A “green” energy technology park being built in Shalun area (沙崙) in Tainan’s Gueiren District (歸仁) might endanger ring-necked pheasants and other animals in Shalun Farm, and turn the surrounding area into a “roadkill graveyard,” environmentalists said on Thursday.
The 22.77 hectare technology park covering is included in the Executive Yuan’s Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program as a test site for “green” energy and comes at a cost of NT$16.2 billion (US$537 million).
A separate project to build a world-class movie studio in Shalun might include the farm, Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) said in October last year, without providing details.
Citizen of the Earth researcher Lee Han-lin (李翰林) on Thursday said that the roads planned for the technology park would cut across the farm, endangering the pheasants, wild rabbits and other animals that roam the farmland.
Guarding Shalun Farm, an environmentalist group of which Lee is a member, said a count in March found that 1,511 birds of more than 60 species live on the farm.
The Ministry of Science and Technology issued a statement on Sunday saying the Tainan City Government plans to widen three roads, with one passing through the west side of the farm, but added it would pose no threat to wildlife.
Two other roads are to lead to Guanmiao (關廟) in the east of the city and to Gueiren (歸仁) in the north, both far from the animals’ habitats, the ministry said.
The ministry is preparing an environmental impact study, Department of Foresight and Innovation Policies specialist Lai Yi-chen (賴怡臻) said.
However, Lee said wildlife habitats would be affected by the increased noise, dirt and traffic brought by the roads and construction.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching