TEIA--Enhance the Harmony Between Humankind and the Nature!

Who We Are

Established in June of 2001, Taiwan Environmental Information Association (TEIA) is a non-profit and non-governmental organization located in Taipei, Taiwan. TEIA consists of a bunch of activists who have long devoted themselves to environmental protection and had the mission to build a path in the world where human can live harmoniously with nature.

TEIA has more than 20 full-time and part-time staff and hundreds of volunteers and interns to support its complex conservation works.

The Situation We Face in Taiwan

Taiwan consists of the main island and over one hundred islets which are all located at the western edge of the Pacific Ocean in the southern area of Mainland China. Due to it's special location and dramatic changes in elevation, Taiwan contains five climate zones ranging from rainforest to alpine grassland and is inhabited by many different species that originate from the Asian continent and South Pacific.

Although it is rich in biodiversity, natural resources are being lost by Taiwan's economic expansion, unintegrated policy, and extremely dense human population.

In addition, Taiwan is not recognized as a “country”; hence, no international environment regulation includes Taiwan and little international funding can be introduced. Under this situation, because Taiwan’s government, corporations and NGOs don’t make individual efforts to understand international trends and conform to the updated standards, the environment will degrade out of our control.

What We Do

TEIA believes that understanding is the foundation. People learn to care our environment as long as we know what is happening to it. People only start to take protective action as long as we care about it.

To follow the belief, TEIA works on two specific goals:

1) Reinforce the power of information ─ to become the main voice of in the Chinese environmental information network. 

2) Resurface the value of land ─ to implement environmental trusts in Taiwan.

And we conduct actions for achieving TEIA’s mission by:

Advancing the work of Environmental Trust in Taiwan

Trust is one of sustainable ways in managing and preserving natural resources; however, Taiwan has not yet established any kind of environmental trust. Hence, many works below are being taken by TEIA to promote the establishment of the first Environmental Trust:

‧ Holding Eco-Working Holiday (2004~present) to enhance the dimension of volunteer’s participation in conservation action and to raise the public awareness concerning habitat management.

‧ Regularly holding Environmental Trust conferences/workshops to popularize its concepts and generate discussion among the groups that are interested in the issue.

‧ Managing different habitats in Taiwan to initiate the trust experience program. Current projects are run at an abandoned farm in the East Coast Mountainous Region,on two small islands on the west coast, and throughout several wetlands over Taiwan Island.

Satisfying the needs of environmental information for various groups of people

Environmental Trust is an unfamiliar idea in Taiwan along with other conservation concepts. Hence, before, during, and after works are undertaken, TEIA wants to make sure that people are able to receive and access information easily. In the age of internet, an online news center was essntial – Environmental Information Center in Chinese was built alongside the TEIA since its beginning and has functioned to:

‧ Provide environmental information including column articles, editorials, eco-activities bulletin, and daily news from Taiwan and over the world.

‧ Broadcast environmental information on Center’s website (http://e-info.org.tw) which has average 12,000 browsers per day.

‧ Release of e-paper daily through email which has more than 18,000 subscribers.

‧ Provision of the website as a free interaction platform for other NGOs in Taiwan.

 Working Together and Overseas

TEIA has been actively seeking partners, including domestic and international groups.

In Taiwan, TEIA:

‧ Organizes an NGO network for more than 40 members with its advanced computer technology,

‧ Coordinates with different groups in most major conservation issues or events.

Although Taiwan is made of islands, we are not isolated from other areas. As most countries in the world do, Taiwan affects others and is affected by actions of others in society and environment. Hence, TEIA sincerely:

‧ Attends international environmental forums in other areas including South Africa, Czech Republic, Venezuela, Pakistan, Mongolia, Bail, etc.

‧ Interacts with organizations in UK and Japan to share experiences of  the Eco-Working Holiday and to learn more about existing cases of Environmental Trust by actually visiting first hand and joining in the activities.

‧ Annually holds events with the environmental NGOs from Taiwan’s closest and powerful neighbor – Mainland China,

‧ Brings back first-hand news to inform the public in Taiwan from each international meeting and visit that TEIA’s correspondents make.