Greenpeace yesterday urged the Ministry of Environment to include children and teenagers in climate adaptation programs, and invest more funding to protect them against heat injuries during outdoor activities.
Wu Chi (吳際), a sixth-grade student of Ci-Xin Waldorf Elementary School in Yilan County’s Dongshan Township (冬山), yesterday presented an open letter to the ministry’s Climate Change Administration Director-General Tsai Ling-yi (蔡玲儀) to call for attention to the impact of climate change on future generations.
He has been a volunteer for cigarette butt and second-hand clothes recycling at the Society of Wilderness for three years.
Photo: Huang Yi-ching, Taipei Times
“I hope the government would be aware of the right of the child to be heard and let children have a say at the Presidential Office’s National Climate Change Committee, because the consequences of climate change are to be borne by our generation,” Wu said.
Citing a research report titled The “Heatwaived” Childhood, Greenpeace East Asia climate and energy director Hsin Yi (忻儀) said none of the total budget of more than NT$400 billion (US$12.7 billion) under the National Climate Change Adaptation Action Plan was allocated for promoting heat adaptation in adolescents.
The research was conducted by Greenpeace East Asia along with Yang Hsin-ju (楊馨茹), deputy director of the Sustainable Environment and Technology Application Research Center at Tainan University of Technology.
It collected data on health risk indicators like ultra-violet index, wet-bulb globe temperatures, and surface temperatures of paving and playground equipment at a total of 16 parks across eight administrative areas — Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Hsinchu county and city — between 9am and 5pm from June to August.
Yang said the 16 parks were all newly built, but their shade facilities were insufficient, with significantly high ultraviolet levels identified at New Taipei Metropolitan Park (新北大都會公園) and Kaohsiung’s Luyuandao Park (綠園道公園).
Nine of the 16 parks exposed playing children to the risk of heat injuries all day long, which is defined as existing when the wet-bulb globe temperature is above 29°C, she said.
Surface temperatures of paving and playground equipment at the 16 parks were measured using infrared cameras and were all found to exceed 48°C at their highest, Yang said.
For example, rubber floor mats at Taipei’s Daan Forest Park (大安森林公園) became as hot as 74.1°C, while synthetic turf at Tainan’s Renan Park (人安公園) went up to 81.6°C, she said.
That means children could receive burn injuries if they play while exposed to such high temperatures, Yang said.
Temperatures collected by existing regional weather stations are not enough to anticipate heat-related risks, as they were far lower than the actual data measured at the parks, she said.
Therefore, the government should set up microclimate monitoring stations at parks to inform children of when it is suitable to play, as well as enhance urban disaster prevention, she added.
Taiwan Statebuilding Party Secretary-General Wu Hsin-tai (吳欣岱), who is also a cardiac surgeon, said children’s body temperatures rise faster than adults in hot weather.
Children can be left with long-term health problems after being exposed to heat, as they are more vulnerable than adults in terms of body heat regulation and cardiorespiratory endurance, she said.
In response, Tsai said Taiwan is dedicated to carbon reduction alongside global partners and would step up interagency cooperation to minimize the impact of climate change on younger generations.
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Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) on Monday announced light shows and themed traffic lights to welcome fans of South Korean pop group Twice to the port city. The group is to play Kaohsiung on Saturday as part of its “This Is For” world tour. It would be the group’s first performance in Taiwan since its debut 10 years ago. The all-female group consists of five South Koreans, three Japanese and Tainan’s Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜), the first Taiwan-born and raised member of a South Korean girl group. To promote the group’s arrival, the city has been holding a series of events, including a pop-up
TEMPORAL/SPIRITUAL: Beijing’s claim that the next Buddhist leader must come from China is a heavy-handed political maneuver that will fall flat-faced, experts said China’s requirement that the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation to be born in China and approved by Beijing has drawn criticism, with experts at a forum in Taipei yesterday saying that if Beijing were to put forth its own Dalai Lama, the person would not be recognized by the Tibetan Buddhist community. The experts made a remarks at the two-day forum hosted by the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama titled: “The Snow Land Forum: Finding Common Ground on Tibet.” China says it has the right to determine the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation, as it claims sovereignty over Tibet since ancient times,
Temperatures in some parts of Taiwan are expected to fall sharply to lows of 15°C later this week as seasonal northeasterly winds strengthen, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. It is to be the strongest cold wave to affect northern Taiwan this autumn, while Chiayi County in the southwest and some parts of central Taiwan are likely to also see lower temperatures due to radiational cooling, which occurs under conditions of clear skies, light winds and dry weather, the CWA said. Across Taiwan, temperatures are to fall gradually this week, dropping to 15°C to 16°C in the early hours of Wednesday
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