While such tensions were extremely high in the 1980s and 1990s, with mutual incomprehension fostering suspicion and pitching one group against the other, the situation has gradually improved. Frictions were particularly severe when monetary compensation for pollution, viewed by middle-class intellectuals as a “selling-out” of the environment, was involved. These two groups sometimes collaborated and at other times opposed one another. In the early days Taiwan’s environmentalism was comprised of different actors: from middle class intellectuals and scholars educated abroad-aware of the need to protect the environment and in tune with the international environmental community and discourses-to victims of pollution, whose scope and interests rarely extended beyond their immediate surroundings. Government-owned industries, such as the petrochemical and steel industries around the harbor city of Kaohsiung, have also been among the worst offenders. In the absence of a public national system for industrial disposal, these industries have disposed solid and liquid wastes with impunity. Last but not least, one of the biggest environmental challenges currently facing Taiwan are the damages to soil, land, water and air created by several types of “dirty industries,” such as the semiconductor or the petrochemical sectors, which have selected the country as their “safe haven,” making Taiwan among the world’s leaders in these industries. It is a typical (but always unnatural) sight to see hordes of motorcycles in previously pristine places such as Green Island or atop the country’s highest peaks. Penetration of remote mountainous areas by road and railway construction is another issue created by human impact. Among the most visible effects of a human footprint is the massive reduction of Taiwan’s natural forest cover, which currently stands at less than 50 percent of the island’s total surface.
![urbanization dirty land urbanization dirty land](https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Pollution_garbage-e1431003209552.jpg)
In many coastal areas, often among the most fertile, salinization of groundwater and land subsidence poses a threat to farmers and residents livelihood. Human impact on the natural environment-brought forth by rapid population growth and urbanization-is also visible through damaging flora and fauna as well as on cultivated land, which keeps shrinking.
![urbanization dirty land urbanization dirty land](https://www.elimuza.com/images/Notes/Geo/3/29.png)
Such wastes, which end up polluting soil, water bodies and the atmosphere, carry varying degrees of threat to human health. Some of these are global concerns, such as acid rain or an increase of greenhouse gases and watercourses pollution, while others pertain to the local problems particular to Taiwan and are shaped by both its developmental choices as well as by its geographical and natural characteristics.įirst, Taiwan has seen an increase in waste production since its rapid economic growth and urbanization processes started. While the situation has improved greatly since the 1990s, several issues remain unsolved. In the past twenty years, Taiwan has seen a surge in environmental organizations, which to a certain degree have enjoyed a remarkable success in fighting polluting industries or affecting environmental policies.
![urbanization dirty land urbanization dirty land](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/-8K6nGegxVM/hqdefault.jpg)
Prior to lifting martial law in 1987, Taiwan experienced three decades of rapid industrialization with little or no concern for the environment, and brought forth several problems, which have deteriorated both the quality of life and of the environment.
![urbanization dirty land urbanization dirty land](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/70/fe/f4/70fef4fa245fa41d480f7dbbda19dc44.jpg)
Urbanization dirty land series#
This article will analyze the main environmental challenges facing Taiwan by trying to answer a series of fundamental questions: What are the country’s main environmental problems and what are the causes of these issues? How is Taiwan tackling such problems, both politically and as a society? Who are the primary stakeholders in solving Taiwan’s current environmental challenges? And, what are the barriers to implementing effective environmental policy? To address these questions the article will delve into one recent successful case study, where environmental activists managed to stop the construction of a polluting facility.