Taipei Times
Date: Jan 04, 2018
By: Sean Lin  /  Staff reporter

Environmentalists yesterday accused the Forestry Bureau of attempting to demote

Taiwan Water Resources Conservation Union director Jennifer Nien, right, criticizes the Council of Agriculture’s plan to relax forest conservation regulations during a news conference in Taipei yesterday.  Photo: CNA

protected state-owned land as part of the requirements imposed by the National Land Planning Act (國土計畫法), potentially leading to landslides and the destruction of forests due to construction projects.

The land development bill would involve demoting vast tracts of class 1 protected state-owned land to class 2 protected land, meaning that developers would be able to carry out construction projects in vast tracts of forests as long as they obtain the government’s permission, Taiwan Water Resources Protection Union director Jennifer Nien (粘麗玉) told a news conference in Taipei.

The bureau is attempting to exclude some forests from class 1 protected areas, she said, citing the results of a September 2016 survey by the bureau which said that only 5,150 hectares of land on 981,345 hectares of forested hills nationwide required protection, and that 90,881 hectares had yet to be surveyed.    [FULL  STORY]