Court rules in favor of Kaohsiung wetland preservation

2016/01/22

Kaohsiung High Administrative Court recently overturned the environmental impact assessment by Kaohsiung City Government greenlighting construction of a 942-meter access road inside Jiading Wetland.

As per the ruling, the assessment is in violation of relevant regulatory procedures and fails to take into consideration national wetland preservation plans.

Filed by 12 local residents and several environmental protection groups in 2014, the suit challenged the validity of the assessment and maintained that construction will adversely impact protected species in the area.

A former salt-evaporation pond, Jiading was declared a national wetland in 2011 by the Ministry of the Interior. It is one of the nation’s most important ecological conservation regions and a major habitat for a variety of birds and wildlife.

According to Taipei City-based Chinese Wild Bird Federation, Jiading was home to 162 spoonbills in early 2015, or nearly 8 percent of the species’ global population.

With the wetland becoming a popular spot for birding, the local government decided in July 2014 to implement the construction project so as to accommodate an increasing number of tourists.

Jiading Ecological and Cultural Association and Tainan City-based Wetlands Taiwan welcomed the court decision, urging the city government to abandon the project so the wetland will remain intact.

The city’s Environmental Protection Bureau maintains that the review process is in full compliance with relevant law, adding that it will decide whether to appeal after receiving the formal verdict.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=241578&ctNode=2194&mp=9)