.We focus on the human and development impacts of climate change

Reuters
Date: 22 December 2020
By: Sally Jensen | Thomson Reuters FoundationShare:

TAIPEI, Dec 22 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – When Typhoon Morakot hit indigenous villages in Taiwan's mountains 11 years ago, former army officer Chen Cheng-nan was stunned at the devastation.

"The mountain forest landscape changed overnight. In a blink of an eye, the forested river valleys went bare. It was a terrible sight. The dike broke and Qishan town was completely swept away," he remembered.

But as global temperatures rise due to planet-warming emissions, something odd is happening in Taiwan: devastating typhoons appear to be gradually disappearing.

The self-ruled western Pacific island, claimed by Beijing as Chinese territory, has historically seen three or four typhoons a year, but since 2010 the number making landfall has fallen to 2.5 a year on average.    [FULL  STORY]