Sat, Feb 19, 2011 page2

• Disasters spur on draft coastal protection plan

  LONG PROCESS: An academic said he has doubts about the effectiveness of the act, should it be passed, given complexities over areas where private properties are built

  • By Lin Yi-chang / Staff Reporter
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  In light of numerous typhoon disasters in recent years, the Ministry of the Interior has drafted a coastline law in an effort to better care for land restoration and conservation.

  The draft proposes having the nation’s coastline divided into “preserved areas” and “protected areas,” and that a special unit should be set up to screen coastal developments from a preservationist point of view.

  According to an official with the ministry’s Construction and Planning Agency, the spirit of the draft law is to set up a special governmental unit that could preview every coastal -development project with the goal of -preserving coastal geology.

  The drafted coastline law would require central authorities to compile basic databases for coastal areas to facilitate research and coastal management, the official said.

  Under the proposed law, the nation’s coastal areas would be divided into first and secondary level protected areas.

  The first level would prohibit change to the shoreline or restrict uses to those that would keep it in its natural state, said the official, unless approval for other uses is granted by the central authorities.

  Secondary level status would designate areas as “buffer zones,” where violations that cause a -natural disaster to occur because of alterations to the natural environment would be punishable with fines of up to NT$600,000 and up to 10 years in prison.

  Meanwhile, the draft proposes that areas suffering from erosion, saltwater encroachment and land subsidence be categorized as national geological revitalization areas, requiring them to have a protection plan. The entire coastal management plan, preservation plan and protection plan would be reviewed every five years, the official said.

  As it is currently written, the draft act would empower local governments to remove any buildings or land modifications that are obstacles to the implementation of the law. It also proposes granting the Council of Agriculture the power to abolish fishing rights, as well as empowering the Ministry of Economic Affairs to halt all mining and quarrying activities in coastal areas.

  However, Lin Tsung-yi (林宗儀), an assistant professor at National Taiwan Normal University, has doubts about the effectiveness of the act, should it be passed.

  While the shoreline is public property, there is also private property where hotels are built, such as in Kenting (墾丁), he said.

  “It’s like they own the whole beach,” he said. “In such cases, how would the government intercede and manage the coast?”

  Some officials also doubt that the proposed bill would make it through the legislature, noting that since its initial draft in the 1990s, it has not won the support of the lawmakers.

  Conflict of interest and the noncommittal attitudes of the legislators means the draft only has a slim chance of being put up for review, an official said.
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