(1) Promotion of Livestock Farm Waste Reduction and Reuse

As part of its campaign in solving the issue of hog farm pollution, the COA conducted 1,168 routine wastewater treatment facility inspection reports, handled 296 facility malfunction reports and maintenance cases, removed sludge from 12 hog farms, and held 8 campaigns attended by roughly 400 people. In addition, to control chicken farm pollution, the COA invited experts to visit farms and provide troubleshooting. Tangible improvements were made at 27 farms. The COA also assisted 48 model livestock farms throughout Taiwan to install deodorizer spray system, conducted an industrial group leaders' opinion workshop, and held 3 online livestock waste reporting workshops.

The COA assisted the Farming and Livestock Development Foundation, Poultry Association, Animal Technology Institute Taiwan, and National Dong Hua University to establish livestock pollution control service teams. The COA further provided timely assistance to farmers listed in the farmers' list of each county and city in coordination with the Taiwan Livestock Research Institute's extension system of COA, 675 farmers households received assistance in 2004.

The COA also assisted 17 model hog farms in the counties and cities of Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin, Chiayi, and Tainan to install wastewater circulation reuse and conservation facilities, conserving around 12~20 liters of water per hog per day.

In order to ensure proper treatment of livestock and poultry waste, the COA assisted 45 poultry and livestock waste composting plants throughout Taiwan in producing about 380,000 tons of compost manure. The COA also authorizeded the National Chungshing University to analyze the main composition of finished compost, its harmful contents, and heavy metals such as cadmium, chromium, nickel, lead, and arsenic. Compost from 120 plants was tested. Reverse tracking was conducted to plants yielding poor test results in order to improve the quality control proficiency of compost plants. Site evaluation was also conducted on 45 poultry and livestock composting grounds. The COA recommended 8 excellent composting plants to participate in the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) "2003 Outstanding Industrial Waste Disposal and Resource Recycling Performance Enterprise Competition," in which 3 plants won the Outstanding Award, and 2 plants won the Excellent Award.

(2) Promotion of Rational Use of Fertilizer

To strengthen the promotion of the rational use of fertilizer and organic fertilizer, the COA assisted 51 agricultural production-marketing teams by recommending fertilizer applications based on the soil fertility tests and crop fertilizer diagnosis, and conducted fertilizer application model on 1,154 hectares. The COA promoted the use of microbial fer-tilizers including inoculated rhizobia, mycorrhizae, and phosphate-solubilizing microorganisms on 8,500 hectares of legumes and melons. When using effectively, microbial fertilizers can replace a certain portion of chemical fertilizers.The COA encouraged farmers in 18 counties and cities to use organic fertilizers of livestock and poultry manure in the fermentation of agricultural waste. These farmers applied organic fertilizers to 14,145 hectares of long-and short-term crops. In addition, the COA performed comprehensive soil fertility improvement on 1,666 hectares of farmland growing staple crops in 18 towns and townships of 9 counties and cities. The agricultural improvement farms of each region conducted soil fertility tests and recommended soil fertility improvement materials needed to effectively improve fertility and enhance the quality and yield of crops.

The COA also encouraged the planting of green manure on fallow land and during winter time in order to boost fertility, produced quality green manure seeds, and supplied farmers with adequate green manure soybeans for planting on land left fallow during the first and second growing seasons. In the end of 2003, the COA designed 0.35 hectares for green manure foundation seed farms, 14 hectares of registered seed farms, and 455 hectares of certified seed farms to supply seed for planting of green manure on 27,000 hectares of fallow land in 2005. Farmers were also encouraged to plant green manure such as rape, vetch, and Egyptian clover on 85,771 hectares of farmland left fallow during the winter season to maintain soil fertility, minimize the use of chemical fertilizers in the next planting season to improve the physical and chemical properties of the soil, keep agriculture alive to beautify the countryside, develop local tourism, facilitate winter honey production, and alleviate the pressure on over production of vegetables in winter.

(3) Strengthening Farmland Irrigation Infrastructure and Management

The COA made replacement or improvement of the irrigation systems under the jurisdiction of Farmland Water Conservation Association in order to ensure the flow of water and minimize losses from drought, flood, and irrigation allocation. In 2004, the COA replaced 444 kilometers of irrigation canals, improved 1,072 irrigation structures, and applied ecological engineering methods at 25 sites in order to preserve the environment. The COA conducted land consolidation, redesignated field areas, and installed sound irrigation canals. The COA set aside land for public production-marketing purposes and irrigation, and took advantage of land consolidation in coordination with diversified cultivation approaches to improve the agricultural production environment. The COA conducted land consolidation on 552 hectares farmland in Haoshounan and Hsihu in Yunlin County in 2004. The COA also replaced and improved irrigation canals, broadened and paved farm roads, and improved roadside irrigation and drainage canals in early land consolidation areas, improving 2,779 hectares of farmland in 35 areas.

