Qigu lagoon with an area of around 1700 hectares), fishponds, and salt ponds.
They are located in Qigu village of Tainan County, to the north of Tainan City
and on the southwest coast of Taiwan. The wetlands have a total area of over
5000 hectares.^13 Residents use the Qigu lagoon for oyster farming and fishing
with fixed nets. Oyster farming is also done in tidal ditches sprawling around
the area. The coastal sand in the area is also well suited for clam farming.
When developers planned the Binnan project, they advertised it as a spark
plug for Tainan’s economic development. Tainan is one of Taiwan’s poorer
counties. Its stagnant economy and high unemployment rate push the young
out of their hometowns and into cities such as Kaohsiung and Taipei. Although
the population of Tainan County is growing steadily, the population in Qigu
Township has declined slowly. Given few jobs and low incomes in the Qigu
area, young people (mostly between the ages of 20–49) emigrate to the cities.
On the other hand, the percentage of residents above the age of 65 in the total
population of the Qigu area (including the townships of Qigu, Jiangjun, and
Beimen) is 13.6 percent, indicating an aging population. The geographical
location of the Qigu region is demonstrated in Figure 8.1.
The Qigu Wetlands, and especially the lagoon area, are an important
biodiversity preservation region in Taiwan. The black-faced spoonbill is one
of the rarest birds in the world, and 62 percent of the global population winters
in the vicinity of Qigu lagoon (north of the Zhengwen River Estuary).^14 These
wintering grounds offer broad and interconnected natural wetlands,
generations-old aquaculture ponds, and mangrove forests. Were it not for this
habitat, the black-faced spoonbill probably would already be extinct. In
addition to the spoonbills, the habitat supports at least 100000 waterfowl of
more than 150 species, making this one of the richest ecological areas
remaining in Taiwan.^15
The black-faced spoonbill, Platalea minor, is one of six species of
spoonbills. It is a medium-sized white water bird,^16 with a black face, a long
spoon-like bill, and long black legs. Remaining parts are white, except in the
breeding season, when the spoonbills grow yellow plumage around the neck
and head. Due to a lack of baseline data, population variability over time is
unknown.^17 Conservationists estimate that at present, the world population of
black-faced spoonbills is less than 1000.
The threat to the spoonbill is proposed industrial development adjacent to
its habitat. In 1993, the Tuntex group submitted a petrochemical construction
plan to the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA). This would become
Taiwan’s seventh naptha cracker. The Yeh-loong group simultaneously
proposed a large ‘steel city’ project for the same area. Developers of the
Binnan project calculated that the total investment would be in excess of
NT$430 billion (US$13 billion). (Investment by the Tuntex Group is NT$320
billion, while that by Yeh-loong is NT$114 billion.) After the seventh naptha
198 Governance of biodiversity conservation in China and Taiwan