Marco Lambertini, who is in charge of international affairs for the organization, visited the COA on July 1, to urge chairman Chen Hsi-huang (
Lambertini said at the time that Birdlife International was itself trying to have the site at Pillow Hill designated an Important Bird Area (IBA).
Conservationists said that IBAs were recognized by the international community and regarded as important points of reference in policy-making in many countries.
BirdLife International's quarterly magazine, which features global conservation news, had sent editors to Huben to produce an article revealing to some 5 million readers worldwide the deterioration of habitats for fairy pittas in Taiwan. The negative international publicity prompted swift governmental action.
Under pressure from legislators and President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), on June 20, Yunlin County Commissioner Chang Jung-wei (張榮味) halted the construction of the first gravel extraction facility and stopped the review of six later applications.
In response, the developers pressed the government to buy back the Pillow Hill land from them for 140 percent of the government assessed price (invariably lower than the accepted market value).
"We hope that developers will appreciate that the protection of birds does not conflict with people's interests," said Simon Liao (
TESRI's preliminary survey will be completed by October, when fairy pittas leave Taiwan for their winter migration.
Yin, the village warden who was assaulted, has received an invitation from BirdLife International to give a presentation on the efforts to save Taiwan's eight-color birds, next month in London.
"At the presentation, I shall stress what we did to save the bird rather than the violence I suffered," Yin told the Taipei Times.
Yin said that 1000 simple village folk, mostly farmers planting bamboo sprouts and longan trees, should not be expected to resign themselves to becoming victims of gravel extractors.
"We just want to continue our peaceful life. So do these rare birds," she added.
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