Taiwan no longer looks like an industrial wasteland - at least, not in its major cities. Taipei's air quality has dramatically improved since the late 1980s, mountains of garbage are no longer left to rot on street corners, and ambitious recycling programmes have reduced the need for new incinerators. Farther south, Kaohsiung's Love River - once a pungent stew of industrial runoff so toxic that nothing could live in or near it - has been transformed into a pleasant waterway winding through the heart of Taiwan's biggest port.
But despite the big improvements, Taiwan's environment still isn't being protected all that well. This is illustrated by a cable car project in Taipei and a nationwide programme to crack down on people who don't clean up after their dogs. The cable car was intended to ease the traffic in the hot-spring resort of Beitou, in the mountains north of the city.
The current mayor, Ma Ying-jeou, has made the cable car project a signature piece for his administration. But he has been accused of evading an environmental impact assessment by designating the project a recreational facility and limiting the area of the project to just under 10 hectares. If the project had been designated transportation infrastructure or had occupied more than 10 hectares, the national government's environmental review process would have been triggered. In fact, a luxury hot spring hotel and other facilities were surreptitiously added to the project last year, bringing the total project area to well over 10 hectares.
The Beitou cable car project shows the lengths to which local and even national agencies will go to evade the environmental review required by Taiwanese law. That seems strange, because although these laws look tough on paper, they rarely if ever prevent new development projects from being approved. Pouring more concrete always takes priority over environmental protection, and approval is normally granted after token adjustments are made to reduce the impact of a project.
Picking up dog droppings is another focus. Taiwan was badly embarrassed by an elderly Japanese couple's complaint that the town where they had retired was unfit to live in - partly because of the uncontrolled dog waste. Dog owners were ignoring regulations that compel them to clean up after their pets. In response, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) inspectors have been travelling the island to see whether local municipalities are enforcing those regulations. If not, a municipality may lose part of its EPA subsidy.
Taiwan may look a lot cleaner these days, but behind the scenes the erosion of its fragile environment is continuing.
