Four environmental specialists who participated in the 10th Asia-Pacific NGO Environmental Conference in Taipei visited the historical Alangyi Trail (阿朗壹古道) yesterday and met Pingtung County Commissioner Tsao Chi-hung (曹啟鴻) to share ideas on protecting the trail.
The tour followed on the international NGO conference hosted by the Society of Wilderness which ended on Monday.
The Alangyi Trail, a 12km hiking trail along the Pacific coastline between Taitung County’s Nantian Village (南田) and Pingtung County’s Syuhai Village (旭海), is being threatened by the planned construction of Provincial Highway No. 26. A section of the planned highway would run alongside the trail.
Photo: Tsai Tsung-hsien, Taipei Times
The group of specialists started walking at Nantian and headed south on the pristine trail, passing through the mouth of a stream and walking along the shore covered with round rocks and driftwood, while environmental tour guides from local NGOs explained the ecological features.
Holding a live tree crab in his hands, a tour guide said more than 1,000 crabs per night would cross the trail during breeding season.
After a walk of about 2km along the trail, the group met Tsao at the Pingtung County Hall to share their experiences.
Chairperson of the Asia-Pacific Environmental Council and professor at Tokyo Keizai University, Yayoi Isono, said she loved walking along the ancient trial. She added that it was a beautiful place with many natural resources and hoped the government would protect the area.
A reserve manager at the World Wide Fund for Nature in Hong Kong, Bena Smith, said rather than always opposing construction, NGOs should provide alternatives and reach compromises with developers or the government.
Pierre Fidenci, founder and president of Endangered Species International, said the matter reminded him of a case in southern France, where activists spent a few years stopping the construction of a highway.
He said tourism was very important in France and that the people and government had gradually learned that “tourism is not only about convenient transportation, but also preserving the beautiful landscape the way it is” and “making it unique can also increase the number of tourists over the years.”
Stuart Rosewarne, of the department of political economy at the University of Sydney, emphasized that the importance of developing eco-tourism is not to over-develop areas, but to educate tourists to be environmentally aware.
Tsao said the nature reserve’s resources and landscape are precious assets, but the government faces heavy pressure from local residents to build the highway. This is because they were taught that transportation is the most important aspect of tourism and improving their lives, and do not fully understand the benefits of keeping the area pristine.
“When we want to protect a natural attraction [in Japan], it is also hard to have dialogue with the local people, because some of them want economic development or convenient transportation,” Isono said.
“If that is the case, how to promote dialogue between the government, NGOs and local people should be considered when making plans [for development].”
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by