Taking care of the environment quite important, Lu says

A partnership between central government and local authorities is crucial to appropriate management on certain important issues, including disaster prevention and disease control, because the environment in Taiwan is more fragile than ever at a time when global warming has been affecting the weather everywhere, Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) said yesterday.

Lu the remarks at a meeting held yesterday for the heads of local governments, to whom she provided the latest information about Taiwan's vulnerability to the spread of bird flu, and also its problems with water and soil preservation.

Lu that disaster prevention has become one of the top priorities for Taiwan because devastating natural disasters in the last year had revealed the environmental vulnerability in Taiwan.

Lu that what she saw when she took a helicopter flight over Taipei, Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Miaoli counties was poorly preserved mountains and forests.

"Disaster prevention and soil preservation are more important than carrying out new construction. Such tasks have to be jointly conducted by both central government and local authorities," Lu said.

The vice president said green industries, which stress energy efficiency, had been promoted in Taiwan. However, energy conservation deserves to be further promoted in daily life.

Events in the evening should be canceled in order to conserve electricity in a bid to keep abreast of spirits regarding the implementation of Kyoto Protocol, she added.

Lu some local authorities for failing to use their budget appropriately, because several new construction projects costing millions of dollars eventually became places for the reproduction of mosquitoes.

In addition, Lu said there have been 13 countries in Asia affected by the spread of bird flu. Fortunately, Taiwan remains unaffected by deadly H5N1 virus strain.

However, Lu said the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had predicted that migratory birds might increase Taiwan's vulnerability to the disease. CDC information suggested that, once bird flu spread in Taiwan, about 5.3 million Taiwanese would be affected. Among them, 70,000 people could be hospitalized and 14,000 might lose their lives, the CDC said last week.