Association marks centennial, calls for policy reforms

• By Wu Liang-yi and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer

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Marking its centennial yesterday, the Chinese Taipei Alpine Association (CTAA) issued a white paper on government policy, and called for Cabinet-level coordination mechanisms and amendments to policy gaps.

The white paper, titled Mountain Taiwan White Paper (台灣國家山域治理政策白皮書), cited Control Yuan statistics of 531 mountain rescue operations involving 727 people, saying that self-organized groups and solo hikers accounted for a combined 77.31 percent of the cases.

The Executive Yuan should establish a cross-ministry task force with permanent staff to formulate policy guidelines for ministries and agencies to follow, the CTAA said.

People hike on a mountain in undated photograph.

Photo: Wu Liang-yi, Taipei Times

The Executive Yuan should also draft a legal framework for mountain governance, providing an overarching law to coordinate cross-sector and cross-ministry affairs, the CTAA added.

However, the proposed law should not replace existing sector-specific laws, including the Forest Act (森林法), the National Park Act (國家公園法), the Fire Services Act (消防法), the Tourism Development Act (發展觀光條例) and the Indigenous Peoples Basic Law (原住民族基本法), the association said.

Any proposed legislation should undergo reviews of its necessity and its potential effects on people’s rights, local autonomy, indigenous people, the environment, local finances and administrative capacity, the CTAA said.

The Control Yuan on July 16 issued a report addressing the need for a special law governing affairs and activities in mountainous areas, the eligibility of mountain guides, the management of indigenous villages and the integration of mountain guides into the commercial sector.

The report examined gaps in the government’s regulation of mountain activities. It also followed the Executive Yuan’s 2019 “Salute to the Mountains” policy (向山致敬), which sought to reverse the government’s restrictive approach to mountain access and make mountains and forests more accessible to the public.