Nearly 200 leaders and environmental activists from Taiwan and abroad met in Taipei yesterday at the start of a regional forum to highlight the importance of shared responsibility in protecting natural resources.
“Our interdependence is integral to our survival. Our resources as well as our responsibilities need to be equitably distributed in order to sustain the quality of life for future generations,” said the Taiwanese organizers of the Second Congress of the Asia Pacific Greens Network (APGN).
The first APGN congress was held in Kyoto in 2005, days before the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement designed to fight global warming, came into force.
PHOTO: YANG YI-MIN, TAIPEI TIMES
“We have convened the second congress five years later — five years that have seen unprecedented growth of chaos and denial,” said Robin Winkler, a co-convener of the event and a local environmentalist, in his opening remarks.
There has been an “escalation of wars and military expansion, short-sighted corporate control of more and more of the world’s resources, media repression, and all manner of social, economic and environmental abuse,” he said.
Australian Greens leader and senator Bob Brown said that “we have a big burden on our shoulders, but a warmth in our hearts and a smile on our face. We must replace the old politics of development, consumption and greed.”
Brown showed a photograph of an Australian lake that he said had nearly disappeared 40 years ago after the construction of a dam. He said he hoped that people had learned the lesson.
High-profile participants at the conference include Tuvaluan Prime Minister Apisai Ielemia and Indian environmentalist Vandana Shiva. Both are scheduled to deliver speeches related to climate change this morning.
The three-day congress will also see discussions on major challenges, policies and strategies for dealing with climate change in the Asia Pacific region.
Organizers hope to set an eco-friendly example by using bamboo cups, cotton handkerchiefs and recycled bags at the event. They have also provided bicycles as transportation for participants. Meals are made with in-season produce and delivered with minimal packaging.
A landscape garden consisting of edible plants and a rainwater recycling system are also on display.
The forum will be streamed live on the Internet.
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
‘JOINT SWORD’: Whatever President Lai says in his Double Ten speech, China would use it as a pretext to launch ‘punishment’ drills for his ‘separatist’ views, an official said China is likely to launch military drills this week near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming national day speech as a pretext to pressure the nation to accept its sovereignty claims, Taiwanese officials said. China in May launched “punishment” drills around Taiwan shortly after Lai’s inauguration, in what Beijing said was a response to “separatist acts,” sending heavily armed warplanes and staging mock attacks as state media denounced newly inaugurated Lai. The May drills were dubbed “Joint Sword — 2024A” and drew concerns from capitals, including Washington. Lai is to deliver a key speech on Thursday in front of the Presidential Office
An aviation jacket patch showing a Formosan black bear punching Winnie the Pooh has become popular overseas, including at an aviation festival held by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force at the Ashiya Airbase yesterday. The patch was designed last year by Taiwanese designer Hsu Fu-yu (徐福佑), who said that it was inspired by Taiwan’s countermeasures against frequent Chinese military aircraft incursions. The badge shows a Formosan black bear holding a Republic of China flag as it punches Winnie the Pooh — a reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — who is dressed in red and is holding a honey pot with
Taiwan was listed in 14th place among the world's wealthiest country in terms of GDP per capita, in the latest rankings released on Monday by Forbes magazine. Taiwan's GDP per capita was US$76,860, which put it at No. 14 on the list of the World's 100 Richest Countries this year, one spot above Hong Kong with US$75,130. The magazine's list of the richest countries in the world is compiled based on GDP per capita data, as estimated by the IMF. However, for a more precise measure of a nation's wealth, the magazine also considers purchasing power parity, which is a metric used to
RSS