Taiwan hosted two events in New York on Wednesday to raise awareness of climate change and the rights of indigenous peoples in advance of Earth Day today, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in New York said.
TECO hosted a seminar with the Council of Indigenous Peoples, with discussions focused on indigenous issues, climate change and human health, echoing the theme of the 22nd session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
The forum began in New York on Monday and runs through Friday next week, with the theme: “Indigenous peoples, human health, planetary and territorial health and climate change: A rights-based approach.”
TECO New York Director James Lee (李光章) spoke of the importance of indigenous language revitalization and protecting the indigenous rights in an address to an audience of more than 100 at the seminar, including UN-posted foreign officials and those participating in the UN forum.
Taiwan promulgated the Indigenous Languages Development Act (原住民族語言發展法) in June 2017, under which indigenous languages are defined as national languages, Lee said.
Indigenous cultures can offer solutions to ecological conservation and food security, among other challenges, Lee said.
Research on the climate resilience of Taiwan’s indigenous peoples, citing the devastation caused by Typhoon Morakot in Taiwan in 2009, was presented by students from Columbia University’s International Research Institute for Climate and Society.
Morakot tore through central and southern Taiwan in August 2009, causing serious flooding and massive landslides, including one that buried Siaolin Village (小林) in Kaohsiung, killing 462 residents, mostly indigenous people.
The team showed in their research that education, partnership and self-governance help indigenous people respond to natural disasters.
Council of Indigenous Peoples official Yapasuyongu Poiconu said that 60 percent of land in Taiwan is traditional indigenous territory, along with much of the nation’s forests and rivers.
“If we fail to protect indigenous peoples’ traditional territory, it will be difficult for Taiwan to cope with climate change,” he said.
An exhibition for the Creative Climate Awards also opened at the TECO New York office on Wednesday, themed “Inspiring a Climate Renaissance.”
The exhibition highlights the connection between diverse groups and climate change, and is open to the public on weekdays until May 12, the office said.
AGGRESSION: China’s latest intrusions set a new benchmark for its ‘gray zone’ tactics and possibly a new pattern that it would attempt to normalize, a researcher said China’s latest military exercises represent a new challenge to Taiwan’s legal authority to demarcate its borders in the Taiwan Strait, a defense expert said, adding that the fleets in the latest exercises were likely the most powerful the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) ever assembled. The PLA conducted military exercises from Sunday last week to 6am on Friday, which encompassed large swathes of the western Pacific, including the Taiwan Strait and waters off the Philippines and Guam, National Policy Foundation associate research fellow Chieh Chung (揭仲) said on Friday. The Ministry of National Defense said that it detected 70 warship and 162 aircraft
DOMESTIC MARKET: To protect the livelihoods of local egg farmers, the government adopted a new method for releasing imported eggs, the agriculture minister said More than 54 million imported eggs will be disposed, as their expiration date has passed, Minister of Agriculture Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) said yesterday. Chen made the remarks at a news conference in Taipei, explaining the flow of imported eggs following recent controversies regarding the products. The ministry introduced a special egg import program to address a nationwide egg shortage earlier this year. However, controversies have risen in recent weeks. These included an accusation that the government helped some egg importing companies over others, eggs imported from Brazil that had an incorrect expiration date, and egg shipments from Brazil that were found
PACIFIC OCEAN: Defense experts have warned that the ‘Shandong,’ China’s second largest aircraft carrier, poses a serious threat to eastern Taiwan’s defenses The drills conducted by the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong in the Western Pacific last week were more aimed at showcasing China’s military capabilities to the US rather than toward Taiwan, a Taiwanese defense expert said yesterday. Lin Yin-yu (林穎佑), an assistant professor at Tamkang University’s Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies, said the drills which involved dozens of warplanes sought to test China’s anti-access and area denial capabilities should the US and its allies attempt to interfere in a cross-strait conflict. Lin said that the latest Chinese drills coincided with a joint maritime exercise conducted by the US, South Korea
Thousands of bottles of Sriracha have been returned or destroyed after the discovery of excessive sulfur dioxide, a bleaching agent, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Tuesday. About 12,600 bottles totaling 9,991.8kg of the hot sauce imported from the US by Emporium Corp (河洛企業) were flagged at the border for containing illegal levels of sulfur dioxide, the FDA said in its regular border inspection announcement. Inspectors discovered 0.5g per kilogram of the common bleaching agent and preservative, higher than the 0.03g permitted, it said. As it is the first time within six months the product has been flagged, Sriracha products from
RSS