by Prof. Jack WilliamsVisiting Professor, Department of Geography

National Taiwan University, R.O.C.Professor Emeritus, Department of Geography

Michigan State University, U.S.A

Taiwan’s Environmental

Struggle (I) Toward a Green Silicon Island

Unless noted, the course materials are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Taiwan (CC BY-NC-SA 2.5)

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Taiwan’s Environmental Struggle

Toward a Green Silicon IslandJack F. Williams

Michigan State University

&

Ch’ang-yi David Chang National Taiwan University

Routledge Publishers, UK: 2008

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Other Outside Perspectives on

Taiwan’s Environment and Quality of Life

The EPI

The Economist

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Environmental Performance Index (EPI)See: www.yale.edu/epi

149 countries measured by 25 indicators in 6 policy categories:

(1) Environmental Health(2) Air Quality(3) Water Resources(4) Biodiversity and Habitat(5) Productive Natural Resources(6) Climate Change

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EPI for 2008

Country Score Rank

Switzerland 95.5 1

Japan 84.5 21

USA 81.0 39

TAIWAN 80.8 40

South Korea 79.4 51

(Hong Kong) ? ?

China 65.1 105

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Most Liveable Cities2009 Ranking by Economist Intelligence Unit (Economist

magazine):

140 cities around the world ranked, 0-100 (best).

30 qualitative and quantitative factors in 5 categories (stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure).

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2009 City Ranking

Vancouver, BC 1Tokyo 19Hong Kong 39TAIPEI 62Beijing 76Shanghai 85Guangzhou 89

(Remark) Other top 20 ALL in Europe, Canada, Australia/NZ (none in USA)

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Major Influences on Environmental Quality in

Taiwan

Geography Economy Politics Ethnicity

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Role of Geography in Taiwan

Mountainous topography, steep slopes

Youthful geology/instability

Frequent natural disasters (typhoons, heavy rains, earthquakes)

High population density

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A Rugged Island

<100m = 29.1% 100~1000m = 31.8% >1000m = 39.1%

Wiki Ksiom

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More than 200 peaks >3000 m.

Wiki OrioncityCloud Ocean Taiwan Big Snow Mountain

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Annual

Precipitation

2.500mm

2.5 times the world average

A Wet Island

Annual Isohyetal Map of Taiwan Percipitation

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The Problem With Water

Highly erosive Unevenly distributed Highly seasonal Easily polluted Difficult to clean up

But we cannot live without it!

Flicker Issac Alshihabi

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Rivers are short and steep inTaiwan with large runoff (hydrography)

differences in wet and dry seasons.

A Short, Steep & Fast

Runoff

Annual Runoff of Taiwan

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Steep Slopes +

Fast Moving Water

TroubleFlickr 黃基峰

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Landslide Capital of the World

Bedrock landslide on cross-island highway, Central Range, Taiwan

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Flickr Mooi

Wiki Yiken

Landslide on the New Central Cross-Island

Highway between Sinyi and Tataka.

Massive mud caused by landslide on a roadway outside the northeastern port of Keelung, Taiwan, Tuesday, April 27, 2010

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Disaster Hotspot

World Bank (2005): Taiwan is one of the most vulnerable places on earth for natural hazards.

Rare combination of high rates of uplift, weak rocks, steep slopes, frequent earthquakes, and extreme rainfall events.

Taiwan: a disaster waiting to happen. No year passes without at least one serious

disaster.

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Typhoon Morakot (Aug. 2009)Too Much Water Too Fast

Track map of Typhoon Morakot (Kiko) of the 2009 Pacific typhoon season. The points show the location of the storm at 6-hour intervals.

This image shows the center of the storm coming ashore over China. Morakot exhibits a loose spiral shape without the distinctive bands of clouds or eye evident in stronger storms.

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Lasting Image of Taiwan’s Vulnerability

Flickr Paul Hu

Flickr Max Chang

Formosa Community 愛心滿天下

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Taimali’s Beauty before Morakot Devastation

Flickr FrankZoe

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Taimali – During & After Morakot

Flickr JohnathanC000

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Flickr JohnathanC000

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CopyrightsWork License Author/Source

NASA (Chicago at night)http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/scripts/sseop/photo.pl?mission=ISS007&roll=E&frame=165252011/09/26 visited

Wiki Davoddhttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Taiwan_map.gif2011/09/26 visited

Wiki Heinz Lohmann http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:TAIWAN_Karte_Gross.jpg2011/09/26 visited

Wiki Ksiomhttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Taiwan_relief_location_map.png2011/09/26 visited

Wiki Orioncityhttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cloud_Ocean_Taiwan_Big_Snow_Mountain.JPG2011/09/26 visited

This work is from Water Source Agency, MOEA, ROC http://www.wra.gov.tw/public/Data/gh022_p1.htmand subject to the fair use doctrine of the Taiwan Copyright Act Article 50 by GET

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Flickr Issac Alshihabihttp://www.flickr.com/photos/rithim/19941810/2011/09/28 visited

This work is from Water Source Agency, MOEA, ROC http://www.wra.gov.tw/public/Data/gh022_p2.htm and subject to the fair use doctrine of the Taiwan Copyright Act Article 50 by GET

Flickr 黃基峰http://www.flickr.com/photos/goldentime/3217955050/2011/09/28 visited

Wiki Cstarknyc http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Taiwan_centralrange_landslide1.jpg2011/09/28 visited

Flickr Mooihttp://www.flickr.com/photos/mooitw/4557123309/2011/09/28 visited

Wiki Yikenhttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Damaged_road_in_Yushan_National_Park.jpg/2011/09/28 visited

Wiki Cyclonebiskit (NASA)http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Morakat_2009_track.png2011/09/28 visited

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Wiki NASAhttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Morakot_aug_9_2009.jpg2011/09/28 visited

NASA GES DISChttp://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/gesNews/typhoon_morakot2011/09/28 visited

This work is from Environmental Protection Administration, Executive Yuan, ROC http://unfccc.epa.gov.tw/unfccc/english...... and subject to the fair use doctrine of the Taiwan Copyright Act Article 50 by GET

Formosa Community 愛心滿天下 http://sixstar.cca.gov.tw/blog/yltsh930307/myBlogArticleAction.do?method=doListArticleByPk&articleId=26502011/09/28 visited

Flickr Paul Huhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/paulhu/3823572129/in/photostream//2011/09/28 visited

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