台灣的環保問題與環保運動(上)

台灣過去的山地開發、工業發展造成了哪些環保上的問題？針對這些問題，政府目前有哪些因應的措施與政策？是否能有效執行並達到效果？而民間的自立救濟運動，又有哪些成功的例子值得借鏡與分享？主辦單位台灣環境資訊協會特別邀請長期研究與參與環保的學者專家，從台灣各種環境污染的問題談起，深入探討台灣環境保護政策、環保運動與如何推動參與台灣永續發展。Taiwan News特別整理其中部分精采內容以饗讀者。

What environmental problems have been created in Taiwan because of industrial development and the development of mountain regions? What measures and policies does the government presently have in place to deal with these problems? Have they been effective in reaching their objectives? What private environmental protection efforts have been successful and worthy of emulation? The sponsor of today's forum, the Taiwan Environmental Information Association, has invited scholars and experts that have studied and taken part in environmental protection for many years to discuss various pollution problems in Taiwan. They will cover Taiwan environmental protection policy, environmental protection movements and how to promote participation in Taiwan’s sustained development. The Taiwan News is presenting excerpts of the discussion for our readers.

台灣山地開發的環保問題

Environmental problems caused by mountain development

高雄市教師會生態中心主任李根政：首先我把台灣的環境問題做一個簡單的介紹。第一個問題是台灣山地的問題。台灣很多地方都是高山，山林的開發主要從日本時代開始，第一個階段叫「伐樟取腦」，也就是砍伐樟樹來煉樟腦，在那個過程中，台灣低海拔1500公尺以下的原始森林大概就被破壞得差不多了；第二個階段與第一階段差不多是同時進行，但是開採的目標不一樣，主要是林業開採，正式發展木材工業，砍伐的對象是紅檜跟扁柏，主要集中在太平山、八仙山跟阿里山這三個林場。其實紅檜跟扁柏在日本時代砍得並不多，但是後來國民黨來到台灣之後，砍伐的數量遠比日本時代來得多，保守估計大概是十比一甚至二十比一。日本時代的機械力還沒那麼發達，後來國民政府開了林道之後，有了電鉅以後，大概砍了四十萬平方公里左右，現在留下來的就是人造林。

Ken-cheng Lee(Director of the Ecological Education Center, Kaohsiung Teachers Association): I would like to first offer a simple introduction to environmental problems in Taiwan. The first problem is that of Taiwan's mountains. Many high mountains in Taiwan have undergone deforestation since the Japanese era. The first phase was the felling of camphor trees to extract camphor. During this phase, the virgin forests in Taiwan at elevations of 1,500 meters or lower were all pretty much destroyed. The second phase occurred almost simultaneously with the first phase, but the extraction objective was different. This time the forests were being used to develop the timber industry. The trees that were being felled at the time were Taiwan red and Japanese cypresses. The main areas in which the trees were being cut were centered around the Taiping, Ba Hsian and Alishan mountains. In fact, not many Taiwan red and Japanese cypresses were chopped down during the Japanese era, but after the Kuomintang came to Taiwan, the number of trees cut down far outnumbered that seen during the Japanese era. Conservative estimates put the ratio at 10 or 20 to one. Machinery to cut down trees was not as developed during the Japanese era; when the KMT began clearing forest roads, they had the use of electricity and cut down about 400,000 square kilometers of forest. Mountain trees now are actually part of man-made forests.

人造林的主要物種是從日本引進的柳杉，引進幾十年之後，下一個問題就是農業也跑到山上去了，種茶、種檳榔，結果國有林杉地的森林大概也消失了。這種濫墾的行為從國民政府來台灣之後就一直沒有辦法有效遏止，到目前為止仍然如此。台灣有一個很特殊現象－－不曉得在中國是不是有類似的情形－－就是就地合法，也就是山林遭到濫墾濫伐之後，政府沒有辦法處理，就直接「就地合法」，

The main trees in these forest plantations are Japanese cedar. Decades after planting these trees, the next problem that arose was the migration of agriculture to mountain regions. Farmers began to plant tea and betel nut, which led to the vanishing of state forests. This sort of land misuse was something the government has been unable to curtail to this day. There is a special situation in Taiwan ― I don't know if there is a similar situation in China ― where we have what could be called squatter's rights. That is the government has no way to stop anyone from misusing mountain land for farming or from cutting down trees, as these farmers and lumberjacks have squatters' rights.

