As of this year, Taiwan has officially entered a climate emergency, the association said. It cited the Oxford Dictionaries’ choice of the term — defined as “a situation in which urgent action is required to reduce or halt climate change and avoid potentially irreversible environmental damage resulting from it” — as its word of the year for last year. The association’s warning comes just over six months after more than 30 groups marched in Taipei calling on the government to declare a climate emergency and urging politicians to pay more attention to climate issues that pose a threat to national security. The Environmental Protection Administration, in a press release on Nov. 13 last year, said that the government had created a National Climate Change Adaptation Action Plan aimed at responding to eight aspects of climate change, but since the headline was “Taiwan can be a valuable partner in the global response to climate change,” cynics might question whether the action plan was little more than a public relations effort. The association certainly seems to believe that the government should do more.

Source: Taipei Times January 03, 2020 15:56 UTC