Citing the possibility of a future food crisis in much of Asia, Academia Sinica president Lee Yuan-tseh (
"It's stupid to restrict our thinking to the issue of war when considering answers to cross-strait issues," Lee said. Focusing on feeding rising Asian populations is far more realistic, he said.
"The population of China is estimated to reach 1.6 billion in 30 years. At that time, half of Asia will face crop failure problems. No matter how hard farmers strive to cultivate crops, they'll be unable to meet demand," Lee said.
Lee said that scientists on both sides of the Strait should do more to address biodiversity research to preserve endangered species and threatened ecosystems -- often closely linked to the survival of humans.
Lee stressed that Taiwan's overall world competitiveness would be increased if basic scientific studies on biodiversity -- currently a key research topic in international scientific circles -- was given more attention.
Highlighting the issue, the Academia Sinica yesterday began a two-day conference titled the International Symposium on the Future of Biodiversity in Taiwan (台灣生物多樣性願景國際研討會.)
New members of the Executive Yuan who specialize in environmental issues were invited, including Vice Premier and Consumers Protection Commission Chairman Yu Shyi-kun, and Environmental Protection Administrator Lin Jun-yi (
Internationally renowned foreign experts attending the symposium encouraged the new government to review existing conservation policies.
Peter Raven attendance, a member of the US president's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology, was among them.
Raven said such research was crucial, as Taiwan is home to between 150,000 to 200,000 species, perhaps a fourth of which are found nowhere else in the world.
"The goal of using Taiwan's biological resources sustainably, which is critical to the future of the island, can only be achieved by expanding our information base on biodiversity," Raven said during his presentation.
"However, Taiwan suffers from the same problems as the US -- many divisions within government which leave too many different agencies handling conservation and sustainability," Raven said, suggesting establishing a Cabinet-level unit to integrate ecological conservation-related resources.
"We ignore how precious our indigenous plants are. Take Miscanthus (elephant grass, 芒草), one of the predominant plants in Taiwan. ... We have never done our best to investigate it," Chou Chang-hung (周昌弘), an Academia Sinica research fellow and vice president of National Sun Yat-sen University, told the Taipei Times.
Chou said that several EU members had integrated research on Miscanthus covering, production, harvesting, pre-treatment, industrial conversions, environmental impact and economics.
"As for exchanging scientific studies with China, it has little point, considering the environmental destruction caused there by industrial development," Chou said.
(See Also:Raven)
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