Executive Yuan Deputy Secretary-General Chien Tai-lang today led the national land protection task force and several government agencies to examine land and environmental issues at various sites in southern Taiwan.
The group first visited Kaohsiung's Daliao District to survey the Kaoping River, where some 30 houses had occupied the embankment area illegally. More than 20 units have been dismantled by the Water Resources Agency (WRA) so far, with the remaining 10 or so expected to be removed by September 2014.
Secretary-General Chien said putting up buildings on the slopes of river embankments is not only harmful to the river but also endangers the safety of residents and may be considered destruction of national land. Such behavior is appalling and the government has determined to take full action against all violators. He instructed the WRA to press forward vigorously with the dismantling plans.
The team then headed to Pingtung County's Gaoshu Township to check on work by local authorities to refill open holes left in the ground by illegal gravel miners. Chien said authorities should add satellite and aerial imaging technology to strengthen their operations against illegal mining. He directed the Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Finance, Council of Agriculture, Bureau of Mines and WRA to form a task force to expedite repair work and study other possible uses of the holes.
Next, the group visited Tainan City to see clean-up efforts for the massive amounts of driftwood that washed up after the 2009 Typhoon Morakot. In Yujing District, the Presbyterian-based Galilee Mission Center salvaged 750 metric tons of the wood to build an ark-shaped church, which will also serve as a halfway home and a shelter during disasters. Chien said the church was an excellent demonstration of the many uses of driftwood.
Wood debris is not a man-made problem but the result of natural disaster, said Chien. As the global climate continues to change, Taiwan will not be immune from further catastrophes. He reminded officials to take a good look at the lesson learned from Typhoon Morakot and step up disaster-prevention and rehabilitation programs.
Last stop on the excursion was Kaohsiung City's Jiading District to examine coastal improvement and ecological restoration projects for the Er-ren River. In earlier years, the river suffered heavy pollution from nearby scrap metal factories, but since the Environmental Protection Administration and local authorities launched operations in 2001 to shut down the metal refineries, pollution has been reduced from 100 percent of the river's length in 2003 to 33.6 percent in the first 10 months of 2013.
Although Er-ren was once among the most polluted rivers in Taiwan, remediation efforts have resulted in significant improvements to the water quality and riverside environment. It should serve as an example for cleaning up other rivers, said the secretary-general.
These days, the Er-ren River area is home to some diverse ecological systems. More young eels are appearing in the river's estuary, fiddler crabs and mudskippers crawl often from marshland holes, and white egrets perch atop mangrove trees. Chien is pleased that central and local authorities are teaming up with civic organizations to blend the local culture and ecology into the landscape and give new life to the river.