Addressing some of the environmental challenges Taiwan will face in the next decade, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday that a future DPP government would focus on long-term solutions rather than short-term fixes.
Environmental activists, experts and DPP officials met yesterday in the second of a series of forums titled “Taiwan’s unavoidable future challenges” designed to help the party draw up its “10 Year Political Master Plan.”
Officials hope that the political agenda will show the party’s supporters it is ready to govern again.
Issues covered at the forum included methods to reduce Taiwan’s dependence on external energy sources, protecting water resources and the effects that global warming will have on the country.
“We are looking for ways Taiwan can survive in a world that is running out of resources,” National Taiwan University professor Wu Tsung-tsong (吳政忠) said. “Dealing with these problems will require ambitious, far-reaching policies.”
The latest government statistics show that more than 99 percent of Taiwan’s energy is imported, while annual carbon emissions are 2.5 times the world average.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), under pressure to fulfill a promise to reduce 2020 emissions to 2005 levels, has announced plans to open the nation’s fourth nuclear power plant by October next year.
Wu said that it was “almost impossible” for the government to reach its target because of a delay to the date Taiwan is expected to reach its peak energy usage — the highest amount of emissions produced — from 2015 to between 2016 and 2020.
He said nuclear energy was not the answer to the country’s future energy needs, adding that it was debatable whether nuclear power should be classified as “clean energy.”
Instead, Wu called on the government to encourage more investment in renewable energy resources.
He said that in the next two years, “the government needs cross-departmental support for a sweeping new energy policy,” and in the long-term, it needs to privatize Taiwan Power Co (台電) and create “reasonable and transparent” renewable energy prices.
Taiwan Ecological Engineering Department Foundation director and former head of Chunghwa Telecom Hochen Tan (賀陳旦) said another issue was dwindling water supplies.
“We haven’t been doing enough to preserve water supplies,” Ho said. “We treat it like a commodity that needs to be made cheaper and wasted more.”
A future DPP administration should increase the price of water, he said, citing examples such as Denmark, where water is five times more expensive than it is in Taiwan.
Efforts to resolve water supply problems in the south should also take into account Aboriginal interests, Taiwan Aboriginal Society chairman Wang Ming-huei (汪明輝) said.
He said that government proposals to build dams and riverbank developments have gone ahead despite Aboriginal concerns about the negative environmental effects. Wang said the government had botched reconstruction efforts after Typhoon Morakot because of a lack of “cultural understanding and respect.”
“Some of the developments we have seen on Aboriginal land following the typhoon include betel nut, coffee and tea plantations on mountain slopes,” Wang said. “We have not received any benefits from this, instead the environment has worsened.”
Speaking after the forum, Tsai promised to address the concerns raised, saying that the DPP viewed addressing environmental concerns as an “unavoidable responsibility.”
“Taiwan faces a great threat from global warming,” Tsai said. “The way we see it, energy and the environment ... need to be dealt with in the medium to long-term vision of the country’s development. It needs to be far reaching and include a change in our basic framework.”
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
The New Taipei City Government would assist relatives of those killed or injured in last month’s car-ramming incident in Sansia District (三峽) to secure compensation, Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said yesterday, two days after the driver died in a hospital. “The city government will do its best to help the relatives of the car crash incident seek compensation,” Hou said. The mayor also said that the city’s Legal Affairs, Education and Social Welfare departments have established a joint mechanism to “provide coordinated assistance” to victims and their families. Three people were killed and 12 injured when a car plowed into schoolchildren and their