In 1980, conservationists in Taiwan launched a movement to save the mangrove swamp at Zhuwei (竹圍) on the bank of the Tamsui River in Taipei County. The campaign was sparked by Taiwan Provincial Land Development Corp’s plan to drain about 60 hectares of mangrove swamp to build 8,000 units of public housing.
This project threw botanists and environmentalists into a panic. The three national TV stations took up the issue with daily reports. Many academics, myself included, wrote articles denouncing the plan. Thanks to the efforts of many people, the project was called off and the mangroves were saved.
When the Tamsui Line of Taipei’s Mass Rapid Transport system was built, Hongshulin Station was included to allow people of all ages to visit what is now a mangrove nature reserve, a rich ecosystem that provides shelter for egrets and many migratory and protected bird species. This oasis has become one of Taiwan’s top spots for environmental and ecological education and research, and a major attraction for ecotourism. How could 8,000 apartments compare to such a priceless treasure?
The wetlands on the west coast of Changhua County are much larger than Zhuwei, measuring several thousand hectares. They provide an ideal habitat for the Chinese white dolphin (Sousa chinensis), also called the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin. They are also a paradise for seafood production and are Taiwan’s main source of clams and oysters.
If, as now proposed, this wetland is developed into a heavy industrial zone, farmers and fishermen will be driven out, and Taiwanese will find it hard to get unpolluted seafood. If the proposed eighth naphtha cracker is built, it will emit pollution and cause water shortages, harming agricultural production in Yunlin and Changhua counties. Another naphtha cracker would bring benefits only to big business, not the general public.
Additionally, the cracker complex, once completed, would generate a quarter of all the nation’s carbon-dioxide emissions. How does this fit with President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) policy of cutting energy consumption and carbon dioxide output?
Wetlands have provided a habitat and livelihood for mankind since ancient times. Among all terrestrial and marine ecosystems, wetlands have the highest net primary productivity — the conversion of carbon dioxide into organic compounds — at about 9,000 kilocalories per square meter per year, more than three times the figure for farmland and forest.
Wetlands have a dozen or more useful functions. They regulate water currents, absorb and store carbon dioxide, protect the coastline, store nutrients washed down from upstream, conserve alluvial soil, filter water and remove pollutants, nurture aquatic resources, preserve a diverse gene pool and provide a protective environment for wild animals. They also enrich natural scenery, foster leisure and tourism and regulate surrounding ecosystems.
For all these reasons, wetlands are protected internationally by the 1971 Convention on Wetlands, more commonly know as the Ramsar Convention.
When wetlands are lost, so is biodiversity and aquaculture will decline and perish. Our leaders should not just mouth slogans about cutting energy consumption and carbon-dioxide emissions while giving the green light to industries that pump out greenhouse gasses.
How can the public accept such perversity? I call on policymakers to think carefully about this issue and step back from the brink. It is their duty to choose the path of sustainable development for Taiwan and all mankind.
Chou Chang-hung is an academician at Academia Sinica.
TRANSLATED BY JULIAN CLEGG
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