The COA promoted water-conserving irrigation and assisted farmers to install sprinkler irrigation, micro-irrigation, and drip irrigation systems for upland crops. The COA's efforts spurred agricultural modernization, boosted water conservation, decreased irrigation manpower, reduced production costs, and increased farmers' incomes. Water-conserving irrigation assistance was provided for an area of 1,971 hectares in 2004. The COA also subsidized farmland water conservation associations for installing automatic rainfall, water level, and flow monitoring and reporting systems in 57 locations and 5 central automatic reporting stations.

The COA fortified its monitoring and control of irrigation water quality to guard against pollution and to ensure safe and healthy agricultural products. Other efforts included the continuous improvement of irrigation control systems, promotion of water source development and conservation, and water supply for household and for industrial use during droughts in order to minimize the impact of water shortage to the people and economy of the country. The COA kept on promoting paddy field environmental protection to enhance paddies' ecological functions, groundwater replenish-ment, and flood mitigation functions. The COA hopes that paddies can play full roles in production, life, and the ecology. Approximately 40,000 people took part in 22 paddy ecological education and consciousness activities in 2004.

(4) Strengthening Ecological Reforestation and Sustainable Management of Forest Resources

Taiwan is covered with 58.5% of forest, around 2.1 million hectares. To restore forest resources, maintain good vegetation in forestland, and protect the mid- and downstream structures in the watershed areas, the COA has implemented reforestation in logged areas, poorly stocked stands, scattering stands, grasslands, landslide and bare areas. A total of 482 hectares were reforested in 2004.

The COA made plans to implement various mid and late period forest care tasks, such as thinning, in the existing man-made forests by gradual reforestation of mixed broadleaved stands to promote lumber conservation and increase forest maturation stock volume, while also increasing the ecological diversity of man-made forests. Besides, conservation of water and soil resources minimizes the risk of disease outbreaks, pest infestations, or forest fires in large-scale, removing carbon from the atmosphere, making forests a good wildlife habitat. Work was performed on 24,873 hectares of man-made forests in 2004.

To ensure the sustainable management of agricultural land and deal with the WTO membership commitments, the COA assisted farmers and agribusinesses to plant trees on lowland areas where 1,325 hectares were reforested in 2004. The COA also actived in the landscaping of urban towns and townships, parks, along the railways and highways, riverbanks and dikes, scenic spots and recreational areas, schools, offshore island watershed areas, and open grounds around various public facilities. The COA grew 520,000 nursery stock seedlings and planted 250 hectares of trees. The COA also established online landscaping education, training, and technical assistance, conducted 136 landscape- conscious and educational activities nationwide, and completed a green resource database containing Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data from 3,050 sampling areas.

(5) Strengthening Soil and Water Conservation on Slopelands

The COA is committed to protecting and maintaining watersheds and preventing natural disasters in mountainous areas. From July to October 2004, flooding and debris flow caused by typhoon Mindulle, torrential rains on July 2, and typhoon Aere brought extensive damages. In order to deal with the pressing problems, the COA changed its plans in funding 216 emergency recovery and reconstruction projects for NT$731 million. The COA invested an annual budget of NT$2.63 billion on "Mountain Control and Disaster Prevention" projects, this included 1,553 projects on mountain control and disaster prevention. The COA was also continuing with its reconstruction on 376 projects in the 921 earthquake disaster areas for a budget of NT$1.22 billion.

In carrying out slopeland conservation, the COA implemented farmland water and soil conservation and maintenance on 239 hectares in 196 water and soil conservation projects. The COA subsidized in the construction of 171 water storage ponds and 3,407 square meters of retaining walls, planting of 33,885 shrubs and trees, and completed 532 wellhead water and soil conservation projects.

In order to strengthen the monitoring and countermeasures of debris flow and enforce debris flow warning system, the COA drawn out the debris flow warning baseline, performed warning analysis based on the realtime rainfall data, and provided images from trial debris flow monitoring stations to the public via the Internet. More than 80,000 people had visited the COA's online debris flow monitoring system (http://fema.swcb.gov.tw) and the COA has won broad support. The COA has also developed monitoring vehicles, adding mobility to the debris flow monitoring system. It is no longer necessary to install monitoring stations along all streams with potential debris flow, because these vehicles are all available. These vehicles can be deployed along streams with the greatest debris flow risk when there is typhoon coming.

In promoting water and soil conservation on slopelands and encouraging rational use of land, the COA detected and cracked down 1,026 instances of illegal development or use of land. Accumulated fines over the years were NT$1.04 billion, and 1,557 cases wereprosecuted. The COA's efforts have effectively curbed illegal behavior.

(6) Establishment of the National Geography Information System

The COA is the leading agency for development of the "Natural Resources and Ecology Database" as a part of the 9 major database in national geographic information system that is being enforced by the Ministry of the Interior. The Forestry Bureau of the COA began planning the database and collecting data on ecological resources from January 30, 2004.

