Written by Hsin-Ju Li. This article reviews Taiwan’s legal frameworks for carbon emission reduction, including the carbon fee and carbon trading schemes. It also explores how Indigenous peoples have participated in these systems and the future path for developing Indigenous carbon rights.
Written by Helen Hai-Ning Huang. This article highlights the key provisions of the Climate Change Response Act, particularly its design, objectives, and emissions reduction targets, and dissects the historic constitutional climate lawsuit in Taiwan.
Written by Kuan-Wei Chen. This article explores Taiwan’s integration of ecological considerations into its constitution through ecological constitutionalism. It highlights legislative advancements and the challenges of implementing these principles in legal and constitutional frameworks.
Written by Chia-wei Chao & Benjamin Yang. When it comes to the climate, all three candidates in Taiwan’s upcoming presidential election have emphasised the importance of taking action and committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. The main driver behind this mainstreaming of climate policy is the fact that supply chain requirements have made the country’s export competitiveness highly connected to climate performance. Therefore, we must scrutinise the comprehensiveness of each candidate’s policy proposals, rather than solely relying on whether they are climate denialists, to distinguish their positions. Taiwan Climate Action Network (TCAN), a collaborative advocacy platform organised by five NGOs, has thus produced a climate commitment tracker to compare their positions on seven key climate-related policies: (1) 2030 emissions reduction target, (2) carbon pricing strategies, (3) 2030 power mix, (4) renewable energy development plan, (5) industrial decarbonisation, (6) public participation, and (7) just transition. In this article, we will focus specifically on their 2030 pledges, carbon pricing strategies, and just transition policies.
Written by Bayis Atung; translated by Yu-Chen Chuang. In recent years, due to climate change, community members have begun to think more about how to minimise the impact of disasters before they occur. When engaging in farming, we have started to think and take action to incorporate traditional land use knowledge from the past. We continuously experiment and face challenges, ultimately returning to traditional land use and cultivation ethics. We have discovered that this approach can be used to adapt to and address climate change, as it helps Cinsbu adapt to the ever-changing challenges posed by disasters. In this article, I share our land ethics and explain how sustainable land use relates to disaster prevention. Even though the intensity of climate change has increased, the Tayal people have not given up on using the land. Instead, there have been even more changes in how we use the land.
Written by Yi-Te Yu. In the past two decades, Taiwan has endured two major disasters: the 921 Earthquake in 1999 and Typhoon Morakot in 2009. Both events resulted in immense loss of life and property. The Indigenous regions of Taiwan, in particular, have borne the enduring impact that is yet to see a complete recovery. Taking Typhoon Morakot in 2009 as an example, during its onslaught in Taiwan, it unleashed a record-breaking deluge of rain. This led to a large-scale landslide in Mt. Xiandu(獻肚) in Jiaxian District, Kaohsiung, burying the village Xiaolin beneath a deluge of soil and debris. Moreover, this catastrophe also inflicted the mountainous Indigenous communities in the central and southern regions of Taiwan, including Chiayi, Kaohsiung, Pingtung, and Taitung counties, with the onslaught of floods, landslides, and debris flows. In total, it resulted in 678 fatalities and 33 injuries.
