The Council of Agriculture's plan to promote a tree-planting campaign is being met with suspicion.
From Save the Taiwan Humpback Dolphins:
Also reported in the Taipei Times today was the Council of Agriculture saying yesterday that it would promote a tree-planting campaign to help increase the ratio of green land. Again, a good thing. However, I can't help but be a little suspicious of some of these tree-planting efforts. One example that springs to mind is the current reclaiming effort being waged against valuable sea habitat in the name of tree-planting. Yes, in Mailiao, Yunlin County, just next to the Formosa plant they are reclaiming land and in the process destroying valuable Taiwan humpback dolphin habitat to plant trees so that the area is "greener."
This is not the first time we have heard about little trees (often non-native) being used to spruce up the island at the cost of grander, older trees with actual stories to tell, being hauled away.