The 4 major projects done in 2004 included creating a standardized data framework amd information system for natural resources and ecology database, creating a database for forest carbon sequestration, creating a nationwide aerial photography database, and expanding the soil database and its application to land resources conservation. Work completed by the end of 2004 included updating the data on the natural resource and ecology database, publicizing of the book "Taiwan Natural Resource and Ecology Database I"Biodiversity" compiling a biomass survey handbook, creating a forest carbon sequestration database administration system, scanning 100 films and completed database compilation, expanding the physical data of soil database by 1,000 items, creating twenty soil maps with a scale of 1:25,000, link soil maps with covering lowlands, slopelands, and forests, creating database for soil database regulations based on the national geography information system, and completing the soil map website.

The natural resources and ecology database (http://econgis.forest.gov.tw) is being developed over a five-year period starting in 2003. This website will include more than 50 items of natural resources and ecological data of Taiwan, including food, forestry, conservation, valuable resources, animal husbandry, fisheries, disease prevention, crops, and fruit trees, etc. The database website allows the public real-time search for various types of electronic maps and ample information on Taiwan's natural ecology. The online database will allow Taiwan's valuable natural resources to be administered rationally and utilized efficiently in the future.

(7) Preservation of Biodiversity

In view of the worldwide trend of studying and protecting biodiversity, the Executive Yuan approved a revised biodiversity enforcement plan in February 2004, stipulating all government agencies to coordinate with each other in the implementation of biodiversity tasks.

Biodiversity is a major international issue affecting people's livelihoods and technological development. In 2004, the COA continued authorizing universities and colleges to conduct 7 biodiversity research projects. Research items included the genetic diversity of Taiwan's wildlife and its conservation, the nation's germplasm, conservation, sustainable reuse of resources, and invasive alien species. The researchers drafted "The 2005 Plan for Ecological Engineering Method" and the "Medium-range Essentials of Biodiversity Technological Development Projects."

In order to create a vegetation map for Taiwan, the COA held 2 professional training sessions for surveyors, drew 700 vegetation maps, surveyed 720 sampling areas, held the 2nd seminar on vegetation diversity in Taiwan, published performances for the year of 2003, and arranged for scientists from Japan, the United States, Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, and the Netherlands to visit Taiwan and share their knowledge and experiences.

To promote international cooperation and exchange of biodiversity conservation information, the COA sent delegates to attend the "7th Conference of the Parties for the Convention on Biological Diversity" held in Malaysia. The COA also conducted a biodiversity workshop for administrative staff from agencies under the Executive Yuan, and held a work review conference with biodiversity section in the Counsel for Sustainable Development, a biodiversity workshop for university students, and 3 academic seminars on biodiversity.

(8) Enforcing Animal Protection

In order to strengthen administration of pets and improve pet welfare, the COA registered 24,983 dogs in 2004, a registration rate of 43.59%. During the year, the COA also entertained 2,990 public appeals, voluntarilyinvestigated 6,037 cases by local governments, and issued 237 pet dealer licenses, which brought the total nationwide number of pet dealers to 861. Of the 1,833 dogs reported lost, 646 were found, a recovery rate of 35.0%.

The construction of the Taoyuan County Animal Protection and Education Park was completed. There were 21 cities and counties have already owned animal sheltering camps to date. The COA also combined and improved the simple sheltering camps and facilities of cities, towns, and townships, for improving the overall quality of stray dogs and cats administration. The COA also strengthened dog adoption and protection. Public animal sheltering camps processed 12,857 dog adoptions and spayed 9,762 dogs, including 7,301 dogs at public sheltering camps or private raised and 2,461 dogs at private animal sheltering camps. The COA encouraged volunteers to participate in animal protection work.

In order to carry out humanitarian treatment on stray dogs, the COA subsidized local governments in purchasing 11 dog transport vehicles and replacing obsolete dog-catching equipment. The COA also held 18 humanitarian dog catching training sessions and sponsored a 24-hour veterinary service at National Taiwan University Veterinary Hospital to improve the medical welfare of animals.

As far as concerning the promotion of humanitarian consciousness, the COA increased online animal protection resources, established an animal protection area in the Taiwan Green School Partner website, created a pet education corridor at Taipei Children's Zoo, organized training sessions for elementary and middle school teachers, conducted public forums on animal protection, and printed various types of instructional literature concerning animal protection.

To ensure the welfare of laboratory animals, the COA conducted 40 on-site inspections and supervisions for scientific application organizations, conducted 2 professional training classes and 564 people completed the trainings and received certificates, also published an annual report on the humanitarian administration of laboratory animals and a series of education DVD on the laboratory animal technology.

To improve the welfare of economic animals, the COA improved holding pens and auction aisles at 3 hog auction markets and conducted 6 on-job training sessions on humanitarian operating methods for the staff at 24 meat markets.