Thu, Feb 20, 2003 page2

• Spoonbill controversy ruffles feathers

  TROUBLE Conservationists feel the government is not sincere about its backing for sustainable development and point to the deaths of the birds to prove their point

  • By Chiu Yu-Tzu / STAFF REPORTER
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  The deaths of endangered black-faced spoonbills in Chiku Lagoon, Tainan County, exposed the government's inability to handle bird epidemics.

  Although conservationists attributed this inability to Taiwan's long-term exclusion from mainstream ecological conservation networks, ecologists said the government's attitude toward conservation and environmental issues was the problem.

  For example, the partnership between the Tainan County Government and the central government was too weak to deal with the emergency, said Chao Jung-tai (趙榮台), research scientist at the Division of Forest Protection at the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute.

  Chao said that, at the very beginning, the local government refused to take the central government's advice to remove the bodies of the birds -- which can act as factories to produce botulinum toxin, further risking the survivors' lives.

  Chao said lax partnership was just one of the problems that demonstrated the insincerity of high-ranking officials' commitment to promoting sustainable development -- such as Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) signing of the Taiwan Declaration on Sustainable Development last month.

  "Taking sustainable development-related issues as tools to broaden its diplomatic space should not be a motive to promote ecological conservation or environmental protection," Chao said.

  Chao said that it was a reality that Taiwan had been politically isolated from international communities. But he added that it does not mean that Taiwan is entirely excluded from conservation circles.

  According to Chao, who has attended several conferences at the annual Convention on Biological Diversity as a Taiwanese representative, Taiwan performs actively in such networks, such as the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, which aims to make the world's biodiversity data universally available.

  In addition, Chao said, dozens of Taiwanese experts were included in specialist groups of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN).

  Ecologists said that performing outstanding research might be a more efficient way to get recognition for Taiwan.

  King Hen-biau (金恆鑣), chair of the East Asia-Pacific Regional Long-Term Ecological Research Coordinating Committee, said Taiwan's research on tropical and sub-tropical studies is now available for researchers and organizations in other countries.

  King said that for years the Center for Tropical Forest Science of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute has undertaken a series of comparative, long-term studies of tropical forest diversity and change in many countries, including Taiwan.

  The center follows research by Taiwanese ecologists working at Nanjenshan Nature Reserve in southern Taiwan, King said.

  Taiwan interests biodiversity researchers. It has about 150,000 kinds of organisms, a quarter of which are only found in Taiwan.

  "But our government doesn't understand because it doesn't have the funds to spend on long-term ecological research," King said.

  Meanwhile, foreign experts focusing on global environmental governance said that when UN systems that address global environmental issues are challenged, the world needs redesigned mechanisms to promote international cooperation among all types of "environmental entities," including Taiwan.

  According to John Byrne, director of the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy at the University of Delaware, the island remains a key ecosystem for the planet.

  "For example, it provides the nesting grounds for an endangered species, the black-faced spoonbill, which is of great importance to our world," Byrne said.

  "We must find a way to welcome efforts by human beings living on the island to exercise stewardship over this globally significant island ecosystem. Politics should not override our responsibility to ensure an ecologically diverse and sustainable future for all living things on Taiwan, and everywhere else," Byrne said.

  Journalists who focus on sustainable development issues share Byrne's opinion.

  "I certainly believe that the biodiversity of all countries ought to be preserved, whether [the countries are] members of the UN or not," Darryl D'Monte, president of International Federation of Environmental Journalists, said.

  Lorna Hahn, executive director of the Washington-based Association on Third World Affairs Inc, said a true world leader would take the lead in finding a way for international organizations concerned with the environment and health to accommodate Taiwan.

  "China wishes to be universally respected as a great civilization and a great power. It cannot earn such respect ... by pressuring other countries to isolate Taiwan, thereby depriving them of the important contributions Taiwan could make to improving the world's environment."

  Leena Srivastava, director of Regulatory Studies and Governance Division of India-based Tata Energy Research Institute, said that the "new mechanisms of global environmental governance," be it a strengthened UN Environment Program (UNEP) or increased coordination between the secretariats of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), would not include Taiwan, based on the fact that it is not party to UNEP or to MEAs.

  "However, if a `world environment organization' were to be established, its core agreement could possibly allow the participation of customs territories such as Taiwan by, for example, adopting a provision similar to Article XII of the WTO agreement," Srivastava said.
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