River Dust

A dusty floodplain in the Jhoushui River - Chingshui River confluence area


The problem of river dust has been an ongoing problem in Taiwan. The floodplains of the Jhoushui and Chingshui Rivers in western Taiwan have been particularly bad. Taiwan's rivers are by nature short with a very steep gradient. The westerly-flowing rivers, with their source in the central mountains, with many peaks higher than 3000m, descend rapidly onto the western coastal plain. During typhoons these rivers carry great volumes of water and thus are characterised by a very wide lowland floodplain. This, to a point, naturally creates river dust during the November to December and February to March dry seasons.

In more recent times, with the damming of rivers higher up, the volume of water in rivers on the coastal plains has decreased considerably. This has drastically increased the river dust problem in West Taiwan. With industry demanding more water the problem has increased. To meet the demands of industry the authorities turned to pumping groundwater. This has further aggravated the river dust problem. While the EPA reports some progress in the battle against river dust, we can only expect the problem to increase when water from the Chingshui River is diverted to the Hushan Dam further reducing the volume of water in the lower reaches of the Jhoushui and Chingshui Rivers.

Not only does the reduced volume of fresh water flowing into coastal estuaries create a dust problem, it also has a very negative impact on the coastal ecosystems that depend on it resulting in the degradation of coastal habitat. Probably the most prominent victim of degraded coastal habitat is the unique Taiwan population of humpback dolphins where numbers have declined to around seventy individuals and will certainly become extinct unless drastic measures for their protection are taken now. The EPA needs to seriously consider the implications of the total degradation of the west coast and what that would mean. Is it really within our best interests to sacrifice the west coast for the short term gains of increasing pollution-generating, high water-volume-consuming heavy industry in the area?


EPA reports progress in battle against river dust

EPA postpones ruling on Yunlin Sixth Naphtha Cracker plant expansion

Expansion plans for the Sixth Naphtha Cracker in Mailiao Township, Yunlin County underwent a fourth review by the Environmental Protection Administration's (EPA) Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Committee yesterday. The EIA Committee requested additional information from the Formosa Plastics Group before it could rule on expansion plans for an Yunlin County plant. The expansion of the Sixth Naphtha Cracker poses a threat to the extremely vulnerable unique population humpback dolphins that inhabit the West-Central Taiwan coast. The controversial Hushan Dam is being constructed at great expense to Taiwan's natural environment to supply water for the development of heavy pollution-generating industry on the west coast.


See today's Taipei Times for the story.

Video Footage of Taiwan's Pink Dolphins - Right In Front Of Formosa Plastics!

Two great film clips of Taiwan pink dolphins right in front of Formosa Plastics have been posted on MFCU member Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association's website. Clearly visible in the background is Formosa Plastics Mailiao Industrial Park in Yunlin County - where proponents of further development have denied the presence of these dolphins. Thanks to the work of MFCU member FormosaCetus, we are able to disprove such claims and give this population a better hope of survival.

View Taiwan pink dolphin film clips.


Other Taiwan pink dolphin film clips:

July 2008 Taichung Port.

January 2008 Wuchi.

Pink Dolphin film clips

Two short film clips of some pink dolphins shot by the MFCU on Saturday 6 July at Taichung Port.

Film Clip 1.

Film Clip 2.


Also see:
Video Footage of Taiwan's Humpback Dolphins - Right In Front Of Formosa Plastics!

Taipower's wind turbines dogged by malfunctions

Environmentalists and we at MFCU have long expressed our concerns over Taipower's wind turbine developments. Apart from the obvious threat of windfarm construction to the humpback dolphins many feel that wind power in Taiwan is being used as a green-washing gimmick rather and a smoke screen for really tackling Taiwan's emissions and power issues.

The Taipei Times reports that Taiwan's wind turbines have been plagued by malfunctions. Now, if wind turbines don't work in the Taiwan heat why are we trashing valuable humpback dolphin habitat for malfunctioning turbines?

Tough times call for tough measures

Yesterday the Presidential Office announced a so-called energy-saving program. Today's Taipei Times editorial titled Tough times call for tough measures offers some comment on the government's energy stand.

President announces energy-saving program


Also see: Nuclear power listed as energy option

Planting trees in China and other sorry tales

And the trees are gone! Two shots of the Hushan Dam site after the forest had been cleared-May 2008.


The government could allow industries to plant trees in China and other countries to help reduce greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, an official said yesterday. Well, so claims today's Taipei Times. The article says, "Companies say they cannot find enough land locally to plant trees to offset carbon dioxide emissions, so they hope to plant trees overseas." The reality of the situation is that we are producing more CO2 than any tree-planting campaign can hope to deal with (See: Planting trees to off-set emissions isn't going to do it). These gimmick-type ideas are not going to help. This type of thinking just highlights that industry and the powers that be in Taiwan just refuse to get it. The reality is we need trees. Trees are not going to save us from our CO2 mess. Only a change in how we live is going to do that.

Right now we are cutting down forests in Hushan to build a dam for heavy industry. Industry that will increase our CO2 emissions. In Mailiao they are "reclaiming land" that is valuable humpback dolphin habitat to plant trees in the ocean to offset emissions. Something is wrong with this kind of thinking. This kind of "solution" is seriously flawed. It shows that we in Taiwan are not seriously tackling our emissions problem. We need our forests because they are a cornerstone of what allows are planet to function. Forests should not be see only as sponges for our emissions. In Taiwan vast areas of land under the Forestry Bureau are covered in exotic bamboos and other exotic plants and no attempt is being made to restore areas like this to native original-type vegetation.

Taiwan needs to seriously tackle its emissions problem. It needs to seriously reforest and restore areas in a genuine scientifically sound forest recovery and restoration program. It would seem that regardless of the EPA being Blue or Green it is still clinging to the ideal of everything but protecting the environment.

Reclaiming valuable humpback dolphin habitat to plant trees in the ocean.


A chainsaw-wielding worker clearing vegetation in Hushan