March 7th 2022

On Monday March 7th, six organizations from Taiwan and abroad signed together a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to further cooperation for climate change resilience.

Among the signatory institutions that established the climate change cooperation platform were the Chinese Culture University (CCU), the Taiwan Center for Security Studies (TCSS), the Taiwan Climate Services Partnership (TCSP), International CSR Association (ICSR), International Climate Development Institute (ICDI), and the International Development Empowerment and Representation Agency (IDERA), a St. Lucian think tank.

This new establishment will foster a closer cooperation on climate change, atmospheric observation and technology development while promoting academic exchanges and communication on related issues.

Saint Lucia Ambassador Edwin Laurent said that insular countries such as Taiwan, Saint Lucia and more than 40 other countries gathered in the Alliance of Small Island States are quickly and severely affected by climate change. In times like these, he added that this platform presents its value in the diversity of the signatory actors combining decision-makers, scientists and civil society.

Professor Fu-Kuo Liu from the Taiwan Center for Security Studies highlighted the significance of this MOU and mentioned the Group II report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released on February 28th. He shared similar views from the report and quoted Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group II Debra Roberts’ remarks “The decisions we make today are critical in ensuring a safe and sustainable world for everyone, both now and in the future”.

Futhermore, he believes that this cooperation platform would not only facilitate effective dialogues between AOSIS but also assist Taiwan’s international friends in raising climate change awareness.

Other innovative ideas were also shared and discussed during the meeting, such as the increasing mental health risks caused by global warming and the possibility of establishing an international degree program and training workshops related to ecological transition. All parties congratulated the launch of the platform and expressed their enthusiasm towards initiating the future projects to combat the climate crisis collaboratively.