Taking pride in eco-diversity
In a recent Taipei Times article, artist Jane Ingram Allen made a noteworthy comment about how people living near the Chenglong Wetlands have changed their attitude toward the protection of the area: “When I first came here, [the villagers] saw the wetlands only as a bad thing … but now it is very popular … and people come to watch them. They are feeling more pride in their own place.” (“Art on the marsh,” May 4, page 12).
Only recently have conservationists around the world realized that a sense of pride may be an underused tool in preserving endangered species and ecosystems.
For a long time, conservationists focused on two other arguments to convince people to protect irreplaceable species and ecosystems: intrinsic and monetary values.
Intrinsic values emphasize that plants and animals enrich our lives by providing educational, intellectual and recreational opportunities, aesthetic and spiritual enjoyment and a sense of identity.
A healthy environment is thus fundamental to a good life. Conservation and sustainable biodiversity thus becomes an ethical issue of moral conduct toward other life forms and in relation to fellow human beings and cultures.
On the other hand, monetary values were summarized under the clunky term of “ecosystem services,” but despite that ecosystems provide more wealth for free than the entire human economy produces (“The value of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital,” Nature, Vol. 387, pages 253-260), not much progress has been made in convincing either local people or decisionmakers that conservation is a worthwhile exercise.
Enter pride. In many localities around the world, conservationists have been teaching people that their local wildlife species are unique and exist nowhere else — a fact which often came as a total surprise to people.
Awareness through education has led people to take pride in what had suddenly become something special.
Taiwanese conservationists are also increasingly using education and pride to rescue species from possible extinction. After the sad news that the clouded leopard is almost certainly extinct in Taiwan (“Formosan leopard extinct: zoologists,” May 1, page 4), the same team of conservationists are now focusing on saving a much smaller leopard cat from a similar fate.
Part of this effort is to make the leopard cat a mascot for Miaoli County. By adopting the leopard cat as a mascot, local knowledge and pride are improved, and eventually some money may be generated via eco-tourism.
Too much of Taiwan already looks like any other urban or rural development in the world: faceless concrete buildings and highways, global chains like McDonald’s and Starbucks, monotonous and lifeless plantations. It is high time that we take pride in what makes Taiwan unique — that which is irreplaceable.
Just like Longshan Temple and the Palace Museum protect the unique cultural heritage of Taiwan, protecting the white dolphin, blue magpie or leopard cat should not be seen as an impediment to ultimately self-destructive economic growth, but as a proud symbol of protecting what makes this nation unique and beautiful.
Flora Faun
Taipei
I have heard people equate the government’s stance on resisting forced unification with China or the conditional reinstatement of the military court system with the rise of the Nazis before World War II. The comparison is absurd. There is no meaningful parallel between the government and Nazi Germany, nor does such a mindset exist within the general public in Taiwan. It is important to remember that the German public bore some responsibility for the horrors of the Holocaust. Post-World War II Germany’s transitional justice efforts were rooted in a national reckoning and introspection. Many Jews were sent to concentration camps not
Deflation in China is persisting, raising growing concerns domestically and internationally. Beijing’s stimulus policies introduced in September last year have largely been short-lived in financial markets and negligible in the real economy. Recent data showing disproportionately low bank loan growth relative to the expansion of the money supply suggest the limited effectiveness of the measures. Many have urged the government to take more decisive action, particularly through fiscal expansion, to avoid a deep deflationary spiral akin to Japan’s experience in the early 1990s. While Beijing’s policy choices remain uncertain, questions abound about the possible endgame for the Chinese economy if no decisive
China poses a dire threat to Taiwan’s semiconductor industry as it steps up efforts to poach Taiwan’s top chip talent, following the US’ implementation of stringent chip restrictions. Beijing is keen to develop its own semiconductor technologies, leveraging skilled engineers from Taiwan, Europe and other countries to circumvent US restrictions on providing China access to advanced US chips, particularly those used in artificial intelligence applications, as well as other chip technologies and manufacturing equipment. Taiwan has always contended with talent competition from China, but the situation is worsening. The Hsinchu District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday said that China’s ARK Semi and
Actress Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊) on March 13 posted an Instagram caption after the opening of Tiffany’s Taipei flagship store two days earlier that read: “Thank you Tiffany for inviting us to Taipei China.” We know that Yeoh knows Taipei is in Taiwan, not China, because the caption was posted following comments she made — in English — in which she said: “Thank you to Tiffany for bringing me to Taipei, because I do love this country very much.” Her remarks and the subsequent Instagram caption were reported in Taiwan, in Chinese and English- language media such as Radio Free Asia, and overseas,
RSS