Beyond 2020: Taiwan Needs to Take Climate Chaos Seriously

Whoever wins January’s election will have to effectively manage the global, indiscriminate forces of climate chaos.

The News Lens
Date: 2019/12/30
By: Sally Jensen

Scientists have recently revealed that the planet may already have exceeded a series of climate tipping points, ominous news for small island nations that are particularly susceptible to drastic weather changes. 

Extreme weather is taking its toll on Taiwan, whose urban areas over the past century have experienced double the global average temperature rise. Rising sea levels could submerge one-third of Greater Taipei within two generations. Typhoons are becoming increasingly frequent and intense, devastating vulnerable communities in southern Taiwan.

In 2018, Taiwan already saw a reduced output of lychees, longans, and persimmons, as well as unreliable honey harvests. Coastal development is eroding millennia-old coral reefs, hampering the tourism industry. A blast of cold current in December of this year killed 29 people in the Taipei metropolitan area in just a few days. 

Farmfields in Hualien are increasingly prone to damages from climate change. 

Only swift adaptive measures and serious political concern for climate threats over the next few years will keep the island’s head above water. The upcoming elections in January offer an opportunity for Taiwan to tackle these threats with urgency.    [FULL  STORY]