Mon, Feb 24, 2003 page2

• NGOs put forward case to join global index

  PLEA Inclusion in the Environmental Sustainability Index would help other countries measure Taiwan's development, said an official from an environmental foundation

  • By Chiu Yu-Tzu / STAFF REPORTER
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  Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) highlighted yesterday the need to include this country in the Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI), a measure of environmental progress adopted by 142 countries.

  "If Taiwan's data was included, our environmental achievements could be further understood by the international community despite our status as a non-UN member," Eric Liou (劉銘龍), secretary-general of the Environmental Quality Protection Foundation, said at a press conference yesterday.

  The index is the result of collaboration among the World Economic Forum's Global Leaders for Tomorrow Environment Task Force, the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy (YCELP) and the Columbia University Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN).

  Since 2000, when the index was first released, it has been internationally regarded an important environmental reference, according to Yeh Shin-cheng (葉欣誠), associate professor of the Graduate Institute of Environmental Education at the National Kaohsiung Normal University.

  According to Yeh, the index reflects a country's environmental performance, points out factors leading to success or failure of policies, standardizes environmental achievements and evaluates the relationship between environmental achievement and economic development.

  From 2001 to last year, the number of countries listed by the ESI rankings was increased from 122 from 142 countries, Yeh said.

  "Unfortunately, Taiwan's absence from the UN makes it difficult for researchers to collect raw data, leading to its exclusion from the ESI rankings," Yeh said.

  Data from other countries in the rankings is included in UN-dominated research projects.

  Yeh said that the ESI scores are based upon a set of 20 core indicators, each of which combines two to eight variables for a total of 68 underlying variables in all.

  The index evaluates a country's ability from the perspectives of environmental systems, reducing stress, reducing human vulnerability, global stewardship, as well as social and institutional capacity, Yeh said.

  Yeh's research team independently converted raw data from this country into the ESI, obtaining results which suggest that the nation is ranked 119th in last year's rankings.

  Both Daniel Esty, ESI project director of YCELP and Marc Levy, ESI team leader of CIESIN of Columbia University, recognize Yeh's efforts to build on the ESI base and fill a gap in the ESI coverage.

  "Many countries take the index seriously because, for many countries, it has a positive correlation with the Current Competitiveness Index [CCI]," Yeh said.

  The CCI, in which Taiwan is included, examines conditions that support a high level of sustainable productivity and prosperity.

  Oddly, Yeh said, the nation slotted into 119th place in the ESI but is ranked 21st in last year's CCI.

  "The difference between the two indices could be attributed to the long-term promoting of economic development at a cost to the environment," Yeh said.

  In addition, Yeh attributed the nation's low scores in global stewardship to its existing diplomatic predicament, which further increases the gap between it and environmentally advanced countries.

  DPP Legislator Eugene Jao (趙永清) said the government should assist NGOs in taking part in international-sustainability discussions.

  "To increase Taiwan's visibility on the world stage, the government should stop adopting a Santa Clause-style diplomatic strategy -- putting taxpayers' money into corrupt political powers," Jao said.

  That leads to nothing but a damaged reputation," Jao said.

  Although the ESI permits cross-national comparisons, Yu Yue-hwa (於幼華), an environmental engineering professor at the National Taiwan University, said the Western-designed evaluation mechanism loses a degree of accuracy when evaluating Asian countries or nations with particular environmental conditions.

  Last year, Japan ranked 78th in the index with the UK posting 91st place.

  In the same year, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Canada and Switzerland were ranked the five most environmentally advanced countries.
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