King said that Taiwan has been hit by an average of 3.5 typhoons every year during the past 100 years.
King, head of the Taiwan Long-term Ecological Research Network established in 1992 and sponsored by the National Science Council, expressed concern over the government's attitude toward ecological problems.
"When a bridge is broken by a flood, all the government knows is to build a new one rather than to review problems which occurred as a result of the inappropriate handling of the river," King said.
Although some experts said that the reforestation project will offer little help in preventing mudslides, some other forestry experts said the reforestation project has its long-term benefits.
The project entails growing forests on mountains covered by loose land in central Taiwan.
"It takes decades to see the effect of new-grown forests. But it is definitely good for our future generations," said Chen Ming-chieh (陳明杰), a professor of forestry at National Taiwan University.
Based on his observations in central Taiwan during Typhoon Herb in 1996, Chen said that mountains covered by forests suffer from fewer mudslides.
RSS