A three-year project to integrate Taiwan’s climate science information has come to an end, and a new study on how the nation’s agriculture and ecology are influenced by climate change will begin soon, a government official said.
“We saw some good results [in the first project], and we expect to begin the second [project] this year,” said Lin Lee-yaw (林李耀), deputy executive secretary of the National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction.
The National Science Council launched the Taiwan Climate Change Information Platform in 2010 in partnership with local universities and research institutes, integrating information and technology from around the country, Lin said.
The project provided projection data and developed climate change models that can be referred to by policymakers in the future, he said.
Under the US$3 million project, Lin said that the impact of extreme events such as typhoons can be assessed and potential changes in rainfall can be calculated.
“Such information is valuable and can help reduce casualties,” he said.
The new plan will support further research on Taiwan’s agricultural and ecological environments, which are both vulnerable to the effects of climate change, Lin said.
He said that the mean temperature in Taiwan has risen 1.4oC over the past century, similar to other developing economies, but nearly double that of the global mean of 0.74oC.
“We should do more research to find out the reason as soon as possible and tackle the factors behind the increase,” he said.
Hsu Huang-hsiung (許晃雄), a professor at Academia Sinica’s Research Center for Environmental Changes, also expressed confidence that the project could provide substantial scientific data and research results.
The results of the project, along with the Consortium for Climate Change Study and the Taiwan Integrated Research Program on Climate Change Adaptation Technology, can be used to implement a national climate change action plan, Hsu said.
At an international forum on climate change earlier this week in Taipei, a South Korean expert said that most developing countries are vulnerable to climate change and have little capacity to adapt to it, urging these nations to take the issue more seriously.
“Adaptation is most urgent, but only a few countries have such strategies,” Kwon Young-han of the Korea Adaptation Center for Climate Change said.
Developing countries should work together, especially on primary industries and risk management, he said.
Climate change adaptation should be incorporated into national security and national resource management, and relevant business opportunities should be sought and nurtured, Kwon said in a document prepared for the conference.
South Korea’s Ministry of Environment in 2011 allocated US$4 billion to support a local government adaptation plan, Kwon said.
The impact of climate change on South Korea is estimated to cost about 2.7 trillion South Korean won (US$2.55 billion) by 2100, he said.
“There is a significant increase in the need for international cooperation on climate change adaptation,” he said.
Taiwan ranked 52nd among 61 countries in the 2013 Climate Change Performance Index, down four places from last year.
According to the index, published jointly by Germanwatch and Climate Action Network Europe, Denmark was placed highest on the list, followed by Sweden and Portugal.
However, countries were listed from fourth place downward as no country was deemed deserving of a top-three ranking.
‘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
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
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
RSS