Chiau Wen-yan

Chiau Wen-yan is a Taiwanese urban planner, architect, and politician. He was the member of Legislative Yuan, a professor and the former director of the Institute of Marine Affairs and Resource Management at National Taiwan Ocean University.

Early life and education

Chiau was born in Pingtung County in 1953. His mother, Dai-tai Moei, was Hakka Chinese.
After high school, Chiau graduated from National Cheng Kung University in 1976 with a Bachelor of Science in urban planning and earned a master's degree in urban planning in 1980 from National Chung Hsing University. He then completed advanced studies in the United States, where he earned a Master of Arts in 1989 and a Ph.D. in 1991, both from the University of Pennsylvania in urban planning and regional planning.
When Chiau was a student at the National Cheng Kung University, he served as President of the Fine Art Club, and studied under Professor Guo Bai-chuan for sketching, Professor Ma Den-Fieu for watercolor painting, Professor Tsai Mao-song for traditional Chinese painting, and Professor Wang Jia-cheng for design. Chiau has won the first prizes in both college group and social group in the "Ink Painting and Sketching Competition in Southern Taiwan’s Seven Counties," with the works collected in Tainan Social Education Center. Chiau has also won the first prize in the traditional Chinese painting category of the national "Qingxi Literature and Art Award" for the military reserve force. Some of his ballpoint pen drawings are preserved in .

Career

He was honored with the 2015 National Cheng Kung University Distinguished Alumni Award in November 2015 and the Lifetime Contribution Award by the Taiwan Institute of Landscape Architects in January 2016. Chiau's specialties are environmental planning and management, especially with regard to the areas of city and regional planning, climate change, coastal zone management, wetland conservation, ecotourism, underwater heritage, ocean policies and environmental law. In fact, Chiau drafted Taiwan's Environmental Education Act, which was passed in 2010. In 1995 and again in 2001, the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei honored him with the Canadian Studies Award for his research on coastal zone management and marine protected areas in Canada. Chiau served as a representative of the Chinese Taipei delegation in the APEC Working Group Meeting on Marine Resource Conservation and Fisheries, which led to the common APEC journals for the Marine Resource Conservation Working Group and the Fisheries Working Group. He also held the post of editor of the international journal Ocean and Coastal Management.
As an oceanographer, Chiau has drafted such marine blueprints as the "Vision of Maritime Countries" in 1996, the "Maritime Affairs Organization Prospectus" in 2000, the "Ocean White Paper" in 2001, the "National Vision for the Golden Decade" concerning the ocean and wetlands protection policy in 2002, the "Ocean Policy White Paper" in 2006, the "Ocean Education White Paper" in 2007, and the "Blue Revolution and Ocean Nation" policy in 2008. Chiau and Huang Huang-hsiung hosted the "Ocean and Taiwan Seminar" three consecutive times. Chiau also participated in rescuing the Free China Junk.
Chiau was appointed the deputy director of the Environmental Protection Administration, Executive Yuan in August 2008. In 2011, he was nominated and ranked fifth by the Kuomintang Party as the 2012 legislator-at-large in November 2011. Furthermore, Chiau was appointed as the President of "R.O.C. Parliamentary Association for Friendship with Germany" established in the Legislative Yuan on June 10, 2015.
Chiau advocates environmental sustainability and landscape and cultural heritage preservation and has also urged developing electronic maritime charts to maintain navigation safety. Meanwhile, he advocates relevant countries to be self-restrained regarding disputes over the East China Sea and South China Sea. He recommends upholding the concept of "peace" and "marine protected zones" so that Taiwan, China and Japan can temporarily put their dispute aside and negotiate with the "International Marine Peace Park" that is constructed jointly in the East China Sea and the South China Sea.

Work History

Academia

Chiau previously served as a professor and the director of the Institute of Marine Affairs and Resource Management, National Taiwan Ocean University. He is currently an associate professor in the Department of Marine Environment and Engineering at National Sun Yat-sen University.
Government

Chiau's participation in the Taiwanese government has consisted of the following posts:
8th term of legislator-at-large,
Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection Administration,
Member, Commission on Marine Education, Ministry of Education
Council Member, National Council for Marine Affairs Advancement, Executive Yuan Cabinet)
Member, Commission on Research and Planning, Taiwan Coast Guard Administration, Executive Yuan
Advisor, Advisory Commission on National Land Conservation and Development of the Presidential Hall
Council Member, National Council for Sustainable Development, Executive Yuan
Advisor, Committee for Sustainable Development, Legislative Yuan Member, Committee on Environmental Impact Assessment, Penghu County Government
Advisor, Kaohsiung County Government
Advisor, Kaohsiung City Government
Advisor, Pingtung County Government
Member, Advisory Commission on Wildlife Conservation, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan
Delegate of Chinese Taipei, APEC Marine Resource Conservation Working Group
Senior Specialist, Construction and Planning Administration, Ministry of the Interior.
NGOs

He is also involved in non-governmental organizations in the following capacities:
CEO, Foundation of Ocean Taiwan
President, Taiwan Association of Marine Pollution Control
President, Wetlands Taiwan
Board Member, Asia Environmental Council – Asia-Pacific NGOs Environmental.