Over the past few years, the media have been critical of the damage caused by natural disasters such as typhoons. They have even criticized ecological engineering, causing misunderstandings among the general public.
Ecological engineering uses a deep knowledge of the ecosystem to ensure biodiversity and sustainable development.
With the ecosystem as its basis and security as the guiding light, ecological engineering is a sustainable system that can be used to minimize damage to the ecosystem.
It by no means favors ecology at the cost of security. Nor does it rule out the use of man-made materials such as concrete or simply serve to provide superficial beautification.
When dredging a river, for example, planning under an ecological engineering approach would include gaining an understanding of the catchment area as a whole, carrying out hydrological, hydraulic and ecological analyses of the area, and taking full consideration of the situation along the upper and lower reaches of the river before put-ting forth a proposal.
Engineers have a duty to design safe structures and, just like other types of construction, ecological engineering methods must conform to structural safety rules.
The general public tends to believe that concrete structures are safer, but in fact safety standards differ depending on design requirements, not on the method used.
For example, ecological engineering methods such as using gabions or pilings tied together with nets to protect hillsides produce softer structures, while bridge columns or dam structures require stiffer designs. There is no conflict between these two methods.
For example, statistics compiled last year by the Soil and Water Conservation Bureau (
After Typhoon Nari hit the island in 2001, ecological engineering methods were used to protect 40km of the bank of the Nankan River in Taoyuan County. Despite the flooding on July 2 and Sept. 11 last year, as well as the onslaught of Typhoon Aere in August that year, no destruction has occurred.
This year, there has been no reported damage after Typhoon Haitang and Matsa ravaged the island. Instead, it is the concrete embankments built at an earlier time that were damaged.
The statistics and data collected during the serious flooding last year show that ecological engineering projects clearly can withstand attacks, and that it indeed is an effective method.
Huang Hsi-hsung is the director of the Department of Technology of the Public Construction Commission, Executive Yuan.
Translated by Daniel Cheng
The first Donald Trump term was a boon for Taiwan. The administration regularized the arms sales process and enhanced bilateral ties. Taipei will not be so fortunate the second time around. Given recent events, Taiwan must proceed with the assumption that it cannot count on the United States to defend it — diplomatically or militarily — during the next four years. Early indications suggested otherwise. The nomination of Marco Rubio as US Secretary of State and the appointment of Mike Waltz as the national security advisor, both of whom have expressed full-throated support for Taiwan in the past, raised hopes that
Whether in terms of market commonality or resource similarity, South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co is the biggest competitor of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC). The two companies have agreed to set up factories in the US and are also recipients of subsidies from the US CHIPS and Science Act, which was signed into law by former US president Joe Biden. However, changes in the market competitiveness of the two companies clearly reveal the context behind TSMC’s investments in the US. As US semiconductor giant Intel Corp has faced continuous delays developing its advanced processes, the world’s two major wafer foundries, TSMC and
Authorities last week revoked the residency permit of a Chinese social media influencer surnamed Liu (劉), better known by her online channel name Yaya in Taiwan (亞亞在台灣), who has more than 440,000 followers online and is living in Taiwan with a marriage-based residency permit, for her “reunification by force” comments. She was asked to leave the country in 10 days. The National Immigration Agency (NIA) on Tuesday last week announced the decision, citing the influencer’s several controversial public comments, including saying that “China does not need any other reason to reunify Taiwan with force” and “why is it [China] hesitant
We are witnessing a sea change in the government’s approach to China, from one of reasonable, low-key reluctance at rocking the boat to a collapse of pretense over and patience in Beijing’s willful intransigence. Finally, we are seeing a more common sense approach in the face of active shows of hostility from a foreign power. According to Article 2 of the 2020 Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法), a “foreign hostile force” is defined as “countries, political entities or groups that are at war with or are engaged in a military standoff with the Republic of China [ROC]. The same stipulation applies to
RSS