A coalition of 25 universities on Friday signed the Talloires Declaration, pledging to adopt environmental practices to pursue sustainability on campuses.
The move boosted the number of Taiwanese universities that have signed the internationally recognized document advocating environmental efforts from 23 to 48 — the third-highest globally, after the US and Brazil.
The Talloires Declaration was drawn up in 1990 in Talloires, France, by 20 university presidents worldwide in a bid to raise environmental awareness and implement a plan of action to pursue sustainability and environmental literacy in higher education institutes.
The actions set forth in the declaration include using every opportunity to raise public, government and industry awareness about sustainable development; encouraging universities to engage in education, research and information exchange on population, environment and development to move toward sustainability; and cultivating environmental literacy among the citizenry.
Among the schools that signed the declaration was National United University, in Miaoli, whose “green” practices include volunteering programs to motivate its students and faculty to grow plants on campus.
The school also has an indoor swimming pool featuring an insulated roof that lowers the room temperature by reducing the absorption of heat, as well as energy-efficient lighting and more than 300 solar panels used in conjunction with a heat pump to heat up the pool during winter.
Taipei College of Maritime Technology is equipped with a small vertical axis wind turbine with a production capacity of 3 kilowatt-hour, which is used to power a building on campus.
The school’s campus also has a fleet of electric bicycles and a power-saving lighting system using light-emitting diodes.
National Pingtung University of Science, known for agricultural technologies, has a range of departments that focus on the studies on sustainability, including environmental engineering; soil and water conservation; and forest and wild life preservation.
The school is unique because 92.59 percent of its campus is covered by vegetation, which consists of 394 genera of ferns, gymnosperms, dicotyledons and monocotyledons.
The school also adopts a wastewater processing system, including permeable pavement for rainwater recycling and filtration, and has 12 groves of tropical fruit, herbs and medicinal plants.
National Taiwan Sport University, Soochow University, Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages and National Taipei University of Education were among the schools that signed the declaration on Friday.
National Taiwan Normal University and Green University Committee president Chang Kuo-en (張國恩) said he hopes that the institutes that have pledged sustainability efforts would honor their promise by offering related courses and fostering a culture of sustainability among students, faculties and communities.
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