Emissions talk continues

Hushan, globally the most important breeding area for the rare and vulnerable Fairy Pitta being destroyed to build a dam to supply water for more planned heavy pollution-generating industry in a country which has a per capita CO2 emissions rate three times the world average. The dam will also degrade the remaining habitat of the endangered Taiwan humpback dolphins by reducing the flow of freshwater into the Jhoushui Estuary.



Talk over Taiwan's CO2 emissions continues. From the standpoint that Taiwan needs to be a UN member to really reduce its emissions to Nobel laureate Lee Yuan-tseh urging presidential candidates to aim at stabilizing CO2 emissions by 2025 at the level it was at in 2000. Environmental Quality Protection Foundation Chairman Liu Ming-lung said he supports Lee's idea of stabilizing Taiwan's CO2 emissions at the 2000 level by 2025 but added that when setting goals to reduce carbon emissions, stricter targets are not necessarily good because it might result in negative economic growth.

According to Taiwan's Department of Health Taiwan was ranked 22nd in the world in terms of total CO2 emissions in 2005. That is unacceptable to the health of the people of Taiwan and all life that we share Taiwan with. On that reason alone something drastic should be done. Stabilizing Taiwan's CO2 emissions at 2000 levels isn't enough and using the UN card as an excuse to act doesn't help the people of Taiwan. The whole world needs to change and so does Taiwan. If we don't, then nature will change us. Do we really want to build more dams and factories to further pollute our environment, destroy our health and drive species like the Taiwan humpback dolphins and numerous others over the brink into extinction?

"Many of us wonder whether human beings, one of ten million or more species on earth, have the right to destroy such a large proportion of what are as far as we know our only living companions in the universe." Ed Wilson & Paul Erlich

See:
Left out of the UN, decisions are made for us

Lee urges candidates to address issue of emissions

Also see:
Government urged to take action on emissions

Taiwan must abide by international rules on greenhouse gas emissions: EPA