Delegates from Taiwan's non-governmental organizations (NGOs) will head to Johannesburg, South Africa today to attend the UN's World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD).
The WSSD, from Moday to Sept. 4, will be held on the 10th anniversary of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, when the international community adopted Agenda 21, an unprecedented global plan of action for sustainable development.
Thirty-six representatives from Taiwan Action NGOs (TANGOs), an integrated group composed of dozens of groups with a variety of missions, revealed their plans to present Taiwan's efforts for sustainable development yesterday.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Juju Wang (
"But this time, we will let the world know that Taiwan has done something in the last decade to ensure Taiwan's sustainable development," said Wang, a sociology professor at National Tsing Hwa University.
At the Civil Society Global Forum, one of the WSSD's parallel events, TANGOs will set up four booths, where local grassroots activists -- including anti-nuclear proponents, forest preservation advocates and endangered species protection activists -- will have multi-media displays in English.
NGO activists chose a butterfly as Taiwan's logo, which is printed on the Taiwan Ecological Passport, an English-language pamphlet that promotes global sustainable development.
Activists said that they would not only tell others what Taiwan has done but also learn the latest concepts of sustainable development.
"Up-to-date ideas and techniques will become the basis of our dialogue with the government," said Mary Chen (陳曼麗), a TANGOs delegate and board chairwwoman of the Homemakers' Union and Foundation (主婦聯盟).
Although Taiwan is not a UN member, it should not exclude itself from the international environmental sector, Chen said.
Activists said that TANGOs delegates in Johannesburg will try to strengthen overseas ties with their counterparts from Asian and European countries.
According to Green Party Taiwan spokesperson Lai Fen-lan (賴芬蘭), Taiwan's anti-nuclear activists will take part in Global Green Network events sponsored by the Green Party in Johannesburg.
Herlin Hsieh (謝和霖) of the Taiwan Watch Institute (看守台灣協會) told the Taipei Times that the link between local anti-incinerator movement and global networks mainly managed by the US-based Global Anti-Incinerator Alliance (GAIA) will be strengthened further in Johannesburg.
Activists said that inappropriate policies pertaining to land use, energy consumption, coastal protection and waste management are worrisome and that Taiwan should make further efforts toward sustainable development.
"We predict that worsening problems relating to population and the increasing gap between the poor and the rich in Taiwan will have a huge impact on the society," Wang said.
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