ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a general overview of environmental politics and issues in Taiwan, starting from the Kuomintang (KMT) early environmental depletion era, all the way to the current period, with a special focus on the changes that took place after Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) gained the presidency in the year 2000. It highlights the transformations in Taiwan's environmental governance under different ruling parties and analyze their positioning towards issues such as "ecological concerns" and "economic development". The chapter explores the origins of an environmental movement in Taiwan, its political orientation and highly politicized nature and how this has changed in the past few years with the arrival of a newer generation of green activists. Environmental deterioration goes way back in Taiwan's history reaching as far back as Qing times; a period in which the first mass migrations from mainland China brought increasing distress to the island's fragile forest cover and its coveted camphor tree.
