack of supervision to ensure the humane treatment of these animals, despite stipulations in the wildlife act.
Its articles cover the conservation and preservation of wildlife, and penalties for hunting or killing wild animals or trading in them without approval, but it does not cover efforts to increase their numbers.
Conservation groups on Thursday also noted that the central government has been providing less money for wildlife conservation efforts annually since 1989, and much of the dwindling budget goes toward conducting censuses and surveys, highlighting its passive approach to conservation.
Taiwan is proud to use the Formosan bear and other native wildlife on postage stamps and tourism promotion efforts, but if it wants to maintain those populations, the government needs to provide greater legal protection and allocate more money, starting immediately.
Could Asia be on the verge of a new wave of nuclear proliferation? A look back at the early history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which recently celebrated its 75th anniversary, illuminates some reasons for concern in the Indo-Pacific today. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin recently described NATO as “the most powerful and successful alliance in history,” but the organization’s early years were not without challenges. At its inception, the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty marked a sea change in American strategic thinking. The United States had been intent on withdrawing from Europe in the years following
My wife and I spent the week in the interior of Taiwan where Shuyuan spent her childhood. In that town there is a street that functions as an open farmer’s market. Walk along that street, as Shuyuan did yesterday, and it is next to impossible to come home empty-handed. Some mangoes that looked vaguely like others we had seen around here ended up on our table. Shuyuan told how she had bought them from a little old farmer woman from the countryside who said the mangoes were from a very old tree she had on her property. The big surprise
The issue of China’s overcapacity has drawn greater global attention recently, with US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen urging Beijing to address its excess production in key industries during her visit to China last week. Meanwhile in Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week said that Europe must have a tough talk with China on its perceived overcapacity and unfair trade practices. The remarks by Yellen and Von der Leyen come as China’s economy is undergoing a painful transition. Beijing is trying to steer the world’s second-largest economy out of a COVID-19 slump, the property crisis and
As former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrapped up his visit to the People’s Republic of China, he received his share of attention. Certainly, the trip must be seen within the full context of Ma’s life, that is, his eight-year presidency, the Sunflower movement and his failed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, as well as his eight years as Taipei mayor with its posturing, accusations of money laundering, and ups and downs. Through all that, basic questions stand out: “What drives Ma? What is his end game?” Having observed and commented on Ma for decades, it is all ironically reminiscent of former US president Harry