2009 Habit Workshop: Averting the baiji syndrome: conserving habitat for critically endangered dolphins in the Eastern Taiwan Strait

The 2009 Habitat Workshop report has been published as a peer reviewed paper titled Averting the baiji syndrome: conserving habitat for critically endangered dolphins in the Eastern Taiwan Strait. Click to view the paper.

2010 Environmental, Economic, & Social Justice Film Festival begins Saturday

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A reminder that the 2010 Environmental, Economic, & Social Justice Film Festival takes place in Taipei this weekend. The festival begins at 14:00 on Saturday with the Taiwan Premiere of Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story. This event is free to the public. For festival details click here.

Photos: 11/13 Say No to Kuokuang Petrochemical! March

Thousands braved the rain on Saturday afternoon to send a firm message to the authorities that Kuokuang and other such petrochemical projects should be done away with. Despite dubious legality even to the point of ignoring Supreme Court orders, the Central Taiwan Science Park expansion projects are being forced into reality by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) that seems to confuse its function of environmental protection with that of economic development and by Premier Wu Den-yih who seems to behave more like a petrochemical executive these days than the nation's premier.

The planned Kuokuang Petrochemical Project will lay waste to the Dacheng mudflats and wetlands which are of huge importance to the continued survival of Taiwan's west coast ecosystems and have also been listed internationally as an Important Bird Area because of their importance as a wintering ground for several threatened bird species. Local fishers and communities that depend on the wetlands and mudflats for their survival will have their way of life destroyed. Dacheng is also vital remaining habitat for the critically endangered Taiwan pink dolphins and the view of the majority of international cetacean experts is that if the project goes ahead the negative impact on the dolphins will almost certainly be the nail in the coffin that drives these unique animals to extinction.

What follows are some photos of Saturday's march against the Kuokuang Project and Taiwan's petrochemical industry. Photos courtesy of Taiwan Environmental Information Association (TEIA), MFCU and Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association.


























See:
Protesters urge reverse in petrochemical policy in the Taipei Times.

November 13, march:- Say No to Kuokuang Petrochemical! Protect our wetlands on the Chunghua coast!

11/13 Petrochemical Policy should turn Green Salvation Parade

November 13, march:- Say No to Kuokuang Petrochemical! Protect our wetlands on the Chunghua coast!

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On Saturday 13 November 2010, an environmental protection march primarily focused on Kuokuang Plant and other petrochemical issues will take place in Taipei. Petrochemical projects are the Kuokuang Plant planned for Changhua, the FPG 6th Naptha cracker expansion in Yunlin and the 3rd cracker in Kaohsiung. All these petrochemical projects will have a devastating impact on Taiwan's natural environmental. The march is a registered permitted march so foreign persons in Taiwan who wish to join do not need to worry about deportation for being outside of their visa purposes! Meet other marchers at the Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT Station at 14:00 and marchers will march to the Presidential Square at 15:00 where there will be a gathering, and a street party and performances start at 17:00.

Date: Saturday 13 November 2010
Meeting Point: Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT Station
Time: 14:00
Contact: jwang(at)wildatheart.org.tw

For more infomation visit the official website.
Also see:
11/13 Petrochemical Policy should turn Green Salvation Parade

Photos: 11/13 Say No to Kuokuang Petrochemical! March

Photos:- 2010 TEIA Ecological Fair and Dolphin Music Festival

On Saturday 6th November 2010 the Taiwan Environmental Information Association (TEIA) Environmental Trust held its 2010 Ecological Fair and Dolphin Music Festival in Fangyuan Township, Changhua County. The purpose of the festival was to promote the purchase of surrounding land to preserve the natural environment and to raise awareness of the threats to the local communities in Fangyuan and Dacheng and the surrounding natural environment from the expansion of the Central Taiwan Science Park. Much of the surrounding area will be destroyed if the planned Kuokuang Petrochemical project goes ahead. The project will destroy the traditional way of life of many local farmers, fishers and oyster farmers. Pollution is of serious concern to the locals and natural environment alike. Reclamation of much of the Dacheng wetlands, an internationally listed Important Bird Area (IBA) will devastate the vitally important mudflats that are critical to preserving what remains of western Taiwan's natural environment on the over-developed west coast. This area is critically important habitat for Taiwan's critically endangered pink dolphins and its loss would more than likely drive the struggling Taiwan pink dolphins to extinction.


Various NGOs and concerned groups set up information booths to advise visitors on issues of concern.




Local produce was available for visitors to sample. Visitors queued for the well-known local oyster pancakes.

TEIA's Dr John Tsai, an expert on the globally threatened Eurasian Curlew, speaks to visitors about the Kuokuang Petrochemical issue.

Various local artists brought their message to the visitors through music and song.



Views of the critically important mudflats that will largely disappear if the Kuokuang Petrochemical project goes ahead. The mudflats are an internationally listed important bird area and are wintering grounds for endangered species such as the Eurasian Curlew and Saunders's Gull and vitally important habitat to the resident critically endangered Taiwan pink dolphins.




