Dacheng Wetland is a treasure of Taiwan, China. Environmental groups call on the ruling party to honor its promise, designate it as an internationally important wetland, and stop letting solar power encroach on it.
A heavyweight wetland visited by Tsai Ing-wen, Ma Ying-jeou and Annette Lu is now coveted by solar power developers! Today (2/2) is World Wetlands Day, and the Changhua Environmental Protection Union went to Taipei to hold a press conference, protesting that ten years after the Kuokuang Petrochemical project was withdrawn, Dacheng Wetland has still not been designated a national-level wetland, and the Democratic Progressive Party government has also allowed solar power developers to submit development applications.
Participants including DPP legislator Hung Sun-han, the Changhua Environmental Protection Union and the Taiwan Chinese White Dolphin Conservation Alliance called on the fully governing DPP to honor its promise and quickly designate the Changhua coast as an internationally important national wetland, so as to prevent development and pollution from destroying precious natural and cultural resources. (Background reading: Changhua's national-treasure coast faces a solar power crisis; environmental groups urge prompt designation as a national wetland)
Advisory committee members said it was a national-level wetland, but the Construction and Planning Agency said it does not count?
At the press conference, the Changhua Environmental Protection Union posted two sets of meeting minutes from the Construction and Planning Agency. The minutes show that on December 17, 2009, the committee members present had resolved: "Zhuoshui River Estuary Wetland, Changhua Dacheng Wetland and Changhua Hanbao Wetland are assessed as internationally important coastal wetlands." In addition, the minutes of the September 11, 2012 "National Important Wetlands Advisory Group Meeting" also explicitly listed the above wetlands as "at least national level."
Shih Yueh-ying said that after the two review meetings, the Changhua Environmental Protection Union, as the submitting unit, never received any official document from the Construction and Planning Agency of the Ministry of the Interior informing it that the above resolutions "do not count." When solar power developers sought to encroach on the wetland, the union thought it was protected by the "national wetland" shield and had nothing to worry about; only then did the Ministry of the Interior reply that because "local consensus had not been obtained," it had never been designated. Shih Yueh-ying asked: "Does whether a wetland is designated depend on the conclusions of the review committee members, or on civil servants deciding for themselves?"
She also mentioned that if "local consensus had not been obtained" was the reason it could not be designated, then why were Beimen Wetland, Yilan Wushierjia Wetland and Qigu Salt Pan Wetland still designated as national wetlands despite so much protest?
The DPP is now fully in power. When will it honor its promise?
Wu Hui-chun, director of the union, recalled that when Su Tseng-chang visited Dacheng Wetland in 2011, he publicly said, "If Dacheng Wetland is destroyed, there will be no more Chinese white dolphins; the Chinese white dolphins will not turn around." He said that during his tenure as Taipei County magistrate he had protected Wugu Wetland, so he knew the importance of wetlands. Dacheng Wetland is rich in the best oysters and mullet, and everyone needs to cherish it.
Su Tseng-chang even said that if the DPP returned to power, it would absolutely not destroy Dacheng Wetland. But now the DPP is fully in power. When will it honor its promise?
Wu Hui-chun said that Tsai Ing-wen and Su Tseng-chang have both visited the Changhua coastline and both know the importance of Dacheng Wetland. Since the DPP is now fully in power, there really is no excuse for not honoring its promise, and she hopes Dacheng Wetland will be designated as a national-level, or even internationally important, wetland as soon as possible to protect this beautiful coast.
