In the week leading up to an international climate change conference for nongovernmental organizations (NGO) in August this year, Annie Chang (張琬琪) was brimming with anticipation and excitement. The annual forum in Taipei on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is of great significance to local NGOs, she explains, as it provides them with an opportunity to share their insights with representatives of prominent international groups. “Of course, participating in one of the panels is a little nerve-racking,” says the researcher from the Foundation for Women’s Rights Promotion and Development, a Taiwanese organization founded in 1998. “But overall I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to discuss our experiences and exchange views on climate change.”
The UNFCCC NGO Forum, co-organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Cabinet-level Environmental Protection Administration (EPA), is among a number of regularly scheduled events that help connect Taiwan to international efforts to tackle global warming. Due to its unique status in the international community, the Republic of China (ROC) is not a member of the U.N. and therefore is not a signatory to the UNFCCC, an environmental treaty for combating climate change. As a result, official representatives from Taiwan do not take part in UNFCCC conferences.
The annual forum in Taipei enables local NGOs to learn from and support international efforts to address global warming. At this year’s seminar, Chang participated in a panel examining the links between gender equality and climate change alongside representatives of international nongovernmental groups, including Bridget Burns, advocacy and communications director of the U.S.-based Women’s Environment & Development Organization (WEDO).
“Through contacts with local gender rights groups, we’re able to integrate their opinions into the Women and Gender Constituency so they can offer input at the UNFCCC and be part of women’s call for climate justice,” Burns says. The WEDO is one of the 15 civil society organizations in the Women and Gender Constituency, a stakeholder group that works to ensure women’s voices and rights are reflected in the UNFCCC framework. “I’m glad there’s a high-level awareness of the connections between gender equality and climate change in Taiwan,” Burns adds.
Wind turbines line the coast in central Taiwan’s Changhua County. Taiwan is working to address climate change by developing renewable power sources and enacting new emissions laws. (Photo by Chen Chun-lin)
During the panel, Chang highlighted local NGO the Homemakers United Foundation as an excellent example of women’s groups’ effectiveness in tackling climate change. A well-known environmental advocacy organization established in 1989, the foundation promotes the adoption of eco-friendly lifestyles by publishing handbooks and arranging classes, among other measures.
Chang stated at the forum that natural disasters disproportionately affect women, and that women are on average more concerned about environmental issues. Therefore, she called on governments and NGOs to “turn the vulnerable into the backbone” of efforts to tackle global warming. “Women can be positive agents for change because of their ability to bring members of their communities together,” she said.
This year’s NGO Forum also featured panels on the impacts of climate change on public health and indigenous groups. During the former discussion, Swedish scholar Jan C. Semenza from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, an EU agency committed to enhancing the region’s defenses against infectious diseases, demonstrated the link between global warming and the spread of illnesses like West Nile fever in Europe.
Additionally, Wu Pei-chih (吳佩芝), an associate professor in the Department of Occupational Safety and Health at Chang Jung Christian University in southern Taiwan’s Tainan City, highlighted the correlation between rising temperatures and air pollution, as well as the growing risk of dengue fever spreading to northern Taiwan. Traditionally, the mosquito-borne disease has been found only in the south of the country.
In the final panel at this year’s forum, Chang Shan-nan (張善楠), director of the National Museum of Prehistory in southeastern Taiwan’s Taitung County, noted that indigenous peoples, both domestically and around the world, are among the most vulnerable to the effects of global warming. “When discussing climate change, we need to reflect on environmental justice,” Chang stated during the event. “We should also be inspired by indigenous communities’ environmentally friendly ways of life.”
Valmaine Toki, an indigenous scholar from New Zealand, echoed these thoughts. “The integration of both traditional wisdom and new technologies to adapt to the impacts of climate change offers a path to new partnerships and innovative ways of thinking,” said the senior lecturer in law at the University of Waikato in Hamilton, New Zealand. Toki also serves as a member of the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, an advisory body to the U.N. Economic and Social Council.
Attended by six foreign experts with close connections to the U.N. or other prominent international organizations, the 2015 UNFCCC NGO Forum also provided an opportunity to explore the laws and initiatives that Taiwan has enacted to tackle global warming. In particular, there was considerable discussion at this year’s event of the nation’s new Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction and Management Act. The law, which was passed by the Legislature on June 15, represents a major milestone in the government’s efforts to address climate change.
“This legislation brings the country more in line with international efforts,” notes EPA Minister Wei Kuo-yen (魏國彥). The act is expected to boost the development of the green technology sector, while also making Taiwan more competitive, as carbon emissions are increasingly seen as a potential barrier to international trade, the minister adds.
Mosquito-killing chemicals are sprayed to fight dengue fever in southern Taiwan in October last year. Public health experts are concerned that the disease could spread to new regions due to rising global temperatures. (Photo by Central News Agency)
At the UNFCCC NGO Forum, officials from the American Institute in Taiwan, British Office Taipei and European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan, which represent the interests of the U.S., Britain and the EU respectively in the absence of formal diplomatic ties, praised the new legislation. Speaking at the opening of the event, British Office Taipei deputy representative Damion Potter stated that the law “means a great deal to Taiwan’s future … but also shows Taiwan is a leader in the region. This has been an example to other parts of Asia setting their targets ahead of the meeting in Paris.”
This year’s UNFCCC summit will take place in the French capital from Nov. 30 to Dec. 11. The event will include the annual meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC, the supreme decision-making body of the convention. A new agreement placing a cap on greenhouse gas emissions for industrialized countries is expected to be inked in Paris to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which is slated to expire in 2020.
Taiwan will not be formally represented at the event and therefore will not have an official role in the formation of any new treaty. However, the ROC remains committed to tackling climate change. Through the introduction of the Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction and Management Act, which took effect on July 1, the government has set a target of reducing the nation’s carbon emissions to half their 2005 levels by 2050, or a reduction to an annual output of 122.5 million metric tons. According to the most recent statistics from the International Energy Agency, an autonomous intergovernmental organization based in Paris, Taiwan produced 256.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from fuel combustion in 2012, or 0.81 percent of the worldwide total. That translates to 10.95 metric tons per capita, ranking Taiwan 20th globally.
At the end of June this year, the EPA organized a conference on the progress of negotiations among UNFCCC signatories. At the event, which was attended by representatives from organizations like the World Bank and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, EPA Minister Wei reiterated Taiwan’s determination to protect the environment, as highlighted by the promulgation of the Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction and Management Act. The message was again conveyed to the international community in mid-August when Wei gave a speech in Washington, D.C. on the fight against air pollution in Asia.
On Sept. 17, Taiwan further underscored its role as a responsible member of the international community when it revealed its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution, or INDC. Countries have been asked to specify the greenhouse gas emissions cuts that they are willing to make and the measures they will enact to achieve these targets in advance of the UNFCCC summit in Paris. Nations’ commitments as outlined in their INDCs are expected to determine the strength of the replacement for the Kyoto Protocol. Though Taiwan does not have an official role in the UNFCCC process, the ROC government voluntarily published its INDC—in which it has committed to reducing the nation’s carbon emissions to 80 percent of their 2005 levels by 2030—to underscore its determination to combat climate change.
As it continues to call upon the international community to support its bid to participate in the UNFCCC as an observer, Taiwan is making preparations to match the carbon emissions reduction targets that will be set at the conference in Paris, Wei says. “In fact, local industries have expressed their concern that the country will lose competitiveness if the government doesn’t enact measures in line with the global fight against climate change,” he notes.
Write to Oscar Chung at mhchung@mofa.gov.tw