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Protest targets development plans

Volunteers sweep sidewalks in Taipei's Chung Cheng district yesterday to observe World Environment Day. PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUNG, TAIPEI TIMES

Activists marked World Environ-ment Day yesterday with a protest to "awaken" the government to the need to make sustainable development a priority in several key public infrastructure projects, warning that the welfare of future generations was at stake.

The environmental groups performed a skit that attributed the nation's environmental woes to an "evil spirit." The activists' press release said the "evil spirit" featured in the skit represented "black gold" political corruption, entrenched power, bureaucracy and big business, and that the government "has lost sight of its role and fallen asleep while rivers, mountains, land and ocean are destroyed."

The protest was held during a morning seminar organized by the Cabinet-level National Council for Sustainable Development.

Roughly 30 environmental groups, including Greenpeace, the Green Formosa Front, the No Nuke Taiwan Union and the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union said the council had accomplished little since President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) vowed to make changes during the 2004 National Conference for NGOs, held on Earth Day in April.

"Chen promised on Earth Day that the government would take action in response to the suggestions we made and would report its results on Environment Day, which is today. However, they've shown no sincerity in planning this seminar. With issues so important, how can the meeting take only a half-day as planned?" said Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗勳), executive director of the No Nuke Taiwan Union.

"We support the council for inviting non-governmental organizations to participate in the seminar, but the government does not consult the committee on important construction projects. What then is the committee's purpose?" said Chang Hung-lin (張宏林), secretary-general of the Wilderness Society (荒野保護協會).

Environmentalists brought photographic proof of ecological damage to share with seminar participants. Pictures showed polluted rivers, sand loss due to nuclear power plant construction at Yenliao Bay (鹽寮沙灘), and dead fairy pittas, an indigenous bird species endangered by habitat destruction. Shortly afterward, the activists left the seminar to protest the government's environmental negligence.

The protesters sought changes in what they called "10 unsustainable public infrastructure projects," a play on the government's heavily-touted "10 key public infrastructure projects."

The list of harmful construction projects includes such government projects as plans to build four artificial lakes, the Suao-Hualien Highway, the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, cable cars on several mountains, additional incinerators and the Hushan Reservoir (湖山水庫) in Yunlin County.

"We aren't opposed to construction projects across the board,'' Ho said. "We just feel that they need to be examined first. In particular, the environmental impact of the four artificial lakes and the Suao-Hualien Highway should be studied individually, instead of authorized in the Legislative Yuan as part of the `10 key public infrastructure' package."

Council head Yeh Jiunn-rong (葉俊榮) responded to the protesters' complaints by saying that the government needs more time to develop environmental protection policies. "The government has a vision for the nation's sustainable environmental development; it just needs time to execute these plans," Yeh said.
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