杜文苓

「我常覺得在我們這裡看日落不輸夏威夷，大家要跑到夏威夷看日落美景，卻不知道這麼美的地方就在我們身邊，我常常在這看落日，心內充滿歡喜平靜。」「再多的錢也買不到這樣水的環境、這清潔的空氣、好的水，以及這無浪開闊的海仔…」

Chiku Lagoon Wetlands -- The Last Chance for Black-Faced Spoonbill

The Issue...

  The Black-faced Spoonbill is one of the rarest birds in the world. According to the latest January 1999 global black-faced spoonbill census, only 587 black-faced spoonbills remain in the world, among which 363 (62% of world population) were recorded wintering around the Chiku lagoon, located north of Tengwen River Estuary in Tainan. These wintering grounds offer broad and interconnected natural wetlands, generations-old aquaculture ponds, and mangrove forests. Were it not for this habitat the black-faced spoonbill would probably already be extinct. In addition to black-faced spoonbills, these wintering grounds regularly support over 100,000 waterfowl of more than 150 species, making this one of the richest ecological areas remaining in Taiwan.

And here comes the problem. The Bin-nan Industrial Complex, consists of Petrochemical Complex Number 7 and a steel mill, is proposed for a 2000 -hectare site in the north end of the Chiku lagoon.

The Bin-nan project's developers and supporters claim the following benefits:

• Community revitalization. Chiku is a typical country town facing poverty, serious population decrease and aging. Owing to the lack of local industry, the town has few attractivity to young people. Bin-nan project is going to bring more than 30,000 jobs, and revitalize local community.
• National economic development. Petrochemical Complex Number 7 is an important investment approved by the Ministry of Economic and the amount of investment was equal to the budget of Tainan county for 20 years. The huge investment and its stimulation to associated industries will push the economic development of Tainan county as well as Taiwan as a whole.
• Holding domestic enterprises. Taiwan is losing its competitive advantage in the international market as many investiments of heavy industries are forced to move to other countries. Accelerating the modernization of traditional industries should be stressed as well as developing the capital and technical industries. The Bin-nan project offers a great chance for major domestic enterprises to "root in Taiwan."
• Scientific solution to environmental problems. The Bin-Nan project will be strictly examined for its environmental responsibility. If the developers invest enough in treatment facility, the pollution problems will be solved by modern science.

However, international and local environmentalists strongly oppose the project due to its potential impacts on:

• Black-faced Spoonbill. Housing and new roads required to service the industrial complex would divide the remaining wetlands into unproductive remnants that would no longer function as an estuarine ecosystem. It is estimated that the Bin-nan complex in its size and future associated growth will remove more than 4,500 hectares of habitat critical to the survival of the spoonbill. This loss of foraging area will lead to extinction of the species.
• Water demand. Based on MOEA's optimistic projection, the water demand of the Bin-nan Industrial Complex will result in a regional demand exceeding the estimated available supply by year 2011. This will result in a major crisis of regional water shortage, thus requiring building of costly dams and water diversion projects. The water diversions would reduce groundwater recharge vital to southern Taiwan cities and agriculture. Aboriginal people would lose sacred land and the waters of the proposed Machia Dam would flood two of their traditional villages.
• CO2 emissions. The CO2 emission from the Bin-nan Industrial Complex will account for 32% (16.1 million tons a year) of the estimated total increase in Taiwan from year 2000 to 2010. This will make the goal of stabilizing Taiwan's CO2 emission at year 2000 level by 2020, based on the conclusion of the National Energy Conference in May 1998, extremely costly and virtually impossible.
• Air pollution. Air pollution caused by the petrochemical refinery would affect crops in the entire coastal Tainan County region, one of the few remaining agricultural regions in the country.
• Local economy. The local fishery currently employs 16,000 people and generates annual revenues of $3.2 billion NT ($122 million US). These jobs are the lifeblood of small towns and villages in Chiku, Chiang-Chun, and Pei-men townships. The Bin-nan plant would also endanger the country's bid for high tech development. Advanced technology industries are reluctant to locate in the area, citing concerns about the lack of water in the region and the stigma of a "cancer alley" reputation were the proposed petrochemical development to occur.

Bin-nan project's developers are waiting for government approval of its environmental impact assessment, which is expected by the end of the year.

More Information...

By Jeffrey Hou

Abstract

In recent years, the rapid economic growth and urbanization in Taiwan have pushed its ever expanding development activities to a new frontier -- the coastal region. In the absence of comprehensive planning and corresponding institutional and regulatory framework, numerous recreational facilities, industrial zones, aquacultural ponds as well as municipal waste dump now crowd the 1,239 km long coast line, along with traditional fishing harbors and remnants of natural lagoons, barrier islands, and tidal flats. The current sporadic pattern of development causes serious environmental concerns. In June 1997, the proposed 'Coastal Management Act' was passed by the Executive Branch and is now finally under review in the National Legislature. The purpose of this paper is to provide a timely overview of the environmental, institutional and regulatory problems facing the coastal region of Taiwan today and to assess the adequacy of the proposed Coastal Management Act. After examining the existing environmental, institutional and regulatory problems and the underlying political and economic forces that are shaping the pattern of development, the study reaches the conclusion that the public sector has been the most important agent of development in the coastal area and that, given the continued dominance of political and development interests in the administration as well as at the local level, the proposed institutional and regulatory framework will be ineffective in significantly improving the practice of conservation and protection of the coastal area. The proposed Coast Management Act is inadequate in addressing and resolving the many serious and complex problems facing the coastal area of Taiwan today.