By Hsieh Ying-shih and Kao Szu-chi 謝英士，高思齊Last week, at the UN Climate Change Conference in Madrid, the environmental organization Germanwatch released this year’s Climate Change Performance Index, in which Taiwan was ranked 59th. In that year, the Democratic Progressive Party administration announced its plan to transition the nation’s energy resources to 50 percent natural gas, 30 percent coal and 20 percent renewable energy by 2025 — not a huge shift in reliance on fossil fuels. When renewable energy facilities are built, trees have to be cleared to make space for the transmission lines and substations that relay power to the grid. Considering how far the nation’s climate performance has gone off track, maybe more emphasis should be placed on adaptation. For example, the traditional territories in the process of being assigned to the nation’s Aborigines make up nearly a quarter of Taiwan’s total area, so the key role of Aborigines in this age of climate change should not be overlooked.
