Is Zhang Jingsen alone in charge of the national land plan? The round-the-circle delegation questioned the abuse of power of the Executive Yuan and deliberated the black-box operation.

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The National Land Plan, which is responsible for guiding and co-ordinating the land plans of various counties and cities, was announced and implemented on April 27 this year. It is the first time that Taiwan has a clear statutory supreme space plan. However, the ring delegation questioned the Executive Yuan's illegal abuse of power, pointing out that in the past, the Ministry of the Interior gathered hundreds of public hearings and opinions from all parties, but after it was submitted to the political Yuan for deliberation, it was greatly cut down by political Councillor Zhang Jingsen, leaving only about 100 pages. and the deliberation process has not been made public, and a large number of Executive Yuan operations are simply black-box operations.

The Earth Citizen Foundation, the Taiwan Environmental Information Association, and the Environmental Rights Protection Foundation jointly held a press conference yesterday (23) to express their objection to the new version of the national land plan announced by the Executive Yuan, demanding that the deliberation process should implement the disclosure of information and public participation, and correct the conditions for the establishment of category I agricultural development areas.

Guo Hongyi, full-time lawyer of the Environmental Rights Protection Foundation (Photography / Lin Shijun)

Changing the first type of agricultural land identification standard affects the core agricultural land area

In addition, the land plan of our country sets up the principles of use according to the conditions of each district. "the first category of agricultural development areas" refers to land that has a good agricultural production environment, can maintain food security, or has invested in the construction of major agricultural improvement facilities. it is of great significance to ensure the sustainable development of the core agricultural production environment.

Wu Qirong pointed out that in the announcement of the new land plan, the criteria for the identification of "category I of agricultural development areas" were raised without explanation, from a single condition to a double condition, in addition to meeting the standard of "areas with a complete land area of 25 hectares and an agricultural use area of 80%", it is also necessary to meet the conditions of "investing in major agricultural facilities or designated as special areas for agricultural management". Otherwise, it will be classified into the "second category of agricultural development areas", which will greatly reduce the area classified as the core agricultural land and affect the allocation of agricultural resources and the identification of land development in the future.

Wu reiterated the importance of food security and the protection of agricultural land, and said bluntly that the government should not allow the loss and fragmentation of agricultural land in Taiwan. he asked the Executive Yuan to revise the contents of the "National Land Plan" and conduct relevant deliberations through collegiate deliberations to implement the disclosure of information and public participation, and stressed that the government should assume the responsibility of maintaining agricultural land.

Appendix: the Earth Citizen Foundation, the Taiwan Environmental Information Association and the Environmental Rights Protection Foundation put forward the following demands:

1. The three meetings of the Land Planning Review Council of the Executive Yuan have serious defects, which should be corrected immediately; the committee should change to the normal model, openly select scholars, experts, and representatives of non-governmental organizations, and include more people with social justice, conduct relevant deliberations in a collegial manner, and implement the disclosure of information and public participation.

Second, the Executive Yuan shall immediately make a comprehensive adjustment and liability to the relevant personnel in respect of the relevant examination defects.

Third, the Executive Yuan should immediately urge all ministries to study and draw up departmental plans to submit them for review within half a year, correct the contents of the national land plan announcement, and supplement the space development strategy of empty departments.

Fourth, the conditions of agricultural development areas should be corrected, and the maintenance of "areas with a complete land area of 25 hectares and an agricultural use area of 80%" should be classified into the first category of agricultural development areas. at the same time, the goal of sustainable development of agricultural land should be included in the national land plan.

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