Being the change we want to see in the world: Robin Winkler Interview

Today's Taipei Times carries an interview with Robin Winkler, founding director of Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association. Robin has been a long-serving Taiwan-based environmentalist and Wild is secretariat for the Matsu's Fish Conservation Union and a member of the Taiwan National Coalition Against the Hushan Dam.

Click Being the change we want to see in the world to read the interview.

Critically Endangered - It's Official !

Yes, it's official! The Eastern Taiwan Strait population of humpback dolphin has been officially classified as Critically Endangered (CR) on the Cetacean update of the 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has recognised the overwhelming threat to these animals and have classified them as Critically Endangered, the highest category of threat-level on the Red List for wild animals before becoming extinct.

What this means is that unless drastic steps are taken to protect this species, they will go extinct. The reduced flow of freshwater into the humpback dolphins estuarine habitat resulting from the Hushan Dam Project is seen as a major threat to these unique dolphins.

The IUCN refers to the Taiwan humpback dolphins as the Eastern Taiwan Strait humpback dolphin Sousa chinensis and classifies them as a sub-population.

There can be no doubt now over the threat these dolphins face and the need for something drastic to be done to save these unique animals and pull them back from the brink of extinction. The time has come for the Taiwan government to stop dodging the issue of meaningfully protecting these dolphins and to do something concrete to save them. The writing is on the wall now and any failure of the authorities to act will be nothing short of signing the death warrant of this unique population of Taiwanese dolphin.

Our appreciation to the Cetacean Specialist Group of the IUCN Species Survival Commission for their work in this and our thanks to all at the MFCU and our supporters who have helped bring this about both here in Taiwan and abroad. We eagerly await the government's response to this and trust that they will make a genuine meaningful effort in saving these unique and rare citizens of Taiwan.


Also see:
Press Release: Taiwan’s unique population of Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins is on the brink of extinction

Matsu’s Fish seizes “Critically Endangered” title, winning international glory for Taiwan

Summer Dolphin Observation & Surveys - volunteers needed

Photo courtesy of Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association.


August marks the beginning of this summer's sea-based humpback dolphin surveys. Within days, MFCU partner, FormosaCetus Research and Conservation Group, will start this season's sea-based surveys. Other members of MFCU will be conducting land-based surveys and observation in support of the sea-based effort. Volunteers are needed to help with conducting land-based surveys and observation on the central-west coast. If you are interested in volunteering (previous experience isn't a prerequisite as training will be given) for land-based surveys and observation please contact us at: "keephushanwild@gmail.com"


Photo courtesy of FormosaCetus Research & Conservation Group.


Photo courtesy of Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association.

River Dust

A dusty floodplain in the Jhoushui River - Chingshui River confluence area


The problem of river dust has been an ongoing problem in Taiwan. The floodplains of the Jhoushui and Chingshui Rivers in western Taiwan have been particularly bad. Taiwan's rivers are by nature short with a very steep gradient. The westerly-flowing rivers, with their source in the central mountains, with many peaks higher than 3000m, descend rapidly onto the western coastal plain. During typhoons these rivers carry great volumes of water and thus are characterised by a very wide lowland floodplain. This, to a point, naturally creates river dust during the November to December and February to March dry seasons.

In more recent times, with the damming of rivers higher up, the volume of water in rivers on the coastal plains has decreased considerably. This has drastically increased the river dust problem in West Taiwan. With industry demanding more water the problem has increased. To meet the demands of industry the authorities turned to pumping groundwater. This has further aggravated the river dust problem. While the EPA reports some progress in the battle against river dust, we can only expect the problem to increase when water from the Chingshui River is diverted to the Hushan Dam further reducing the volume of water in the lower reaches of the Jhoushui and Chingshui Rivers.

Not only does the reduced volume of fresh water flowing into coastal estuaries create a dust problem, it also has a very negative impact on the coastal ecosystems that depend on it resulting in the degradation of coastal habitat. Probably the most prominent victim of degraded coastal habitat is the unique Taiwan population of humpback dolphins where numbers have declined to around seventy individuals and will certainly become extinct unless drastic measures for their protection are taken now. The EPA needs to seriously consider the implications of the total degradation of the west coast and what that would mean. Is it really within our best interests to sacrifice the west coast for the short term gains of increasing pollution-generating, high water-volume-consuming heavy industry in the area?


