NGOs to take lead at UN summit in Johannesburg

Months of communication resulted in a NT$2.3 million allocation to cover expenses of the activists' trip to South Africa, according to the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA), the secretariat of the government's task force for the WSSD.

With the TANGOs struggling to raise funds from the private sector, however, some in the local media wonder whether local NGOs have lost their independence, something essential for any NGO.

Tu Wen-ling (杜文苓), co-chair of the Taiwan Environmental Action Network, a US-based environmental group composed of Taiwanese overseas students and environmentalists, denied the charges, saying the government's preparation for the WSSD was actually driven by the TANGOs.

"Our `Ten Years On' series of workshops held by the TANGOs is to condense the views of civil society into a basis for people to monitor the government," Tu said.

The two-month long "Ten Years On" series launched in June uses Agenda 21 as a basis to review Taiwan's handling of a number of issues over the past decade, including controlling chemical toxicants, water resources management, ecological preservation, the relation between women and the environment, energy policies and the establishment of a new partnership with Aboriginal people.

Lai Wei-chieh (賴偉傑), secretary-general of the Green Citizens' Action Alliance, a Taipei-based anti-nuclear group and a TANGOs member, said that NGOs are destined to be opposed to much of government policy, regardless of any recent support from Taipei.

It is a shame that Taiwan's government rarely considers its diplomatic strategies from the environmental angle, Lai said.

"Even now," Lai said, "the government has no strategy for the WSSD."

For NGOs, Lai told the Taipei Times, learning and exchanging experiences with counterparts from other countries is more important.

Government officials, however, said the idea of incorporating the strengths of all sectors of civil society into the government deserves encouragement.

"There are two kinds of NGOs," said Roam Gwo-dong (阮國棟), Director of the EPA's Science and Technology Consulting Office. "One builds a partnership with the government, while the other refuses to take a cent from the government in order to ensure their independence."

Roam stressed that a focus of Agenda 21 is to strengthen the roles of different sectors of the population, including women, children and youth, indigenous people, NGOs, local authorities, workers, business and industry, scientific and technological community, and farmers.

Roam said that governmental officials, including former EPA head Chang Lung-sheng (張隆盛), would present academic articles at workshops at the forum, in the name of representatives of NGOs.

"We officials will also enter the main conference of the WSSD [as representatives of NGOs] to gather information about adopting concrete steps for better implementation of Agenda 21 in Taiwan," Roam said.

Eric Liou (劉銘龍), secretary-general of the Environmental Quality Protection Foundation (環境品質文教基金會), which is not a TANGOs member, told the Taipei Times that his group took no money from the government but would work with government officials to raise Taiwan's profile at the main conference of the WSSD.