For instance, Wetlands Taiwan calls itself a ‘functional’ environmental NGO,
focusing mainly on wetlands habitat issues. Other issues such as opposition to
nuclear plant construction are not a priority.
In some cases, conflicts and splits occur within the ENGO community.
Major conflicts tend to concern matters of ideology and organizational
interest. At the early stage of development, groups argued about ideas of
environmental protection. As more groups emerged in the late 1990s, conflicts
of interests preoccupied ENGOs. For example, in the case of the endangered
black-faced spoonbill, Wetlands Taiwan and the Tainan Bird Association
disagreed about setting the agenda, coordinating overlapping activities, and
streamlining strategies to deal with the media. In the first months of the
Binnan/Qigu environmental movement, members of Wetlands Taiwan were
also members of the bird association. Differences in ideology, as well as
financial conflicts, led to a split into two separate organizations. As all ENGOs
need financial resources to survive, competition over resources is a primary
cause of conflict.^20 In the case of the black-faced spoonbill, one divisive issue
was whether ENGOs should be able to profit from eco-tourism ventures
featuring the rare bird.^21
Several ENGOs develop productive relationships with governmental
agencies, operating as quasi-GONGOs (government-organized NGOs). For
instance, Wetlands Taiwan has quasi-official ties with the local, as well as
central, governments. The Zhouzai wetlands, under the sponsorship of the
Kaohsiung City government, are a landmark example of local government
cooperating with an ENGO to promote environmental protection. Many
wetlands in Taiwan are managed by Wetlands Taiwan, which functions as
a de facto governing body. This partnership relationship with govern-
ment has gradually whittled away at the once radical orientation of some
ENGOs.^22
International Influences and ENGO Connections
In the case of Taiwan, international environmental organizations are not
regular participants in domestic environmental protection. Taiwan’s diplo-
matic isolation constrains its participation in major international organizations,
and international lending institutions such as the World Bank and Asian
Development Bank are not actively involved in its environmental policies.
Yet, on occasion, ENGOs have built close relationships with major
international NGOs (INGOs). In the past, domestic ENGOs exposed cases of
trafficking in illegal wildlife and ecological degradation to the international
mass media and invited INGOs to monitor Taiwan’s mitigation record. The
recent Binnan environmental case has refocused international interest in
Taiwan, amid the globalization of environmental affairs.
ENGOs, civil society and biodiversity conservation 167