Taiwan must adopt diverse and extraordinary measures to promote water conservation, including a water price hike, Water Resources Agency Director Hwang Jing-san (黃金山) said yesterday in Kyoto.
Taiwan's delegation to the Third World Water Forum will return to Taiwan today.
Before wrapping up five days of participation in the forum, Hwang said that a shortage of water resources remains a threat to Taiwan for the near future.
"We Taiwanese have indulged in wasting water that we pay extremely low prices to obtain," Hwang said.
According to Hwang, water prices in Japan are about three to four times those of water prices in Taiwan.
"If water prices reflected the real value of the water, users would not waste it," Hwang said.
The real cost of water should include the costs of ecological conservation, reducing the rate of water loss and other maintenance, Hwang said.
After paying a visit to Lake Biwa -- the largest lake in Japan and one of its most important fresh water resources -- in Shiga prefecture, Hwang said that Taiwan has the same ability to maintain and protect its water resources as Japan does.
"If our water resource management system could be less politicized, solving water-related issues would be easier," Hwang said.
DPP lawmaker Eugene Jao (趙永清), who observed the forum in Japan, said that Taiwan's involvement in the forum lays particular stress on the technological side of conservation.
"We should also have paid attention to social issues, such as capacity building," Jao said.
Capacity building refers to the sum of efforts to enhance and utilize people's skills and capabilities as well as institutions at the local, national and global levels, in an attempt to sustain development of water resources.
Jao said that promoting the innovation of technology in order to achieve goals such as water conservation, waste water recycling, rainwater harvesting remained essential to solving water shortage related problems.
Jao said that he would urge the Sustainable Development Committee (永續會) of the Legislative Yuan to discuss water issues, including establishing reasonable water prices and improving the effectiveness of water resources management.
Although Taiwan's delegation will not be able to join the Ministerial Conference on all occasions when the forum meets, Hwang said, the WRA would still keep the nation well informed with updated views shared by forum members worldwide.
Meeting under the shadow of the war in Iraq, the forum's members called for international cooperation in maintaining the limited water resources on the planet.
Dr. Mohmoud Abu-Zeid, the President of the World Water Council (WWC) warned of the negative impact being made by the war on the region's water resources, water-distribution systems and sanitation systems.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as