In an effort to stimulate the ailing stock market, the Cabinet has halved the securities transactions tax and activated the National Stabilization Fund. However, the measure did not stimulate the market for even one day, as the index plunged another 206 points the day after the announcement.
The Cabinet has recently come under fire for short-sighted policies and quick remedies, but it just keeps on doing the same kind of thing. The underlying reason is not mere technical incompetence. Rather, it is because the government’s policymaking is founded on an outdated developmentalist ideology: In assessing the nation based on developmentalist indexes and in taking the stock index as the measure of the nation’s economy, saving the bourse becomes equated with saving the economy. Therein lies the error of the government’s ways.
What is true of the government’s economic outlook is also true of its attitude to environmental questions. In the name of cutting carbon dioxide emissions, the authorities urged the public not to have barbecues during the Mid-Autumn Festival, while at same time giving free rein to local governments and public and private corporations to develop land and resources at will.
A fine example of this is the failure to preserve our natural coastline. In July last year, the Cabinet ratified the Integrated Scheme for Sustainable Coastal Development, which states: “To comply with international trends and development needs, the sustainable development of our coastline at the present stage should prioritize the notion of creating an axis of coastal protection as the basis for policymaking and administrative planning by the authorities concerned.”
The scheme’s stated strategic aim for near-term development is described as “zero damage to the natural coastline.” In the year or so since the scheme came into effect, however, the Cabinet has done almost nothing to protect the coast. The scheme has proved to be nothing more than words on paper, while coastal destruction has gone from bad to worse.
The state-run Taiwan Power Company is planning to construct a coal wharf at Fanziao Bay (番子澳灣), near Keelung, to service its Shenao (深澳) coal-fired power station. The wharf will be 1,460m long, 40m wide and 10m high. The huge structure will be equivalent to 2.9 Taipei 101 buildings chopped down and laid in the bay.
Without doubt, it is a major threat to the ecology of Fanziao Bay and associated fisheries and will have a direct impact on tourism in Keelung. Figures released by the Construction and Planning Agency showed that only 15.4 percent, or less than 3km, of Keelung’s coastline remains in a natural state. If construction of the coal wharf goes ahead, Keelung will be left with no natural coastline to speak of.
In December 2004, the Taitung County Government awarded a build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract to Meiliwan Resort company for construction on 5.9 hectares of land at Shanyuan (杉原) beach, without regard to the fact that there were Amis living on the land — surely an important consideration even though the residents have no registered land ownership rights.
Section 21 of the Indigenous Peoples Basic Act (原住民族基本法), which came into effect on Feb. 5, 2005, states: “Any government department or private individual conducting land development, exploitation of resources, environmental protection or academic research within the bounds of Aboriginal land must consult with the Aborigines, obtain their permission and allow their participation, and the Aborigines must have a share in the benefits of the activity.”
Section 22 of the same act states: “When a government department sets up a national park, national scenic area, forestry area, ecological protection area, recreation area or other body to control and administer local resources, it should seek the agreement of local Aborigines and form joint management mechanisms with the Aborigines.”
The Taitung County Government did not just break the Indigenous Peoples Basic Act. In 2005 it helped the developer evade an environmental assessment by changing the land-use classification for a 0.9965-hectare plot for hotel construction, which started straight away.
As a result of campaigning by various groups, the Kaohsiung Administrative High Court ruled on Jan. 23 that the project was illegal and and ordered that building work should stop. However, as the term of the environmental assessment committee came to an end, the Taitung government used the occasion to appoint a new set of committee members, in violation of the established selection process.
On June 15 the new committee rushed through an assessment of the project’s environmental impact and gave it the go-ahead. It legalized the project by changing the assessment procedure even after the court had declared it illegal, and work on the secondary expansion phase of the project is already under way.
The Fanziao Bay coal wharf and the Shanyuan Bay resort BOT projects are just two examples of what is happening all over the country — from the coast to the mountains. This outdated developmentalist way of thinking keeps spreading from the central government to local authorities. How can the environment be protected when such policies and attitudes prevail?
With such a mentality, the government’s plans to “expand domestic demand” mean giving local governments and private companies free rein to develop the coast and highlands willy-nilly, even if it means trampling the environment underfoot.
Saving the stock market is one thing, but saving the environment is a more urgent task.
Ho Yen-tang is a sponsor of Raging Citizens Act Now! and a psychology lecturer at Fu Jen Catholic University.
Translated by Julian Clegg
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