Lulu Keng of the Taiwan Environmental Information Association reported that whole villages had disappeared and that they were lobbying their government about its riverside construction and hill development policies.  The communities, villages and wilderness where the TEIA works are located in the north of Taiwan and were unaffected, but they had travelled to the south-east of the country where they had seen unbelievable amounts of ‘mass drift wood’ along the shore, which had never happened before.  It meant that all the ports in south-east Taiwan were closed, stopping all fishing boats and ferrys.   She wrote ‘It shocked us to think what is going on in the forests up the mountains.’

Lulu continued, ‘Until now, our government’s response to climate change has been to advocate “the simple life” by riding bicycles and turning off lights. However, they have not adjusted any national policies and still keep building more and more coal power plants. We are looking forward to getting more information at the Dublin Conference.’

Juju Wang of the Taiwan National Trust brought 400 students to southern Taiwan to help with the clean-up on 13 August and they are now working on a longer term restoration project.

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