The Executive Yuan yesterday approved 43 draft amendments to the Organizational Act of the Executive Yuan (行政院組織法), which, if passed by legislators, would implement a long-awaited restructuring of government, including upgrading the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) to a ministry of environmental resources.
According to the draft amendments, the ministry of environmental resources would take over part of the responsibilities that fall under the Council of Agriculture (COA), the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC).
Those include forestry and wildlife conservation, water and soil conservation, and weather forecasting.
Photo: CNA
Unlike other agencies involved in the restructuring, the proposed environment ministry would be practically an entirely new agency rather than the product of an internal reorganization, Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Minister Jay Shih (施能傑) told a news conference in Taipei.
The Central Weather Bureau would become a central weather administration under the environment ministry, the draft amendments say.
EPA agencies in charge of regulating toxic substances and conducting environmental inspections are to become the toxic substances and chemicals administration and the environmental management bureau.
A new research institute of biodiversity and forest protection is also to be created under the new environment ministry, Shih said.
Water management tasks relating to economic development — including the appropriation of water for industrial use and river remediation projects — would remain within the purview of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, he said.
Responding to media queries, EPA Minister Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) denied that the proposed new ministry would be a “grand ministry,” saying its budget is likely to be far smaller than the budgets allocated to the MOTC, the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of National Defense.
The tasks of the new ministry — responding to climate change and cutting carbon dioxide emissions — would be highly challenging, meaningful and in line with global trends, he said, as he thanked employees at the other agencies for their willingness to become part of the new ministry.
According to the amendments, the interior ministry would continue to govern national parks, a proposal that Deputy Minister of the Interior Hua Ching-chun (花敬群) lauded, saying that it is “better equipped” to take care of the parks, especially when it comes to formulating construction management and urban renewal plans.
The draft amendments also seek to adjust the responsibilities of the Construction and Planning Agency, which is expected to be become a national land management administration.
The amendments also propose upgrading the COA to a ministry of agriculture with three new agencies.
They are the water resources agency for farming communities and irrigation, the agricultural services and financing administration, and the agricultural science parks management office.
The proposed amendments embody the “final piece of the puzzle” for restructuring the government, Shih said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique