Hsing University students jointly petition for a campus tree management law: training horticulture experts who don't know how to prune trees?

National Chung Hsing University is a well-known major university for agriculture and horticulture in Taiwan, China, yet in recent years it has repeatedly been reported for incidents of "haphazard tree pruning," resulting in severe root cutting and broken branches that injure trees. However, the school has no explicit regulations governing campus tree management. A group of students from the College of Agriculture could not stand by any longer and launched a petition for the "Campus Tree Management Regulations," aiming to set clear codes of conduct for campus tree care and protection work and to establish a professional, transparent review mechanism, so that trees are no longer subjected to improper treatment.

Student petition: Enact the "Campus Tree Management Regulations"

The draft "Campus Tree Management Regulations" written by the students includes directions such as "operators' behavior must have clear codes of conduct," "campus engineering planting and transplant plans must be submitted for review," and "engineering contractors must obtain operating qualifications," and states: "We hope to establish general rules so that operators carrying out transplanting, pruning, removal, treatment and other work have clear codes of conduct to follow." Lien Tzu-pin explained that they hope even more to establish a transparent review and accountability mechanism, "so that every step of tree protection and tree care can undergo professional review, preventing trees from being subjected to unreasonable treatment."

In response to the petition launched by National Chung Hsing University, Chang Mei-hui, chairperson of the Taiwan Alliance of Tree Protection Groups, expressed support. She said that the General Affairs Office responsible for tree pruning work does not understand trees; contractors and builders do not understand trees either, and "transplanting a tree is not just sticking it in the ground and being done with it"; this matter must be subjected to professional review and discussion. Chang Mei-hui said bluntly, "If even National Chung Hsing University, which was founded on agriculture, ignores trees, that is very frightening."

National Chung Hsing University, which has cultivated many tree experts, has still not established a campus tree management mechanism to this day. The school said, "There is indeed still no explicit regulation, and the relevant management regulations still need further discussion." At present, if any project requires tree transplanting, relevant professional teachers will be asked to assist. In the future, experts and scholars in relevant fields will be consulted, and other government agencies' regulations and the proposals put forward by students will be referenced to further draft a proposal.

Draft content and petition link:
https://www.facebook.com/events/945174818939415/permalink/945216932268537/