Taiwan NGO diplomacy: People’s consortiums look to Africa

This year, the biennial International Conference of National Trusts (世界國民信託大會) is being held in Africa for the first time. Taiwan has been taking part since 2000, and has already attended conferences in India, Ireland and Canada. In 2007, at the conference in India, Taiwan National Trust (TNT(台灣國民信託)) joined other NGOs to sign a petition which established the International National Trusts Organisation (INTO (國際國民信託組織)).

Following on from the establishment of INTO, TNT and Taiwan Environmental Information Association (TEIA (環境資訊協會)) became official members. The theme of this year’s conference is “Our Heritage (cultural and ecological), Our Future - Cultural Diversity for Responsible Development”. The conference will take place in Entebbe, 37 km north from the current capital. Though the conference is taking place at The Imperial Lake View Resort & Golf Club (帝國高爾夫飯店), INTO has insisted on not using air conditioning and chosen the big lawn in Enyumba as the main venue.

Owing to the powerful domestic and international influence of large member nations (United Kingdom, Australia etc.), at each conference members will discuss whether to propose a declaration which is signed by all members and delivered to relevant international organizations like the United Nations (聯合國) and the governments of each member country.

For example, in the Edinburgh Declaration, members pledged to increase their efforts to conserve natural and cultural heritage at both governmental and regional levels. The 2011 Victoria Declaration raised attention to rescuing cultural and natural assets from climate change damage, which was delivered to United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15). On the second morning, the conference discussed and adopted the Universal Declaration of Enderby, which appealed for a global effort to protect tangible and intangible assets.

African pearls: Uganda forging ahead
URL:https://www.peopo.org/news/218737

Taiwan NGO diplomacy: People’s consortiums look to Africa
URL:https://www.peopo.org/news/218763

(以下是中文對照)
非洲珍珠：前進烏干達

台灣NGO外交：人民財團放眼非洲

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每兩年一次的世界國民信託大會，首次移師非洲，台灣自2000年起參加，最近陸續參加了印度、愛爾蘭與加拿大的大會，並於2007年印度大會，以台灣國民信託（TNT）之名，參與連署成立目前的國際組織INTO (國際國民信託組織)，並與環境資訊協會先後加入成為正式會員。今年大會主題為：我們的（文化與生態）資產、我們的未-文化多樣性與負責任的發展。開會地點為前首都恩德比（Entebee），現首都在北邊37公里處。雖然開會地點在帝國高爾夫飯店，INTO要求不用冷氣，因此在大草坪上的Enyumba 做為大會主場。

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由於國際信託的大會員國（英國、澳洲等）在其國內與國際上很有影響力，因此自2003年起每次大會都會討論是否提出宣言，並經大家連署，送往相關國際組織、聯合國與各、各國政府。例如2003年的愛丁堡宣言：在國家與地方層級上，加強保護文化與自然資產。2011年的維多利亞（加拿大）宣言：關注並搶救在氣候變遷下受害的文化與自然資產，同時也送到COP15的主辦單位。本次大會在第二早上的大會討論通過恩德比宣言：號召全球行動以包護有形與無形資產。