The Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) was established in 2009 in Potsdam, Germany. IASS conducts novel and interdisciplinary research with an eye on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In 2017, the Federal Government of Germany assigned it the role of organizer of the Science Platform Sustainability 2030. The RSPRC has signed a Memorandum of understanding with the IASS to jointly host the KLASICA Symposium every two years in Taiwan in order to learn about transitional development from German society, and to strengthen German-Taiwanese academic cooperation with in-depth dialogue.
The 2nd International Knowledge, Learning, and Societal Change Research Alliance (KLASICA) Taipei Symposium was jointly held by the RSPRC and the IASS from September 29th to October 2nd, 2018. Following the experiences and achievements of the 1st Symposium, the 2nd Symposium focused on narratives of vision and identity, guidance or rationale, and motivation for societal change toward sustainable futures in local or regional settings.
The Symposium was held at the College of Social Sciences of NTU. There were 41 participants, 11 of which were from Taiwan, and the rest came from 12 countries including Japan, Germany and South Korea. The participants included the Scientific Director of IASS Prof. Ortwin Renn and Senior Research Fellow Prof. Ilan Chabay. Moreover, former President of the Academia Sinica of Taiwan Yuan-Tseh Lee was invited to speak at the Symposium, and also Prof. Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao, distinguished research fellow of the Academia Sinica, gave a talk at the Symposium.
Table1 Participant Statistics
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Nationality Total: 44 people
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Canada：1 |
Germany：5 |
Japan：9 |
Philippines：4 |
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Scotland：1 |
India：1 |
Korea：1 |
UK：1 |
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Thailand：1 |
Indonesia：2 |
USA：6 |
Taiwan：12 |
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I. Keynote Speech
Prof. Hsiao gave a talk titled "Who Are the Potential Change Agent for the Transition to Low Carbon Society in Taiwan and Beyond?." In his talk, he proposed four theoretical methods.
Firstly, about ecology modernization, the middle-class who tend to support post-materialism and environmental values result in the Inverted U-shaped Curve. Secondly, in the risk society, people have more understanding on risks such as nuclear power and climate change, which might lead to environmental and social reformation. Thirdly, in terms of the recovery of social capital, a powerful and active civil society can produce environmentally friendly social actions, which result in energy conservation and emission reduction. Finally, in terms of ecological feminism, it is found that females have higher sensitivity on environmental issues than males, which is beneficial for low carbon society transition. Prof. Hsiao also shared the study results showing that Taiwanese have high level of risk perception. They consider global warming is disastrous, and that energy conservation is important. Taiwanese also tend to adopt energy saving equipment such as Advanced Metering Infrastructure than to pay higher taxes. The approval rate of progressive energy tax is also higher than a comprehensive increase of renewable energy price.
Moreover, they think that big companies should be more responsible for massive pollution and emissions, so they should pay higher carbon taxes. In terms of self-efficacy, 16% of respondents had joined anti-nuclear movement and 43% had joined energy saving movement such as taking stairs instead of elevator and walking rather than driving. Studies also show that people who receive higher education, with higher risks and social capital tend to support low carbon transition measures more in general. Finally, Prof. Hsiao stressed that he believe the younger generation receiving higher education and a strong civil society are the keys for Taiwan to successfully transition to a low-carbon society.
II. Plenary Sessions
The conference then started with the plenary talk from Prof. Ilan Chabay and IASS Research Fellow Manuel Rivera. They shared about the methodology on narrative research and they expected to hear from the breakout group discussion on the opportunity of change in common behavior as well as the future application of study results from qualitative analysis through Agent-based Model (ABM) to quantitative analysis and discover again the elements of change in common behavior and social transition.
Dr. Grit Martinez[1] and Dr. Liz Shanahan[2] discussed about narrative research. Prof. Petra Ahrweiler[3] discussed the application of the ABM.
In addition, British environmental artist Dr. Kat Austen was also invited to this Symposium. She utilized another form of narrative research, which is a combination of music, art and social action, to create an artwork aiming to enhance public awareness on the environment.
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III. Summary of the Breakout Group Discussions
Group A
Group A mainly discussed about two topics, which are the water dam in Montana and the Yehliu Geopark in Taiwan raised by Prof. Su Group A thought that ABMs should not necessarily based on a narrative approach, as many researchers have already been familiar with the narrative approach, the research itself is a qualitative study or the study should be conducted in other quantitative method instead of ABM. It would be more beneficial if the RSPRC develop the model itself and extend it to the network in East Asia.
Moreover, Group A considered the instrumentality strong using narrative in drafting policies. As in the example provided by Eric, the construction of the water dam in Montana involved the jurisdiction of the federal and local government of the US and also Canada. Therefore, it is important to utilize narrative as a policy instrument. There were many participants from Asia in the KLASICA Symposium, that's why Group A can discuss the comparison with the examples from Asia. However, it was a pity that more cases from Asia were not discussed during the Symposium.
Group B
Group B discussed that somewhere in the Philippines, aboriginal people are able to predict volcanic eruptions. However, people have never believed that until one eruption. Another case in China about how protester utilize narrative as a policy instrument is also discussed.
Group C
Indian researcher Malvya Chintakindi has fieldwork experiences. She focused on the case of Indian farmers' behavior changes, which also encouraged future fieldwork or short-term visiting with the Indian NGO Sehgal Foundation. Elaine Huang provided a case study of environmental education certification from Taiwan's Environmental Protection Administration. This group mainly discussed this case and tried to come up with a consensus but failed due to the time limit.
Group D
Group D discussed the case shared by Takano Takako on how a Pacific Island controlled their fishery. In this case, two local fishermen brought the information back to their island and established a trust fund after participating an international conference. In the case of Indonesia, the new government put their eye on the development of remote regions after they took office. The local participatory budgeting of energy conservation in New Taipei City, the food sovereignty in French oversea territories mentioned by Grit Martinez, and the injustice treatment of African Americans in Alabama mentioned by Elizabeth Shanahan were also discussed.
The discussion of Group D focused on the interaction and connection among the descriptive factors, and they produced a flow chart. Although there was no clear conclusion, the group member agreed that it's possible to have further collaboration and discussion.
Group E
Group E questioned the narrative of KLASICA and ABM. They considered narrative a kind of descriptive analysis, but does not include the point of view of Asia. Leslie Mabon is a geographer and is good at quantitative research. However, the connection between quantitative research and descriptive quality is still awaiting further inspection.
Group F
Researcher Tadashi Nakasu from Japan mentioned how people change their behavior after the Fukushima nuclear disaster. The dilemma of nuclear wastes in Orchid Island (Lanyu) was also provided. Researcher Regina Fu from Hong Kong talked about the controversial cases of land transaction in Africa. As three cases discussed in this group are all related to aboriginal people, the cases were used as models and for further discussion.
Annotation
[1] Senior Fellow of Ecologic Institute, Germany
[2] Associate Professor of Department of Political Science, Montana State University, USA
[3] Sociology of Technology and Innovation, Social Simulation, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany
Pictures from the Breakout Group Discussions：
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