The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday celebrated its 21st birthday, with Minister Steven Shen (沈世宏) vowing to carry on the hard work of his predecessors. Shen also vowed to combat global challenges such as the energy crisis and global warming.
During the ceremony, former EPA ministers Winston Dang (陳重信), Eugene Chien (簡又新), Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) and Chang Chu-enn (張祖恩) were in attendance and commended the administration for its efforts in cleaning up the nation.
“In the past 21 years, the number of days Taiwan experienced bad air quality has dropped from 17 percent to 4 percent ... The number of rivers with pollution levels over the standard have dropped from 14 percent to 6.7 percent,” Shen said, adding that the nation also led the world in recycling, with daily waste per capita dropping from 1.1kg to 0.58kg.
However, massive construction projects as well as industrial development have elevated Taiwan’s carbon emissions to a level that puts it on par with the top carbon emitters in the world, Eugene Chien, the EPA’s first minister, said.
“From 1990 to 2006, while England and Germany’s emissions increased by 17 percent, and emissions in the US increased by 14 percent, Taiwan’s emissions increased by 113 percent,” he said.
“Taiwanese are now more and more aware of issues in environmental protection. However, it is also important to collaborate and make exchanges with other countries on environmental matters, as the effort to fight global warming should be taken to the international level,” he said.
Citing the Pacific Greenhouse Gases Measurement project, Dang said that “environmental diplomacy is not difficult and would be immensely helpful not only for Taiwan, but for the world.”
In the project, Taiwan offered “the last piece of the puzzle” for a group of European and Japanese scientists who wished to monitor the Earth’s greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere.
Taiwan did so by installing observational equipment on China Airlines passenger flights, thus providing data over the Pacific Ocean, which was data that the joint European and Japanese project lacked.
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
City buses in Taipei and New Taipei City, as well as the Taipei MRT, would on Saturday begin accepting QR code payments from five electronic payment providers, the Taipei Department of Transportation said yesterday. The new option would allow passengers to use the “transportation QR code” feature from EasyWallet, iPass Money, iCash Pay, Jkopay or PXPay Plus. Passengers should open their preferred electronic payment app, select the “transportation code” — not the regular payment code — unlock it, and scan the code at ticket readers or gates, General Planning Division Director-General Liu Kuo-chu (劉國著) said. People should move through the
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) today released images of the military tracking China’s People's Liberation Army (PLA) movements during the latest round of Chinese drills around Taiwan. The PLA began "Justice Mission 2025" drills today, carrying out live-fire drills, simulated strikes on land and maritime targets, and exercises to blockade the nation's main ports. The exercises are to continue tomorrow, with the PLA announcing sea and air space restrictions for five zones around Taiwan for 10 hours starting from 8:30am. The ministry today released images showing a Chinese J-16 fighter jet tracked by a F-16V Block 20 jet and the
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