Environmental groups marked Earth Day yesterday by issuing four appeals — stop land expropriation; pursue energy transition with caution; set a reasonable price for water; and regulate the treatment of waste.
Environmental groups have put forward a record high 56 proposals this year, which reflects the desperate need for the government to tackle environmental issues, Taiwan Citizen Participation Association director-general Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗勳) told a news conference in Taipei.
Plastic and climate change are among the most relevant environmental issues for this generation, Taiwan Environmental Information Association deputy secretary-general Sun Hsiu-ju (孫秀如) said.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
Last month, the UN Environment Programme passed a resolution calling for a global plastic pollution treaty by 2024 to restrict the production of plastics, she said, adding that the association advocates gradually reducing plastic waste from 2025.
Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association chairman Chen Hsien-cheng (陳憲政) said that the alternative energy Taiwan plans to use to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050 is natural gas, which is also an emitter of carbon.
Pursuing energy transition in haste by constructing many liquefied natural gas terminals would also compromise the marine environment, he said.
Taiwan Environmental Protection Union president Liu Jyh-jian (劉志堅) said that the Executive Yuan should be the competent authority for a proposed climate change response act if it is to be effective.
As for the proposed carbon pricing scheme, the fee should be set and collected within a year of the act being approved, he said.
The government should reduce carbon emissions and establish clear goals to cut emissions to less than 10 percent by 2025, he added.
Liu also proposed that the government introduce a system to identify natural carbon sinks as soon as possible.
Taiwan Water Resources Protection Union director Jennifer Nien (粘麗玉) urged the government to protect water resources, monitor groundwater usage by industry and impose water conservation fees.
Shezidao Self-help Society spokesperson Li Hua-ping (李華萍) demanded that the government stop rezoning and land expropriation.
The government is forcing residents to take part in development projects under the pretense of cooperation, giving them no choice but to accept compensation and resettlement, which is a serious breach of property rights, right to life, right to housing and human dignity, Li said.
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
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