The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said it would be upgraded to a ministry by 2012 to deal more comprehensively with environmental protection and resources management.
The upgrade is part of government reforms that are aimed at improving administrative efficiency and using government resources more effectively, the EPA said.
Currently, matters relating to water resources, mining, geology, national parks, forest conservation, weather, soil and water conservation and ecology are managed by different ministries and agencies.
With the creation of the new ministry, the management and protection of all environmental resources in the four categories of water, soil, wood and air will come under one portfolio, the EPA said in a statement.
Director of the EPA’s Department of Overall Planning Yeh Jiunn-horng (葉俊宏) said the ministry would be staffed by 1,400 people, compared with the 984 currently at the EPA.
According to the draft proposal, the environmental ministry will comprise 13 departments, six administrations and bureaus, and three institutes in charge of environmental education and training, studies on forest and natural resources, and research on biological diversity.
The six administrations and bureaus will include the forest and natural conservation administration, which is now the Forestry Bureau under the Council of Agricultural Affairs (COA); the water resources administration, which is currently the Water Resources Agency under the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA); and an administration responsible for water and soil conservation, geology and mining affairs, which is now managed by different agencies under the COA and MOEA, the EPA said.
There will also be an administration to manage all national parks around the country; a weather bureau, which is now the Central Weather Bureau under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications; and a pollution control bureau.
The EPA’s upgrade to a ministry is part of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) environmental policy that focuses on dealing with global climate change and protection of Taiwan’s living environment, EPA Minister Stephen Shen (沈世宏) said.
In other developments, the EPA said it would continue the operation of “EPA Channel” online as part of its campaign to enhance environmental awareness among the public.
Yeh said the EPA launched the channel online in November 2008. He said the channel was viewed on average 450,000 times a day last year. In particular, environment-related movies were viewed 38,000 times a day.
Many schools have incorporated the films aired on the channel into courses related to environmental education, which will be helpful in raising awareness of the environment, he added.
Yeh said the EPA would continue to work with Chunghwa Telecom (中華電信) and broadcast 37 legally acquired films or documentaries on the telecom company’s hiChannel, an online television platform, for a year.
According to the EPA, the films displayed on the channel could be divided into three major categories. The first category is labeled “Protecting the Earth,” which includes films such as ±2°C.
The second category is “Caring about Life,” featuring documentaries on wildlife.
The third category, titled “Treasuring Resources,” will show how people around the world lead eco-friendly lifestyles by taking practical actions.
Visitors to hichannel.hinet.net/event/2010EPAchannel/index can watch the films for free.
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