Survey says people aren't satisfied with environment

As yesterday marked the 30th anniversary of World Environment Day, a survey showed that residents are unsatisfied with the nation's environmental quality.

The survey, conducted by Shih Hsin University last month, included 1,095 responses collected nationwide.

"Based on 20 selected indicators of environmental quality, we converted residents' responses and found that the environmental quality in Taiwan only scores 45.64 out of 100 points," Steve Liang (梁世武), director of the Institute for Public Opinion, said at a press conference yesterday.

The twenty indicators included air quality, tap water, soil quality and recreation.

Results of the survey suggested that people around the nation share common complaints about water pollution as well as environmental deterioration of ecological systems of both rivers and forests.

Wang Ching-ming (汪靜明), professor of the Graduate Institute of Environmental Education of National Taiwan Normal University, said that residents are somewhat influenced by media reports on environmental topics when ranking the importance of environmental issues.

"In the survey, we can sense that people lack concern for other important environmental issues, such as the protection of wetlands and water resources," said Wang, saying that the media hasn't covered those topics sufficiently.

Shyu Guey-shin (徐貴新), an environmental engineering professor at the Tung Nan Institute of Technology, said that other serious environmental problems pertaining to soil pollution have also been neglected by the public.

Other professors said that the survey reflects people's feelings about the environment and is can serve as a reference to the government when policymaking.

"We see the difference in environmental quality among difference places. The information should be taken into account when related development projects are planned," said Wang Hurng-jyuhn (王鴻濬), director of Graduate Institute of Environmental Policy of National Dong Hwa University in Hualien.

For example, Wang said, ecological preserves should be created in eastern Taiwan, where there is less people and less activity than in urban areas.