Taiwan should participate in the international climate change negotiations of the Kyoto Protocol as an "emitting entity," scholars suggested yesterday.
"Taiwan has participated in a number of international governmental organizations using statutes like `economic entity,' `customs territory' and `fishing entity,' and under the name of `Chinese Taipei.' This flexible approach bypasses the problematic issue of Taiwan's sovereignty," said Song Yann-huei (宋燕輝), research fellow at the Institute of European and American Studies, Academia Sinica.
"If Taiwan can participate in APEC and WTO in the future under this formula, why can't it be applied elsewhere?" Song asked.
Song made his comments yesterday during a forum on the Kyoto Protocol.
Song also said that the government is not active enough in striving to participate in negotiations which are connected to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
"Taiwan is responsible for protecting the environment too, even though it has been stripped of its right to participate in the conference [as a sovereign nation]," Song said. "Taiwan is one of the major emitters of carbon dioxide in the world."
Climate change may also have an impact on the structure and speed of typhoons as well as rainfall.
"Because of global warming, there could be more floods, mudslides and other natural disasters which are as severe as those brought by Toraji," Song said.
Song said that tourism, fishing and farming activities along coasts may also be affected by climate change which could raise the sea level.
Lee Chien-ming (李堅明), deputy director of Research Division I at Taiwan Research Institute, was one observer from Taiwan who recently attended the Bonn conference in late July, which discussed the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol.
Lee said, as more people become aware of global warming, the targets demanded to decrease emission rates will shift from the major industrialized countries to newly industrialized countries such as Korea and Taiwan.
"It is a step forward to Taiwan being controlled by the convention. So the government and industries better have emission-control plans to prepare for our participation in the convention," he said.
Lee said that the US' rejection of the protocol didn't necessarily make it or Taiwan's participation meaningless.
While the US accounts for 36 percent of the world's emissions, Europe, Japan and Russia account for 50 percent, Lee said.
"Even if these three together can reduce emissions that will be a serious step toward reducing rates to those in 1990," Lee said.
Those who have ratified the protocol have agreed to reduce the world's carbon dioxide emissions below 1990 levels by the year 2012.
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