Environmentalists on Wednesday called on the government to integrate marine survey data to establish a government database to reduce the environmental impact of offshore development projects.
The government in 2019 encouraged people to explore the sea and promulgated the Oceans Basic Act (海洋基本法), aiming to make the nation “a high-quality marine country that is ecological, safe and prosperous.”
However, the nation’s surrounding marine environment is endangered by the development of many tourism, fisheries and offshore wind farm projects, the Chinese-language online media Environmental Information Center quoted Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association secretary-general Kuo Hung-yi (郭鴻儀) as saying on Wednesday.
The Ministry of Science and Technology has an Ocean Data Bank, which holds data contributed by researchers from different universities, but the Ocean Affairs Council (OAC) has yet to establish its own database.
The OAC last year proposed a long-term project on surveying marine environment and ecology, but the project was rejected by the National Development Council (NDC), Kuo said.
A comprehensive ecological survey is needed before any offshore development starts, he said, calling on the government to establish a marine database soon.
The sustainable use of marine resources is predicated on a continued application of scientific data on a long-term basis, the center quoted Pei Jai-chyi (裴家騏), a professor at the Institute of Wildlife Conservation at National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, as saying.
However, most of the nation’s existing ocean surveys were the results of short-term and small-scale projects, which are unable to reflect the changes in animal populations over a longer period, he said.
The government should continue to support science-based surveys of the nation’s marine environment to have a better understanding of the number and distribution of marine animals, and adjust its policy accordingly, Pei said.
It should announce guidelines for energy developers to survey marine ecology, so as to improve the quality of data provided by developers during environmental impact assessment processes and to protect Taiwanese humpback dolphins living off the nation’s west coast, National Taiwan University associate professor of veterinary medicine Yang Wei-cheng (楊瑋誠) was quoted as saying.
The NDC has budgeted more than NT$2.63 billion (US$94.5 million) for the “Salute to the seas — ocean cleanup and opening program,” association researcher Kuo Chia-wen (郭佳雯) was quoted as saying, but only NT$100 million — NT$10 million less than last year — was allocated to the OAC’s National Academy of Marine Research to conduct marine surveys.
The OAC needs to improve its efforts in marine research and conservation, and maritime law enforcement, the center quoted Taiwan Environmental Information Association secretary-general Chen Juei-pin (陳瑞賓) as saying.
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit
Taiwan’s passport ranked 34th in the world, with access to 141 visa-free destinations, according to the latest update to the Henley Passport Index released today. The index put together by Henley & Partners ranks 199 passports globally based on the number of destinations holders can access without a visa out of 227, and is updated monthly. The 141 visa-free destinations for Taiwanese passport holders are a slight decrease from last year, when holders had access to 145 destinations. Botswana and Columbia are among the countries that have recently ended visa-free status for Taiwanese after “bowing to pressure from the Chinese government,” the Ministry
‘SIGN OF DANGER’: Beijing has never directly named Taiwanese leaders before, so China is saying that its actions are aimed at the DPP, a foundation official said National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) yesterday accused Beijing of spreading propaganda, saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had singled out President William Lai (賴清德) in his meeting with US President Joe Biden when talking about those whose “true nature” seek Taiwanese independence. The Biden-Xi meeting took place on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru on Saturday. “If the US cares about maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait, it is crucial that it sees clearly the true nature of Lai and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in seeking Taiwanese independence, handles the Taiwan question with extra
HEALTHCARE: Following a 2022 Constitutional Court ruling, Taiwanese traveling overseas for six months would no longer be able to suspend their insurance Measures allowing people to suspend National Health Insurance (NHI) services if they plan to leave the country for six months would be abolished starting Dec. 23, NHIA Director-General Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said yesterday. The decision followed the Constitutional Court’s ruling in 2022 that the regulation was unconstitutional and that it would invalidate the regulation automatically unless the NHIA amended it to conform with the Constitution. The agency would amend the regulations to remove the articles and sections that allow the suspension of NHI services, and also introduce provisional clauses for those who suspended their NHI services before Dec. 23, Shih said. According to
RSS