President Chen Shui-bian (
In a speech at a ceremony to introduce the Arbor Month campaign, Chen said his administration's infrastructure construction and reform programs in various fields are like "planting saplings to sustain Taiwan's development."
"We hope construction and reform will continue and bring prosperity and good fortune to our people, just as saplings grow strong and blossom," Chen said.
PHOTO: CNA
Noting that trees can symbolize the continuity of hope and the spirit of perseverance, Chen said his administration has spared no effort to boost afforestation and ecological conservation.
"We have been determined to raise the amount of land in Taiwan covered by forest to 60 percent of the island's total land area by 2008," Chen said.
To realize the goal, Chen said, the government last year designated the period from Feb. 4 to March 12 as Taiwan's Arbor Month. This year's campaign plans to establish more than 1.3 million plants and seedlings on some 600 hectares of community parkland and school campuses around the nation.
Many senior officials, including Presidential Office Deputy Secretary-General Chen Che-nan (
They planted saplings at the Hsinta Fishing Port, which has been transformed from a sleepy deep-sea fishing base into one of the largest recreational fishing ports in Southeast Asia. The tree-planting activity also attracted thousands of residents of southern Taiwan to participate.
Tai said that the Council of Agriculture and the nation's eight forest administration bureaus will jointly organize 27 large-scale tree-planting activities in various parts of the island over the course of Arbor Month.
The government designated the day of national founding father Dr Sun Yat-sen's passing as Arbor Day four years after his death in 1925. Today, trees are planted each March 12 in remembrance of Sun's encouragement of afforestation and his contribution to the nation.
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