Date: April, 26, 2012
The 8th Climate Change Law and Policy Forum was hosted by PLES on April, 26, 2012. The key speaker of the forum was Professor Jiunn-rong Yeh, PLES chief director, and the forum contains the topic of “Phenomenon of Emptiness - Convergence and Divergence of Democratic Drive and International Pressure of Climate Change” Assistant Professor Tsung-sheng Liao and PLES post doctoral scholar Dr. Chun-Yuan Lin were also invited to join the discussion.
The forum began with Professor Jiunn-rong Yeh pointed out that the government has continual emphasis on the importance in response to climate change without actual movement of related policy and legislation, causing this “phenomenon of emptiness” with just words and no actions. Professor Yeh continued that there are three driving forces in environmental legislation: political leadership, democratic drive, and international movement. These forces have shown different intensity in environmental legislation among different countries. According to his previous studies, the considerable environmental legislation in Taiwan was shown in relation to the development of Taiwanese democratic progress. On the other hand, Professor Yeh put forward that due to the international circumstance of Taiwan, we are relatively unfamiliar with international environmental issues. The international effects were absent during the process of Taiwanese environmental legislation, except in the cases of Rhinoceros horns and the Tiger bone events. The fundamental issue of Taiwan being excluded from the international environmental convention was that Taiwan has no knowledge even as to what evaluations we should undertake. While there are correlated national studies, there is still lack of survey from an international point of view. That is exactly why Taiwan is lack of attitudes towards climate change. The democratic drive has shown the massive and large-scale characteristic of climate change while there are less influences of climate change governance, and that the importance of international effects has risen up. Professor Yeh concluded that the future of Taiwan is not necessarily pessimistic; NGO’s global effect and participation with global judicial network could be our breakthroughs.
Assistant Professor Tsung-sheng Liao further discussed possible reasons of the “phenomenon of emptiness.” For instance, the current situation of bad economy makes people and the governments emphasize economy development as the priority, the deprivation of international pressure, and that society does not get in touch with the effects of climate change. Assistant Professor Tsung-sheng Liao continued with Freudian aspect on human’s priorities of economy development, social development and environmental protection. Assistant Professor Liao also compared the international emphasis during different phases. While Taiwan is ten years slower than other countries’ progress, we still focus more on economy and social development, which affects Taiwan’s attitude towards climate change.
Dr. Chun-Yuan Lin put forward that whether Taiwan faces climate change with a hollow attitude, and continued that whether democracy couldn’t drive a more active response in Taiwan. Dr. Lin recognizes the phenomenon of emptiness pointed out by Professor Yeh, and further strengthening the argument, presenting that Taiwan was ranked 50 from the German Watch list out of 58 countries. Dr. Lin addressed the issue of whether or not the democracy itself isn’t sufficient in pushing the issue of climate change policy; he confirmed the status quo of Taiwan, but also pointed out the counter examples of the United States of America and Australia. Dr. Lin believes that this is one possible solution for Taiwan under such divergence, using the power of civil groups, linking its way out through democratic and international pressure.