EPA reports progress in battle against river dust

Also see:
Air quality worsens from Typhoon Morakot's dust

EPA postpones ruling on Yunlin Sixth Naphtha Cracker plant expansion

Expansion plans for the Sixth Naphtha Cracker in Mailiao Township, Yunlin County underwent a fourth review by the Environmental Protection Administration's (EPA) Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Committee yesterday. The EIA Committee requested additional information from the Formosa Plastics Group before it could rule on expansion plans for an Yunlin County plant. The expansion of the Sixth Naphtha Cracker poses a threat to the extremely vulnerable unique population humpback dolphins that inhabit the West-Central Taiwan coast. The controversial Hushan Dam is being constructed at great expense to Taiwan's natural environment to supply water for the development of heavy pollution-generating industry on the west coast.

See today's Taipei Times for the story.

Video Footage of Taiwan's Humpback Dolphins - Right In Front Of Formosa Plastics!

The construction of the Hushan Dam has largely been for the benefit of industry and the further development of Taiwan's already industrialised West Coast, home to the extremely vulnerable rare Taiwan humpback dolphins. Two great film clips of Taiwan humpback dolphins right in front of Formosa Plastics have been posted on MFCU member Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association's website. Clearly visible in the background is Formosa Plastics Mailiao Industrial Park in Yunlin County - where proponents of further development have denied the presence of these dolphins. Thanks to the work of MFCU member FormosaCetus, we are able to disprove such claims and give this population a better hope of survival.

View Taiwan humpback dolphin film clips.


Other Taiwan humpback dolphin film clips:

July 2008 Taichung Port.

January 2008 Wuchi.

UK Birder visits Huben

UK birder, Ann Chaplin, a long-time supporter of Fairy Pitta conservation in Taiwan and opponent of the Hushan Dam project visited the Huben-Hushan area during June. A brief trip report of her Taiwan trip can be found on Birdforum.

Taiwan: A Birder's Paradise

Singaporean birder, Low Bing Wen Albert, has posted a Taiwan trip report on Surfbirds titled Taiwan: A Birder's Paradise. Albert spent a week in the Huben/Hushan IBA area during his Taiwan trip.

See Birding in Taiwan's Yunlin County for more Taiwan Trip Reports.

Tough times call for tough measures

Yesterday the Presidential Office announced a so-called energy-saving program. Today's Taipei Times editorial titled Tough times call for tough measures offers some comment on the government's energy stand.

President announces energy-saving program


Also see: Nuclear power listed as energy option

Planting trees in China and other sorry tales

And the trees are gone! Two shots of the Hushan Dam site after the forest had been cleared-May 2008.


The government could allow industries to plant trees in China and other countries to help reduce greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, an official said yesterday. Well, so claims today's Taipei Times. The article says, "Companies say they cannot find enough land locally to plant trees to offset carbon dioxide emissions, so they hope to plant trees overseas." The reality of the situation is that we are producing more CO2 than any tree-planting campaign can hope to deal with (See: Planting trees to off-set emissions isn't going to do it). These gimmick-type ideas are not going to help. This type of thinking just highlights that industry and the powers that be in Taiwan just refuse to get it. The reality is we need trees. Trees are not going to save us from our CO2 mess. Only a change in how we live is going to do that.

Right now we are cutting down forests in Hushan to build a dam for heavy industry. Industry that will increase our CO2 emissions. In Mailiao they are "reclaiming land" that is valuable humpback dolphin habitat to plant trees in the ocean to offset emissions. Something is wrong with this kind of thinking. This kind of "solution" is seriously flawed. It shows that we in Taiwan are not seriously tackling our emissions problem. We need our forests because they are a cornerstone of what allows are planet to function. Forests should not be see only as sponges for our emissions. In Taiwan vast areas of land under the Forestry Bureau are covered in exotic bamboos and other exotic plants and no attempt is being made to restore areas like this to native original-type vegetation.

