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 (
"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.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS