The Strategies and Practices for Water Pollution Enforcement Workshop began Nov. 8 in Taipei City, bringing together around 70 officials, experts and scholars from 15 countries including Indonesia, the Maldives, Mongolia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
The three-day forum, jointly organized by the Cabinet-level Environmental Protection Administration, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Asian Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Network, focuses on methods to tackle water pollution such as applied technologies, control policies, inspection practices and law enforcement.
The workshop is one of this year’s programs for the International Environmental Partnership launched in 2014 by the EPA in collaboration with its U.S. counterpart. To commemorate the start of the endeavor, U.S. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy visited Taiwan, becoming the first U.S. Cabinet-level official to do so in nearly 14 years.
EPA Minister Lee Ying-yuan said in his opening address at the forum that the government has been working to implement water pollution control measures and has developed comprehensive strategies. “Taiwan is willing to share its experience in environmental protection and facilitate technical exchanges with other countries,” he said.
The minister pointed out that President Tsai Ing-wen stated in her inaugural address Taiwan would “strictly monitor and control all sources of pollution” and that “we only have one Earth.” Taiwan will continue to act in line with global efforts to deal with a diverse range of environmental issues, Lee added.
With assistance from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the IEP has become a global platform of environmental experts working in such fields as air quality control, climate change adaptation, environmental education and electronic waste management for schools, communities and governments to enhance their capabilities while responding to regional environmental conditions, according to the EPA.
Among the activities scheduled to take place is a visit for participants of the Taipei forum to Hsinchu Science Park in northern Taiwan to learn about its advanced sewage treatment facilities. Established in 1980 and occupied by more than 500 companies, the park has been crucial to the development of the country’s high-tech industry and acted as a model for similar facilities set up around the island. (KTJ-E)
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