In response to post-Typhoon Morakot reconstruction, the Council of Agriculture (COA) and the Red Cross Society of The Republic of China signed on July 30 acooperation memorandum for rehabilitating forests in disaster areas while rebuilding livelihood of aborigine people live there originally. The Red Cross Society will hire residents in disaster areas to take part in or entrust professional groups with reforestation in an aggregate area of 200 hectares to realize the objective of rehabilitating disaster areas with green reforestation in cooperation with the COA, according to the memorandum.

COA Minister Wu-hsiung Chen said the government is determined to implement the Green Reforestation Project for a total area of 60,000 hectares in 8 years, and Typhoon Morakot caused landslides of an additional 25,000 hectares last year, seriously damaging Taiwan ’s forests. In order to deal with the threat of future global warming and extreme weathers, reforestation is a pressing task. However, the government has only limited resources and the private sector has infinite strength. Clearly recognizing that reforestation is a necessary task in disaster prevention, the Red Cross Society has agreed to cooperate with the COA in implementing the reforestation project, in addition to assisting industries and residents in disaster areas in rebuilding their livelihood.

The task of the Red Cross Society has been assisting distressed people, noted President Charng-ven Chen of the Red Cross Society, adding that since residents in most areas damaged seriously by the August 8 flooding last year belonged to aboriginal tribes, the disaster has made us better understand the hardship aboriginal people have long been suffered and the importance of human beings co-existing peacefully with Nature. During the process of post-disaster reconstruction the fundamental problems of how to preserve aboriginal heritage and maintain their livelihood has been exposed, and the Red Cross Society aims to help solve the problems through reforestation cooperation with the COA. Although these problems cannot be solved quickly in a short period, but we have to pay more attention to both the country’s land and aboriginal people and take active measures to make real changes, he said.

To implement the reforestation project, the Council will provide state-owned forest land with mild slope and not far away from permanent houses built for residents from disaster areas. For instance, the Council has provided 11.7 hectares of national forest land on the opposite side of the disappeared Xiaolin Villagein Jiashian Township , Kaohsiung County for the Red Cross Society to hire local residents for reforestation work. This will increase jobs there while implementing reforestation work. If necessary, the Red Cross Society is also willing to take care of state-owned forest land in disaster areas where most people can not reach easily. The project is set to reforest a total area of 200 hectares in a 6-year period. In addition, the Forestry Bureau of COA will provide saplings for the greening and beautification of the environment, where permanent houses are built for residents from disaster areas, adopted by the Red Cross Society to upgrade the quality of living for resettled families.

COA Minister Wu-hsiung Chen and Red Cross Society President Charng-ven Chen signed the cooperation memorandum for reforestation in disaster areas on July 30. After witnessing the signing ceremony, Premier Den-yih Wu praised and encouraged the close cooperation in taking care of residents from disaster areas while rehabilitating destroyed forests. Representatives of survivors from the perished Xiaolin Villagewere also invited to witness the signing of the memorandum, demonstrating that both the government and the private sector have clearly recognized that the lives of 23 million people in Taiwan are closely interconnected. This is also a brand-new concrete action of humanitarian relief in response to climate changes, expecting to create a quality living environment by implementing green reforestation with trees of hope.

The COA stressed that to accelerate forest rehabilitation, signing the memorandum with the Red Cross Society is just a start. The Council called on more enterprises and civic organizations to join the effort of reforesting public land in order to repay and serve local communities while accelerating the creation of new forests. With the Red Cross Society adopting 200 hectares of state-owned forest land, the Council estimated that emissions of carbon dioxide will decrease by 3,150 tons. And Taiwan will become a beautiful green island again when more enterprises and people join the reforestation effort in the future.