By Alex Jiang
Nobel economics laureate Elinor Ostrom said Tuesday in Taipei that there is no need to wait for a global solution to tackle global warming and that local and regional actions are just as necessary as policies made at international and national levels.
“Instead of one global remedy, we need to apply polycentric theory to develop a notion of complex, multi-level political-economic-social systems to cope with complex, multi-level (ecological) problems, ” Ostrom said in a public presentation on climate change.
“My basic argument is that if we are going to solve global problems and get better global governance, local must be involved, ” the 2009 winner added.
Ostrom said the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, a provider of public power to the Sacramento region in California, allowed households in the region to see in their bills how much power their “efficient neighbors” saved the month before.
This method encouraged energy conservation by giving these households a desire to keep up with their neighbors’ good work, Ostrom noted.
During the panel discussion, Christina Liu, the head of the Cabinet-level Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) , said that the Taiwan government launched a measure years ago that successfully reduced the use of plastic bags.
“When the measure was launched to require people to spend at least NT$1 to buy plastic bags at local stores, many critics said that NT$1 would not stop people from using the bags,” she said.
“However, we did see some results (of the measure) later on,” Liu said. “People now bring their own bags when going to stores.”
Liu added that the government will soon encourage 24-hour convenience stories to conserve energy.
“This is important because in Taiwan, local convenience stories account for 10 percent of the total electricity used,” she noted.
To offer another example on how Taiwan works to reduce global carbon emissions, Environmental Protection Administration Minister Stephen Shen, another panelist, said that Taiwan passed amendments last year to encourage local consumers to buy energy-efficient home appliances and other products.