Also See:

TEIA Environmental Trust Ecological Festival 2010

Plans to buy another 800 hectares of wetlands to save pink dolphin habitat and to protect threatened birds and marine life

Academics against new Kuokuang plant

Dolphins in the waters around FPG and Dacheng

FPG land reclamation in pink dolphin habitat update

More recent Pink Dolphin photos

MFCU Press Release

Wu the Kuokuang Petrochemical executive continues to forget he's the Nation's Premier

Taiwan High Administrative Court orders Central Taiwan Science Park to halt all expansion pending a ruling on two lawsuits

2010 Environmental, Economic, & Social Justice Film Festival

Taiwan Premiere:- Capitalism: A Love Story - Michael Moore

The 2010 Environmental, Economic, & Social Justice Film Festival will be held on Saturday, November 20 and Sunday, November 21 at Taipei Stock Theater. The Festival will kick off at 14:00 on Saturday, November 20 with the Taiwan Premiere of Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story.

Date: Saturday, November 20 & Sunday, November 21.
Time: 14:00
Where: Taipei Stock Theater, 3F, No. 34, Section 1, Ba-de Road, Taipei.
Website: http://sites.google.com/site/wildatheartfilmfest/
Contact: comment@wildatheart.org.tw
Phone: 886-2-2382-5789

This event is free to the public, however, donations are welcome and will defray administrative costs. Any amount exceeding the administrative costs will go to support Wild at Heart's ongoing litigation, lobbying and education activities.


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November 20, 2010; Saturday
14:00
Capitalism: A Love Story (127min)
16:00
The Story of Bottled Water (8min)
The Story of Cosmetics (8min)
Bullshit (72min)
18:00
The Poisoned Sky (93min)
20:00
Texas Gold (26min)
Invisible River (29min)
The "Missing" Village (17min)


November 21, Sunday
14:00
Taiwan's Critically Endangered Pink Dolphins (9min)
The End of the Line (82min)
16:00
Total Denial (92min)
18:00
Path to Paradise (102min)
20:00
The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil (53min)


Sponsoring Organisation: Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association

Co-sponsors:
Anti Changbin Coal Plant Alliance;
Earth Passengers;
Green Formosa Front;
HSU Wen-fong, film director;
Laboratory of Fish Ecology & Evolution, Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica;
LIN Jia-an, film director;
Luminoso Film Co., Ltd;
Matsu's Fish Conservation Alliance;
Taipei Stock;
Taiwan Watch Institute;
VideoDB Enterprise Inc.;
Wind Music International Corporation;
WO MEN Films.

11/13 Petrochemical Policy should turn Green Salvation Parade

On Saturday 13 November 2010, an environmental protection march primarily focused on petrochemical issues will be held in Taipei.

The Kuokuang Plant planned for Changhua, the FPG 6th Naptha cracker expansion in Yunlin and the 3rd cracker in Kaohsiung are all petrochemical projects that will have a devastating impact on Taiwan's natural environmental. The march is a permitted march so foreign persons in Taiwan who wish to join do not need to worry about deportation for being outside of your visa purposes!

The march will convene in front of SOGO on the corner of Chunghsiao East and Fuxing Roads and marchers will march to the Presidential Square where there will be a gathering with talks and some performances.

Date: Saturday 13 November 2010

Assembly Point: Outside SOGO Department Store, corner of Chunghsiao East and Fuxing Roads.

Time: 14:00
March to Presidential Square at 15:00.
Street Party at 17:00

Contact: jwang(at)wildatheart.org.tw


More details are given here but are in Hanji so if you are a non Hanji reader you'll need to use Google translator to read it or ask a Hanji reading friend.

Also see:
November 13 March:- Say No to Kuokuang Petrochemical! Protect our wetlands on the Chunghua coast!

Photos: 11/13 Say No to Kuokuang Petrochemical! March

TEIA Environmental Trust Ecological Festival 2010

The Taiwan Environmental Information Association (TEIA) Environmental Trust 2010 Ecological Fair and Dolphin Music Festival will take place this Saturday (6th November 2010) in Fangyuan Township, Changhua County. Transport to Fangyuan leaves from the square in front of the Chunghua Train Station before 10:30am or via the Changhua-Yuanlin bus from the Changhua bus station (about 100m from the train station) on the Fangyuan-Putian Temple bus at 08:50,09:20,12:40.

Details can be found on the TEIA website. Details are in Hanji but can be viewed in English using a translator such as Google translator.


See:- Photos:- 2010 TEIA Ecological Fair and Dolphin Music Festival

IUCN Cetacean Specialist Group website

The IUCN Species Survival Commission's Cetacean Specialist Group (CSG) now has a website. The International Union for Conservation (IUCN) is the organisation responsible for the Red List of Threatened Species.

Several members of the CSG have been actively involved in efforts to study and save the critically endangered Taiwan pink dolphins. The CSG has included the workshop reports from both the 2004 and 2007 ETS Sousa (aka Taiwan pink dolphin) workshops held in Taiwan amongst their downloadable reports.

IUCN Cetacean Specialist Group website.