New Taipei City is to begin a conservation project that entails planting 40,000 trees per year, artificially restoring 500 corals, and continuing to foster and conserve select marine species to ensure sustainable maritime development.
The project is seeking to raise the city’s forest coverage to 76 percent, while the coral restoration efforts would hopefully lead to more maritime diversity and help the city reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said on Wednesday.
The New Taipei City Government said it is planning to artificially restore 500 corals off Gongliao District (貢寮) and step up efforts to conserve maritime species such as the oval squid, the variously colored abalone and the pharaoh cuttlefish.
Photo courtesy of the New Taipei City Agriculture Bureau
Departing from the top-down method previously employed when pursuing sustainability projects, the New Taipei City Agriculture Bureau would assist local efforts and let them take the lead, bureau director Lee Wen (李玟) said.
The city government hopes to provide young farmers and fishers with platforms to present their products, and encourage young people to return to their home towns and foster local sustainable development, he said.
The bureau is also working with other government agencies to transform parks throughout the city into sustainable attractions for residents of all ages, he said.
In other news, Jacana Ecological Education Park director Lee Wen-chen (李文珍) said she has received reports of people using drones to harass jacanas in the Tainan park.
The park is a national wetlands conservatory and its airspace has been declared off-limits for drones, she said.
There have been four drone incidents between the middle of last month and Wednesday, Lee Wen-chen said.
People who fly drones in contravention of the Civil Aviation Act (民用航空法) face fines of NT$300,000 to NT$1.5 million (US$10,543 to US$52,713) and might have their drones impounded, she said.
Additional reporting by Yang Chin-cheng
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