environmental protection policies, ENGOs have begun to establish
international networks of environmental protection. For example, the WS has
an ambitious plan to globalize its activities. It has formed overseas chapters in
Nicaragua, Australia and Malaysia, where it works with ethnic Chinese, and
promotes knowledge of sustainable development. The Wilderness Society’s
purpose is to improve the image of the ethnic Chinese, and to aid implemen-
tation of sustainable development. The Malaysia Chapter has grown slowly
due to protests by China, but the concentration of ethnic Chinese in specific
regions provides a good platform for WS activities. The operation in Australia
runs smoothly because of less intervention from China. Ethnic Chinese have a
strong sense of chuanzong jiedai (to continue one’s ancestry, to deliver
offspring). To maintain the prosperity of the future generations, WS contends
that ethnic Chinese need to save their environment for the children. The WS is
endeavoring to link the concepts of traditional China with modern canons of
sustainable development.
The WS also raises awareness about the impact of cross-strait relations on
Taiwan’s environmental protection. Worrying about the hollowing-out effects
on the economy of large corporations planning to relocate to the mainland, the
Taiwan government has provided incentives for these enterprises to ‘leave
their roots in Taiwan’. Many industrial complexes on the west coast of Taiwan
including highly polluting industries, such as petrochemicals and steel plants,
are the result of such governmental incentives. This is the environmental
impact of the cross-strait tug-of-war.
The WS has frequent contacts with ENGOs on the other side of the Taiwan
Strait, but to the present has failed to develop collaborative efforts to supervise
the highly polluting Taiwanese plants moving to China. As most Taiwanese
plants in China operate under special permission from the local and even
central government, local Chinese ENGOs are not allowed to contest pollution
cases without permission from the government. As to other less controversial
topics such as reforestation and wildlife protection in the inland areas,
cooperation between Taiwanese and mainland Chinese ENGOs is more
obvious.^26
The environmental movement played a role in Taiwan’s democratization
and is an important factor explaining Taiwan’s robust civil society in the early
twenty-first century. Individuals and groups seeking conservation of
biodiversity can use their autonomous social power to influence policy and
even direct outcomes, as the examples given of Taiwan’s ENGOS show. We
summarize Taiwan’s ENGOs in Table 7.2. Taiwan has a relatively small
number of ENGOs, and while specialized into different environmental issues
areas, they operate primarily at two levels, the national and local. This
contrasts with the more complex arrangement of groups in China, to which we
now turn.
ENGOs, civil society and biodiversity conservation 169