A black-faced spoonbill with its foot cut off flies among a group of other birds in the file photo at right from the Chiku Lagoon in Tainan County.
The photo at right shows what environmentalists call devastation to the habitat and health of black-faced spoonbills, which are now under further threat from the planned Pinnan Industrial Complex (
The photo was released by environmentalists yesterday at the same time the cabinet-level Research, Development, and Evaluation Commission announced the initiation of "Taiwan in a Nut Shell: A Cyber Exhibit," one of a series of 33 exhibits organized by the government to celebrate its environmental protection efforts at the turn of the new millennium.
PHOTO COURTESY OF WANG HUI-CHI
Information is available at http://www.vision2000.org.tw/english/act-01/index.htm.
The exhibit will contain the following sections: Black-faced Spoonbills, People of the Sea, Faces of Urban Life, Taiwan Fine Products, The Energy of Life, Government Publications and Government Initiatives and Results.
Environmentalists yesterday noted the irony of the recent passage of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the controversial Pinnan Industrial Complex project, which they said could destroy the endangered birds' wintering sites at the lagoons, coinciding with the launch of the government's Web site lauding its work to protect the bird.
The Pinnan industrial site has drawn fire from conservation groups, who have said the complex's EIA was hastily approved by a handpicked group of nine members from the Environmental Protection Administration's (環1珓O護署) 29-person EIA review committee.
Environmental protection groups have also pointed to a host of dangers and uncertainties surrounding the development project.
The groups have pointed out that the daily water demand of the industrial complex has been estimated at 190,000 tons, whereas previous estimates of water supplies in the area, have indicated only 80,000 tons per day would be available.
Furthermore, the site is projected to release over 20.7 million tons of carbon dioxide. The amount pushes Taiwan's aggregate carbon dioxide emissions well above standards established by the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, which Taiwan seeks to observe.
The approved EIA also lacks specific details of lands and other resources set aside by the groups involved in the development to protect the wintering grounds of the black-faced spoonbills.
Su Huan-chih (
"The passage of the EIA was to please certain money cliques and KMT local factions," Su said.
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