森林的濫墾濫伐會導致什麼問題呢？現在台灣最大的問題是每一次颱風來臨，就會發生很嚴重的山崩、土石流，政府要花很多錢去做水土保持工程，路斷了再修，修了再斷；前一年的工程費還沒有發包出去，後一年颱風出去又把它吹斷，根本是無止境的投資。土石流也會造成很多人命的損傷。最近最嚴重的問題就是豐水期反而缺水的問題，也就是夏天雨量很多的時候，反而導致水庫水的濁度過高，很有名的例子就是石門水庫，石門水庫的供水區包括台灣高科技電子產業的群落，非常需要用水，缺水就是大麻煩。

What sort of problems does misuse of land and rampant deforestation bring? Taiwan faces severe landslides and mudflows now every time the island is hit by a typhoon. The government has to spend a great deal of money on water and soil protection projects, roads need to be repaired and then when a typhoon comes again, the same damage is repeated. Last year's numbers for post-typhoon repair construction haven't been released yet, but the amount spent the year before was astronomical. Landslides also cost many lives. Recently, the most serious problem has been water shortages during times of ample rain because the heavy summer rains contribute to excessive levels of turbidity in reservoirs. The most noted recent example was with the Shihmen Reservoir, which supplies water to an area that includes a high concentration of high-tech and electronics companies. They have a high demand for water, so there's a real problem when a water shortage occurs.

另外一個問題是道路開發，台灣道路開發密度非常高，除了一般的道路，還有山區道路。當初政府為了要安置從中國大陸移過來的退伍軍人，就叫他們去山上開路，把道路左右兩邊的森林撥給他們去砍來賺錢，像中橫、南橫、北橫這些橫貫公路的開闢，對台灣的杉地破壞非常大，這種山地的道路也要不斷地修，非常麻煩。

Another problem has been the clearing of roads. Taiwan has a high-density road system, which aside from the regular road network also includes mountain thoroughfares. The government originally wanted to give retired KMT soldiers from China the chance to make some money from selling the timber left behind after the roads had been cleared but the opening of the northern, central and southern cross-island highways was devastating to the Taiwan fir tree. The mountain roads also need to be constantly repaired, which is very troublesome.

最近台灣另外一個問題就是高速公路的開闢，縱貫高速公路本來已經有兩條了，最近又開了一條橫貫東西部的北宜高速公路。很多人認為高速公路的開闢會給偏遠的鄉鎮帶來經濟繁榮，但是另一方面，也代表大面積的農地的消失。鄉村都市化的情形非常嚴重。公路的開發與汽車文化息息相關。我從去年開始擔任環保署的環評委員之後，一直在評估政府的一些公共建設，我發現公路的建設幾乎佔所有環評案件的三分之一到一半，一天到晚都有道路拓寬的案子。

Yet another recent problem for Taiwan has been the opening of even more highways. There were originally two main highways stretching north to south and now there is a new east to west expressway linking Yilan with Taipei. Many people feel these new highways will bring economic prosperity to the villages and towns along the way, but at the other end of the spectrum, it also means a loss of huge amounts of farmland. The urbanization of villages has become a serious problem. The opening of new highways ties in directly with a prevalent automobile culture. Since becoming a member of the environmental evaluation committee for the Environmental Protection Administration last year, I have been assessing some public work projects being undertaken by the government. I discovered that anywhere from a third to one-half of all environmental evaluation cases we deal with have to do with public road projects; all day long we are besieged by requests to widen roads.

※ 本文轉載自Taiwan News Online