Environmentalists yesterday called on the government not to turn the Forestry Bureau into a department under the future agriculture ministry, but rather to place it under the future ministry of environment and natural resources.
“We believe the government’s reorganization plan is a good opportunity to take the Forestry Bureau out of the Council of Agriculture (COA) and place it under an agency for environmental protection,” Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association secretary-general Lin Tzu-ling (林子凌) told a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.
“It is very worrisome that the COA has suggested it would keep the Forestry Bureau when it becomes the ministry of agriculture,” she added.
She said while the council is in charge of developing the agricultural economy, officials with decision making powers would inevitably have a development-oriented mentality, instead of a mentality for ecological conservation.
“The COA’s idea of managing forests in the country is to turn them into recreational parks, to develop ecotourism and arbitrary forestation — in other words, they would want to make money out of forests, not protect them,” Lin said.
Citizen of the Earth Foundation’s Eastern Taiwan Office director Tsai Chung-yueh (蔡中岳) explained how the Forestry Bureau’s forestation policy has caused destruction in Taiwan’s forests, which leads to mudslides that seriously threaten the lives of tens of thousands of people.
“The Forestry Bureau cuts down giant trees that have been around for decades, if not centuries, sells them off and plants new trees,” Tsai said. “They tell the public about their forestation projects as if they are working hard to protect woods in the country, while they are doing just the opposite.”
He said that this false forestation policy has led to the destabilization of soil in the mountains, which leads to mudslides when typhoons hit the nation.
“It’s very scary that the same group of people who make decisions at the current council are to continue to administer [a future] forestry department,” he said.
On the other hand, Green Formosa Front member Lin Chang-mao (林長茂) was worried that if the forestry department is placed under the future ministry of agriculture, the policy of renting out land in the mountains to be used for high-altitude agriculture may continue.
“Renting out forestry land to farmers in the mountains adjacent to Shimen Reservoir (石門水庫) in Taoyuan County, for example, is already leading to pollution of water in the reservoir because of the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers,” Lin said.
Lawmakers across party lines, including the Democratic Progressive Party’s Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) and Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬), as well as People First Party Legislator Chang Show-foong (張曉風), attended the news conference in support of the environmental groups.
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
BETTER SERVICE QUALITY: From Nov. 10, tickets with reserved seats would only be valid for the date, train and route specified on the ticket, THSRC said Starting on Nov. 10, high-speed rail passengers with reserved seats would be required to exchange their tickets to board an earlier train. Passengers with reserved seats on a specific train are currently allowed to board earlier trains on the same day and sit in non-reserved cars, but as this is happening increasingly often, and affecting quality of travel and ticket sales, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced that it would be canceling the policy on Nov. 10. It is one of several new measures launched by THSRC chairman Shih Che (史哲) to improve the quality of service, it said. The company also said