Solar panels in Miaoli's hills cut down forests and rob leopard cats of their home; experts call for unsuitable areas to be withdrawn
The rice paddies in this valley are like being encircled by gentle green arms, and the forest on the hillsides is lush and verdant, unfolding like a pastoral symphony. Upon first entering this hidden realm, one unconsciously falls silent, because the nature before one's eyes is too abundant, too lively - one can only listen intently.
This is the "giant water bug field" in Tongxiao, Miaoli, with extremely rich ecology, a precious expanse of green wild forest. Recently, however, news emerged that it might be leased to a solar company to install solar panels, leaving conservationists deeply worried. In Miaoli, 19 agricultural land solar projects have already been approved, clearing entire forests and replacing them with solar panels that sprawl across hillsides like black dragons, raising grave concerns about ecological damage and soil and water conservation.
The Council of Agriculture's declaration at its July 7 press conference this year that "not a single tree was cut" still rings in our ears, yet in Miaoli's shallow hills, patch after patch of forest is falling. Although the Council of Agriculture amended the law to tighten the review of agricultural land conversion for solar power, the law does not apply retroactively, and among the applications already accepted by Miaoli County, there are more than one hundred pending cases, making it a hot potato.
In the shallow hills closest to the sea, a tiny "giant water bug field" harbors rich species
In Liushuwo in the shallow hills of Tongxiao, Miaoli, lies a rice paddy that locals consider utterly ordinary. It began to attract worldwide attention when conservationists discovered the aquatic insect "giant water bug" (Lethocerus), which had been extinct in the area for decades. The young team from Observer Ecological Consultant Company began an eight-year collaboration with local elderly farmers, creating the "giant water bug rice" brand and documenting an ecology richer than anyone could imagine - leopard cats, crab-eating mongooses, civets, and all kinds of birds and insects are all neighbors by the field.
The documentary "Return to Satoyama" filmed here even went abroad to compete and returned with glory, winning the Platinum Award in the documentary category at the 2017 WorldFest Houston International Film Festival in the United States. The giant water bug field became famous, becoming a model case for Taiwan's Satoyama Initiative.
The Economic and Industrial Development Department of the Miaoli County Government stated that among the more than one hundred pending cases of agricultural land conversion for solar power, the vast majority are located on hilly land near the coastal provincial highway. Unfortunately, these areas also happen to be ecological hotspots. Wang Zheng'an, field manager of the giant water bug rice project, explained, "The shallow hill system near the coast - this kind of environment is very rare across the entire western region, and it is a refuge for many organisms."
Protecting the habitat of endangered species like the leopard cat and giant water bug protects many species that live alongside them
Wang Zheng'an has been stationed here for more than three years. Besides farming, he is also responsible for biological monitoring. "I'm very happy doing this here - I've always received tremendous feedback from the wildlife." In this small field area, he has seen leopard cats, civets, masked palm civets, ferret badgers, giant flying squirrels, and many other mammals, as well as yellow-margined box turtles, banded bullfrogs, water snakes, and insects too numerous to list - the diving beetle family, water mantises, giant water bugs, backswimmers...
"Leopard cats and giant water bugs are both umbrella species," Wang Zheng'an said. Protecting the habitat of these endangered species simultaneously protects many species that live alongside them.
According to academic estimates, fewer than five hundred leopard cats may remain in Taiwan. The infrared automatic cameras installed near the giant water bug field capture more than ten leopard cat images every month. Wang Zheng'an, who once had a moment of eye contact with a mother leopard cat and her cub, found that after every weeding session, he would capture images of leopard cats, personally experiencing the wondrous interaction between farming activities and wildlife.
A thousand irrigation ponds - appropriate farming wisdom creates a beautiful "satoyama"
The ecological team behind giant water bug rice not only prioritizes conservation but also takes it as their mission to pass on the farming wisdom of "Giant Water Bug Uncle" Liu Dingfeng. This is because the reason this field area can possess such high biodiversity is closely related to the farmers' practices. People generally assume that human development only destroys nature, but remarkably, farming methods that follow the rhythms of nature and the land actually create more diverse habitat characteristics, allowing more organisms to each find their place.
Wang Zheng'an explained that farmland in Miaoli's shallow hill area lacks an irrigation system, so farming households dug their own ponds to store water during the rainy season for irrigation. "Looking down from satellite imagery, the entire Tongxiao area has more than a thousand ponds."
These ponds, together with lush secondary forests, farmland and other elements, create extremely high habitat heterogeneity, thus nurturing biodiversity. This perfectly blended "social-ecological production landscape" (SEPL) is precisely the core of the "Satoyama Initiative." The giant water bug field has also become an important demonstration site for the Forestry Bureau's National Ecological Green Network project.
Solar power in the hills could destroy decades of conservation efforts; grey-faced buzzards have nowhere to perch
Beside the giant water bug field, there is another figure working the land - the passionate ecological observer Li Jinghong. Having studied grey-faced buzzards for over twenty years and serving as a director of the Taiwan Leopard Cat Conservation Association, Li Jinghong has always cherished the dream of a "Taiwan Totoro Forest," hoping to purchase land through crowdfunding trusts to conserve the shallow hill ecological environment. Unexpectedly, before the dream could be realized, news came that a solar company wanted to lease the entire 36-hectare hillside for large-scale development.
"That is to say, we've worked hard here for nearly ten years, and Uncle has guarded this land for forty or fifty years - because of the invasion of solar power, all our efforts will be wasted. Whether from the perspective of conservation concepts or the value of farmland and rice, this is actually a very uneconomical thing." Li Jinghong said with deep concern.
Li Jinghong cited the completed hillside solar project in Tongxiao, Miaoli as an example. The site is surrounded by iron fencing. "This will cause fragmentation and isolation of wildlife habitat, and the entire site has deep concrete ditches - any small animal that falls in can't get out." In addition, most of the site has not a blade of grass, making it unusable for wildlife, and it is even heavily sprayed with herbicides. "Spraying continuously for twenty years will have an impact on this farmland and the nearby ecology."
Li Jinghong also pointed out that the shallow hills are not just home to leopard cats. Every spring and autumn, tens of thousands of grey-faced buzzards pass through and rest in Tongxiao's valleys. "Their needs are simple - they just need trees." If the forests are cut down one after another and replaced by solar panels, the grey-faced buzzards may have nowhere to perch.
Visiting nearby residents, Li Jinghong also found that some people had originally moved here because of the beautiful acacia forest on this hillside. Unexpectedly, before long, the entire mountain was replaced by solar panels, and what was once a mountain view from the window became intense glare, severely disrupting quality of life, forcing them to keep the curtains drawn all day.
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