TAIWAN, May 26, 1998 - The American Institute in
Taiwan and the United States-Asia Environmental Partnership, in conjunction with the
National Pingtung University of Science and Technology and the Council of Agriculture,
yesterday announced a livestock waste management center at the National Pingtung
University is to open on Monday.
"We are extremely pleased to be able to work in partnership with colleagues in
Asia and specifically in Taiwan to find solutions to this major environmental
challenge," Darryl Johnson, director of the American Institute in Taiwan, said in a
statement.
The Livestock Waste Management Center will be located at National Pingtung University
of Science and Technology (NPUST) and will showcase state-of-the-art U.S. technologies
through demonstration sites and workshops. The opening ceremony will be held at the center
in Pingtung County on May 25.
In the past few decades, three major worldwide trends have emerged in livestock
reduction, according to AIT. They are a shift from small to increasingly large-scale
operations, an increase in production density and a decrease in the supply of land to
treat wastes.
These trends exist both in Asia and the U.S. and have created enormous environmental
pollution concerns in water and land ecosystems. As a result, there has been an increasing
demand for stricter environmental controls.
Under the umbrella of the United States-Asia Environmental Partnership (USAEP), a team
of U.S. experts from industry, academia and the U.S. Department of Agriculture worked in
partnership with the NPUST to design and establish the center. In addition, U.S. companies
are donating almost NT$20 million worth of equipment to the center.
"What we want to do with this center is show innovative techniques. Techniques as
simple as composting the waste all the way up to complete treatment," Kamran Akhtar,
programs director of US-AEP/Taiwan, said at yesterday’s press conference.
Akhtar says the shortage of land is the biggest block in managing livestock waste on
the island. "In Taiwan, the land just isn’t there, so you have this waste
running into the water. For instance, in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, it’s a big
problem down there," he said.
AIT expects the center to become an example in the transfer of environmental protection
technology and cost-effective solutions for the future of sustainable agriculture. The
center will also host observers from around Asia to expose them to new ways in which they
may combat the same problems in their own countries.