Taiwan needs to seriously tackle its emissions problem. It needs to seriously reforest and restore areas in a genuine scientifically sound forest recovery and restoration program. It would seem that regardless of the EPA being Blue or Green it is still clinging to the ideal of everything but protecting the environment.

Reclaiming valuable humpback dolphin habitat to plant trees in the ocean.


A chainsaw-wielding worker clearing vegetation in Hushan

Second Global Greens Congress

Green Party Taiwan's Su-hsin Tsui addressing the Global Greens Congress on 3 May 2008 in São Paulo, Brazil on the future of the Global Greens: Taiwan’s Perspective, Taiwan’s Role


A 22-member Green Party Taiwan delegation recently returned to the island from the second congress of the Global Greens that was held May 1-5 in São Paulo, Brazil. The first Global Greens congress was held in Canberra, Australia, in 2001, and produced the Global Greens’ Charter, while the main document to come out of the São Paulo Conference was 21 Points for the 21st Century.


The Global Greens is an organization comprised of over 80 members from nearly as many countries with its administration being divided into four regional groups – Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia-Pacific. The most active members are Green political parties, but other civic organizations are members and the Global Greens seek to include all groups that subscribe to the core values of ecological wisdom, non violence, social justice, sustainability, respect for diversity and participatory democracy.


Five major topics discussed at the congress were sustainable cities, climate change, post-Kyoto, future of the Global Greens, and biofuels versus biodiversity. In addition to adopting the 21 Points, the congress passed resolutions supporting the peoples’ struggle in Tibet, ban on nuclear power as a response to climate change, and continued support for Ingrid Betancourt, the Colombian activist who was running for president on the Green Party ticket when abducted more than six years ago.


Upon their return to Taiwan, the delegation held a press conference on Monday, May 12, which was quite well received by the press.

Robin Winkler, founder and director of the Taiwan Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association, was active in the planning and execution of the visit. He broke his three- and a-half-year “boycott” of international travel to join the delegation. During a debriefing for Wild colleagues on 16 May 2008, he explained his recent involvement in the Green Party Taiwan:

“Being punched by the head of Yunlin County’s Assembly while the manager of Formosa Plastic’s local plant looked on and facing ridicule and jeers from the media, Taiwan’s EPA and other government agencies was one of the more traumatic experiences of my life. It forced me to reconsider the strategies of the environmental and social movements in the face of such an organized, well-funded and anarchic alliance of government, elected representatives, business and academics.


“World wide the movements face similar problems, however Taiwan differs in that we are very isolated from the rest of the world – not the world’s multinational corporations or trade and investment delegations, but from a vast resource of dedicated people and organizations that will no longer allow the world to go on “business as usual”. These groups have a lot to offer Taiwan, and with our connections to Green Parties around the world, we may actually be able to bring some pressure on business and government in Taiwan to reform its ways and to open up to public participation in important issues.”

Also see:

Update on the Global Greens Congress
Hushan Dam at the Global Greens Congress

Rearranging of the deckchairs on the "Taiwan-EPA-atanic" ?

Changing of the guard or just rearranging of the deckchairs on the "Taiwan-EPA-atanic" ? The new Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) Minister, Steven Shen, has vowed to work with outside groups claims the Taipei Times.

Yesterday saw the incoming President, President Ma Ying-jeou, sworn in and the return to power of the KMT. Last time round the KMT had a shocking environmental record and during the eight years of DPP rule not much seemed different in the EPA's attitude.

Outgoing EPA Minister, Winston Dang, while painting a rosy picture of his term can't get away from the fact that he bitterly disappointed most environmental groups with the handling of the reelection of EPA Commissioners and the Hushan Dam project, and the greenwashing of the global warming and emissions issue.

Will there really be a change of heart in the EPA or will they continue with the tradition of business first over the environment?

Update on the Global Greens Congress

Earlier in the month we informed our readers that a Taiwan delegation would be attending the Global Greens Congress in São Paulo, Brazil. The Global Greens are the international network of Green parties. The Global Greens held their second international congress in São Paulo, Brazil from May 1st-4th.

Today's edition of the Taipei Times runs an article outlining the Taiwan delegation's involvement at the recent Global Greens Congress.
See: Groups emphasize "green diplomacy".

Also see:

Second Global Greens Congress

Korean Fairy Pitta researcher visits Huben

Dr. Scott Lin of TESRI and Kim Eun Mi of the Jeju Wildlife Research Center measuring a Dusky Fulvetta.


South Korean Fairy Pitta researcher, Kim Eun Mi, of the Jeju Wildlife Research Center visited Huben as a guest of the Fairy Pitta Research Project headed by Dr. [Scott] Lin Reuy-shing from May 3rd-9th.

In February our colleagues at Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association sent two delegates to the Annual Jeju Wildlife Research Center Workshop on Jeju Island, South Korea. Korea's Jeju Island, along with Taiwan, Southern Japan, and Southern China are the breeding areas for the IUCN Red Listed Fairy Pitta Pitta nympha. Dr. R.S.Lin of the Taiwan Endemic Species Research Institute (TESRI) and Mark Wilkie of Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association delivered presentations on the Fairy Pitta in Taiwan.

Two of the goals of the trip were to establish cooperation on Fairy Pitta research between Korean and Taiwan researchers and to propose the use of standardised research methods for better comparison of regional data at an international level to help facilitate an international conservation plan. Following the Jeju Workshop, South Korean Fairy Pitta researcher, Kim Eun Mi, was invited to come and spend a week in Huben with Dr. Lin and his research team and to learn research methods and techniques used on Fairy Pitta in Taiwan.

Apart from spending time in the field and at TESRI, Kim delivered a presentation on Fairy Pitta research in Korea at the Fairy Pitta Cafe to the local people of Huben. She also made a brief visit to Tatachia, Yushan National Park with Lin and Wilkie.

Taiwan's Fairy Pitta arrive several weeks before Fairy Pitta arrive on Jeju Island, South Korea, in late May. This gave Kim the opportunity to work in the field with Taiwan's newly arrived Fairy Pitta before returning to Jeju for the start of the Korean Fairy Pitta breeding season. Kim will be incorporating some of Lin's research methods and techniques into her research this season to help standardise research methods for better comparison of regional data at an international level which will contribute to the establishment of an international conservation plan. A global Fairy Pitta census is critical to the formation of any international Fairy Pitta conservation plan. A Taiwan Fairy Pitta survey team is planing to visit Jeju in June 2009 to assist with a Fairy Pitta census of Jeju Island. To date, Taiwan is the only country within the Fairy Pitta breeding range to have conducted a complete national census. Plans for holding an international Fairy Pitta symposium in Jeju to coincide with the census are presently being discussed.

Also see:
Hushan's Fairy Pittas at the Jeju Wildlife Research Center Workshop in South Korea

The destruction continues

The destruction continues. Some recent photos taken of the Hushan Dam construction site.









Also see:
Hushan Dam site visit: Photos

Recent Images of Hushan

Hushan Dam at the Global Greens Congress

The Global Greens is the international network of Green parties and political movements. Global Greens are holding their second international congress in São Paulo, Brazil from May 1st-4th. Green Party Taiwan has sent a twenty-two member delegation to the congress. Amongst the Green Party Taiwan delegates is Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association director, Robin Winkler. Robin will be helping to spread the word internationally on the Hushan Dam and the plight of the Fairy Pittas and Taiwan humpback dolphins. Wild acts as the secretariat for the Taiwan National Coalition Against the Hushan Dam and Matsu's Fish Conservation Union.

Update
See: Global Greens Congress

Also see:

Second Global Greens Congress

Token pledges on Earth Day- Ma's Road ?

Today's Taipei Times's editorial is well worth a read. The editorial titled, Token pledges on Earth Day, pretty much sums up environmental concerns over the path that president-elect Ma Ying-jeou seems to be following.

Hushan Update

The Hushan Reservoir Public Hearing took place on Saturday April 26 in Douliou. We will be posting information on the hearing soon.

Fairy Pitta are still arriving in the Hushan-Huben area for the breeding season. Numbers in areas close to but outside the actual dam construction area appear to be lower this season but it is still too early to be certain. We will only be able to confirm this in about a month once the census is complete and figures can be compared to previous years. Areas away from the construction area appear to be showing good numbers.

The first Fairy Pitta banding capture took place yesterday. A male bird was netted on a research site fairly close to the construction area. The pitta was measured and banded before being released.

Hushan Conservation Measures Public Hearing This Saturday – Public Invited To “Participate”

By C.M.

The official Public Hearing on the Hushan Reservoir Ecological Conservation Measures will be held at 9am this Saturday (April 26, 2008) in Douliou (Touliu) Town Hall (38 Fuwen Road 府文路, Douliou City, Yunlin County, map in Chinese). This follows a preparatory hearing held last month where stakeholders met for a test run and to thrash out details such as the main focus of the discussion and the level of transparency and detail that was expected of the reservoir developer (the Central Region Water Resources Office (CRWRO)*) and Taiwan Endemic Species Research Insitute (TESRI ), the body commissioned to oversee and co-implement the Conservation Measures.

The official purpose of the meeting is to explain the current status of the Hushan Reservoir Ecological Conservation Measures, the design and implementation of which were one of the conditions upon which the project was approved. Environmental groups, experts, academics and local community representatives are free to attend, or “participate” as the public notice calls it, although public explanation meetings and hearings for EIAs in Taiwan usually allow only a very passive form of participation by the public, something better described as consultation of the public and the provision of an opportunity to comment, but not to directly influence decision-making.

Judith Petts, editor of the Handbook of Environmental Impact Assessment, describes some of the major differences between consultation and participation in EIA:

“Participation is a process of engagement, where people are enlisted into the decision process to contribute to it… Participation requires that those initiating the process are open to the potential need for change and are prepared to work with different interests to develop plans or to amend or even drop existing proposals…Consultation refers to the process of asking for information and comments about proposals...[and] often focuses more on the need of an authority or developer to consult other bodies and named individuals than the broader public. It is the top-down strategy, where the proponent or authority remains firmly in control and, in the public context, is mainly concerned with passing on information. It is often a one-way process…” (Petts, 1999).

Members of the public and environmental groups who attended the preparatory meeting in March expressed concern at the omissions in both the original EIA for the dam project (such as the failure to consider ecological impacts upstream of the dam), the inadequacy and poor planning of the Conservation Measures, and the risk posed by the project to the ecosystems of the Hushan area, including You-cing Valley.

Some dam proponents responded to the latter with the argument that the question of whether or not to build the dam and flood the valley had already been addressed during the EIA process and that it was too late to discuss the uniqueness and value of an intact You-cing Valley, and suggested that the hearing should focus on the Conservation Measures, which mainly involve capturing and translocating some plants and animals to a “restoration site” outside of the reservoir boundaries.

This debate over the focus of the up-coming meeting reflects the fact that project opponents feel that an inadequate and insufficiently participatory EIA for the Hushan Reservoir project left too many questions unanswered and allowed too little real participation in decision-making, leaving them no option but to continue to voice their concerns at this stage, with the project now already underway.

*-The Central Region Water Resources Office, Water Resources Agency, Ministry of Economic Affairs.

References:

Petts, Judith. 1999. Public Participation and EIA. In: J. Petts (ed.) Handbook of Environmental Impact Assessment (Vol. 1). Blackwell Science, pp. 145-177.

Fairy Pitta wintering area mystery continues

The Fairy Pitta wintering area mystery continues. Dr [Scott] Lin Reuy-shing of the Taiwan Endemic Research Institute (TESRI) has recently returned from a research trip to Sarawak, Borneo. No Fairy Pitta were seen or heard on the trip. He was able to follow up on the November 2007 Fairy Pitta sighting made by a Mr. Yeo in the area of the Matang Wildlife Centre. He was also able to study habitat on Sarawak.

The location of the Fairy Pitta's wintering area continues to elude us. It has long presumed to be the island of Borneo but that is somewhat of an educated guess. There have been a handful of confirmed winter Fairy Pitta sightings from Borneo so it would appear that at least some Fairy Pitta are present during winter.

Also see:
Search for the Fairy Pitta wintering area

Australia's first Fairy Pitta and a winter sighting on Borneo