The Taiwan Environmental Information Association (TEIA) yesterday announced the nine most beautiful coastal areas in the nation it feels are worth protecting and said it has created a coastal ecology map for elementary and junior-high schools to use.
The nine areas, accounting to 148km of coastline, were selected from 338 locations after a year-long on-site survey of the coastline, based on six criteria: artificial impacts on the original ecological functions, unique or significant ecosystem, unique landscape or scenery, special humanistic or industrial scenery, pollution and development, and management.
“The nine coastal areas were not chosen on the basis of being undamaged. They all can still be protected if Taiwanese are willing to protect them,” TEIA Environmental Trust Center director Sun Hsiu-ju (孫秀如) said at a press conference.
Photo courtesy of the Taiwan Environmental Information Association
“The total length of Taiwan’s coastline is about 1,200km and it consists of a variety of landscapes. Having so many types of landscapes on a small island is a very rare treasure,” she said.
However, the coastline is almost completely covered with fishing ports, tetrapods or sea dykes, and natural coastline amounts to less than 45 percent of the total.
Environmental Protection Administration Minister Stephen Shen (沈世宏) told the press conference that he hoped the survey results would remind the public to care about the ocean and help reduce damage to the marine ecology.
Photo courtesy of the Taiwan Environmental Information Association
The association said about 10 percent of all marine species can be found in the waters near Taiwan, showing that the nation has rare and abundant ocean resources, but everyone still needs to work together to protect the ocean. The group said its marine ecology map will be given to 3,397 schools nationwide.
The association’s nine picks are the Caota (草漯) sand dunes and algal reefs between Guanyin (觀音) and Sinwu (新屋) townships in Taoyuan County; the Yuanli (苑裡) sand dune in Miaoli County; the coast of Yilan County; the Dacheng Wetlands (大城濕地) in Changhua County; the coast between Shiti Harbor (石梯港) in Hualien County and Changbin (長濱) in Taitung County; the coast between Manfeng (滿豐) and Houwan (後灣) in Pingtung County; the Sihcao (四草) seashore in Greater Tainan; and the coast between Nanren Fishing Port (南仁漁港) in Pingtung and Nantian (南田) in Taitung counties.
Photo courtesy of the Taiwan Environmental Information Association
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition