The number of illegal logging cases last year dropped to an eight-year low, but forested areas in the central and eastern parts of Taiwan proper are still frequented by unlicensed loggers, or “mountain rats,” the Forestry Bureau said yesterday.
The cases dropped from 370 in 2011 to 157 last year, which could be attributed to the bureau’s increasing cooperation with judicial and law-enforcement agencies since 2010, as well as amendments passed in 2015 to the Forestry Act (森林法), which increased penalties for illegal loggers, it said.
Data on areas frequented by illegal loggers and their top targets were released ahead of the International Day of Forests today, when the bureau is to hold its annual ceremony recognizing outstanding forest rangers.
Photo courtesy of the Hsinchu County Police Bureau’s Hengshan Precinct
Documentation about precious trees used to be classified as confidential information, but the bureau opened it to the public so that more people can help protect national forests, which cover about 1.62 million hectares, it said.
From 2011 to last year, 65 percent of the illegal logging cases involved theft of tree stumps left by logging activities from the Japanese colonial era until the 1980s, with Taiwan red cypress, Taiwan yellow cedar and Taiwan incense cedar the most frequent targets because of their special texture and aroma, the bureau said.
Stumps are easier to cut and transport, which makes them more attractive to illegal loggers, who often operate near the Beiyi Highway in Yilan County and the Northern Cross-Island Highway connecting Yilan and Taoyuan, as well as mountainous areas of Miaoli, Hsinchu, Nantou and Chiayi counties, including the Alishan area, it said.
Cutting standing trees accounted for just 12 percent of the cases, with stout camphor trees and Formosan China firs being the main targets, while other cases involved precious forest by-products (11 percent), precious driftwood (9 percent) and excavation of special garden tree species (3 percent), it said.
There are always “bigger rats” behind the mountain rats, who collect and sell the timber, the bureau said, urging people to reject wood products from unknown sources to help stop illegal logging.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
Taiwan Railways Corp (TRC) today announced that Shin Kong Mitsukoshi has been selected as the preferred bidder to operate the Taipei Railway Station shopping mall, replacing the current operator, Breeze Development Co Ltd. Among eight qualified firms that delivered presentations and were evaluated by a review committee, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi was ranked first, while Breeze was named the runner-up, the rail company said in a statement. Contract negotiations are to proceed in accordance with regulations, it said, adding that if negotiations with the top bidder fail, it could invite the second-ranked applicant to enter talks. Breeze in a statement today expressed doubts over
RSS