Taiwan’s Environmental
Struggle (I)
Toward a Green Silicon Island
by Prof. Jack Williams
Visiting Professor, Department of Geography
National Taiwan University, R.O.C.
Professor Emeritus, Department of Geography
Michigan State University, U.S.A
Unless noted, the course materials are licensed under
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialShareAlike 2.5 Taiwan (CC BY-NC-SA 2.5)
Taiwan’s Environmental Struggle
Toward a Green Silicon Island
Jack F. Williams
Michigan State University
&
Ch’ang-yi David Chang
National Taiwan University
Routledge Publishers, UK: 2008
Taiwan Geographical Environment & Resources
Taiwan’s Environmental Struggle (I)
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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
Switzerland
Japan
USA
TAIWAN
South Korea
(Hong Kong)
China
Taiwan Geographical Environment & Resources
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Score
95.5
84.5
81.0
80.8
79.4
?
65.1
Rank
1
21
39
40
51
?
105
4
Most Liveable Cities
2009 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
Tokyo
Hong Kong
TAIPEI
Beijing
Shanghai
Guangzhou
1
19
39
62
76
85
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.
Cloud Ocean Taiwan Big Snow Mountain
Taiwan Geographical Environment & Resources
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Wiki Orioncity
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A Wet Island
Annual
Precipitation
2.500mm
2.5 times the
world average
Taiwan Geographical Environment & Resources
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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!
Taiwan Geographical Environment & Resources
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Flicker Issac Alshihabi
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A Short, Steep &
Fast Runoff
Rivers are short
and steep in
Taiwan with large
runoff (hydrography)
differences in wet
and dry seasons.
Taiwan Geographical Environment & Resources
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Annual Runoff of
Taiwan
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Steep Slopes
+
Fast Moving
Water
Trouble
Taiwan Geographical Environment & Resources
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Flickr 黃基峰
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Landslide Capital of the World
Taiwan Geographical Environment & Resources
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Bedrock landslide on cross-island highway, Central Range, Taiwan
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Massive mud caused
by landslide on a
roadway outside the
northeastern port of
Keelung, Taiwan,
Tuesday, April 27,
2010
Flickr Mooi
Landslide on the New
Central Cross-Island
Highway between Sinyi
and Tataka.
Taiwan Geographical Environment & Resources
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Wiki Yiken
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Disaster Hotspot


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
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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Taiwan Geographical Environment & Resources
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Lasting Image of Taiwan’s Vulnerability
Flickr Paul Hu
Formosa Community 愛心滿天下
Taiwan Geographical Environment & Resources
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Flickr Max Chang
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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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Copyrights
Work
License
Author/Source
NASA (Chicago at night)
http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/scripts/sseop/photo.pl?mission=ISS007&roll=E&frame=
16525
2011/09/26 visited
Wiki Davodd
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Taiwan_map.gif
2011/09/26 visited
Wiki Heinz Lohmann
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:TAIWAN_Karte_Gross.jpg
2011/09/26 visited
Wiki Ksiom
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Taiwan_relief_location_map.png
2011/09/26 visited
Wiki Orioncity
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cloud_Ocean_Taiwan_Big_Snow_Mo
untain.JPG
2011/09/26 visited
This work is from Water Source Agency, MOEA, ROC
http://www.wra.gov.tw/public/Data/gh022_p1.htm
and subject to the fair use doctrine of the Taiwan Copyright Act Article 50 by
GET
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Copyrights
Work
License
Author/Source
Flickr Issac Alshihabi
http://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.jpg
2011/09/28 visited
Flickr Mooi
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mooitw/4557123309/
2011/09/28 visited
Wiki Yiken
http://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.png
2011/09/28 visited
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Copyrights
Work
License
Author/Source
Wiki NASA
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Morakot_aug_9_2009.jpg
2011/09/28 visited
NASA GES DISC
http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/gesNews/typhoon_morakot
2011/09/28 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=do
ListArticleByPk&articleId=2650
2011/09/28 visited
Flickr Paul Hu
http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulhu/3823572129/in/photostream/
/2011/09/28 visited
Flickr Max Chang
http://www.flickr.com/photos/max_chang/3810643805/
2011/09/28 visited
Flickr FrankZoe
http://www.flickr.com/photos/frankzoe/2596824989
2011/09/28 visited
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Copyrights
Work
License
Author/Source
Flickr JohnathanC000
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jcphotos/3815348958/
2011/09/28 visited
Flickr JohnathanC000
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jcphotos/3814539451/
2011/09/28 visited
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