A government official announced Taiwan's completion of a three-year climate science information project Tuesday, providing valuable projection data and climate change models. Plans for a new study on climate change's impact on the nation's agriculture and ecology were also announced.

The Taiwan Climate Change Information Platform, which cost $3 million, was launched by the National Science Council and received help from Taiwanese universities and research institutes. The platform provided models that will help the country's policymakers assess climate change's effect on rainfall and extreme weather events like typhoons.

"Such information is valuable and can help reduce casualties," said Lin Lee-yaw, deputy executive secretary of the National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction.

Over the last hundred years, Taiwan's average temperature increased 1.4 degrees Celsius, Lin said. This is consistent with other developing economies but twice the global average of 0.74 C. Lin hopes future research will pinpoint the reasons behind the temperature increase (James Lee, Taiwan Central News Agency, Jan. 15). -- EH