The otter could not get ashore and the stone tiger could not go home, and the river group denounced the "water environment improvement" project as an ecological killer.

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The water environment improvement plan is part of the forward-looking infrastructure, with a budget of 250 billion yuan for improving the environment and ecological functions, but it has been severely criticized by civic groups for destroying the original ecological habitat function of the river, diminishing the natural purification function, and turning it into a landscape project. it even destroys the homes of otters and stone tigers, making it impossible for otters to land and increasing the risk of road killings of stone tigers.

The "Taiwan River Network", composed of non-governmental river civic groups, held its second evaluation and selected three "rotten apples" and two "golden apples" for the water environment improvement project. Experts pointed out that of the 48 water environment projects evaluated this year, 22 caused ecological degradation, accounting for 46%, requiring central and local units to really review the problems of floating projects and poor quality, and specifically respond to the expectations of the public for "water environment improvement."

The river group held an evaluation to select rotten apples from the water environment project.

This year, the Taiwan River Network, made up of river conservationists, professionals, and community colleges, once again put forward a folk evaluation of the "water environment improvement plan" in the forward-looking infrastructure, scoring according to the four major aspects of ecological function improvement, social function, plan implementation procedure, and design.

The River Network selected three rotten apples, including two at a time in Jinmen County, including the "Jinsha River Basin Water Environment improvement Plan" and "Liyu Qingyuan Lake Water Environment improvement", while Miaoli County has a "Causeway section of Xihu River as a whole." In view of the imminent review of the second phase of the water environment budget in November, the group requested the Water Resources Department to conduct an immediate review.

The River Citizen Group called on the Water Resources Department to immediately review the water environment improvement plan and put an end to the chaos of the project. (photo / Lin Jiyang) Vertical cement revetment replaces natural vegetation, and otters can't get ashore. Scholars criticize: spend taxes to create ecological killers.

Li Lingling, a professor at the Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at National Taiwan University, who has long studied the ecology of otters, said that along the Jinsha Creek in Kinmen is a hot spot for Eurasian otters. Regardless of the ecological characteristics of the stream warned by expert consultants, the engineering unit is still digging and replacing the natural vegetation of the stream bank with vertical cement revetment. The otter must swim far to find a place to get ashore, causing serious damage to the original habitat.

Professor Li Lingling even named another rotten apple: Qingyuan Lake in Liyu, which did not take into account the ecological characteristics of the wetland, greatly disturbed the wetland, excavated the bottom of the lake, moved the original subsoil for other purposes, backfilled the abandoned soil, removed the original old trees, and even put tiles on the shore, seriously harming the ecology and making the ecological diversity of the lake almost extinct.

Li Lingling said that the wrong water environment project violates the habits of wildlife in the habitat, or blocking the flow of water leads to the destruction of the ecological diversity of the original wetland, making the "improvement of the water environment" an ecological killer.

Biology affected by the project: Eurasian otter (courtesy of Taipei City Zoo)

The vertical cement revetment is so steep and high that the otter cannot get ashore (courtesy of the Taiwan River Stream Network). Stone Tiger expert: wrong water environment improvement increases the risk of killing Shihu Road.

Miaoli County, which had previously caused social controversy over Shihu Park, was once again named to continue the Shihu road killing project, and this evaluation won the rotten apple award for the project of "overall environmental construction of the causeway section of Xihu River".

Wang Yu-Huang, director of the Taiwan Ecological Society and director of the Stone Tiger Conservation Association, said that the riverside area of the Tonggong section of the Xihu River was originally a habitat for stone tigers and wildlife activities, and the engineering unit built bicycle lanes here, which not only destroyed the vegetation but also divided the ecological habitats. open up wide and straight flood control roads, causing serious obstacles to the movement of stone tigers living here.

Wang Yuhuang stressed that the improvement of the water environment is a debt project and should be used cautiously. Now, not only does it destroy the natural landscape, hydrology, and climate, but also the annual maintenance and management expenses have made Miaoli's original financial predicament even worse. As far as the policy goal of improving the river ecological environment is concerned, it is simply going in the opposite direction.