The Taiwan Polar Institute at National Central University (NCU), National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) and Academia Sinica in Taiwan invited Professor Paul Arthur Berkman for two weeks in July 2024 to share observations about science diplomacy in the Arctic. Diverse dialogues during these two weeks reflected an emergent Taiwanese Arctic Program.
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed at NCU between the Taiwan Polar Institute and the Arctic Research Center at Hokkaido University in Japan.
The International Conference on Earth Observation and Social Impacts 2024 (ICEO&SI24), that was hosted National Central University, included Prof. Berkman’s opening keynote about: Transdisciplinary Research in the Arctic with Open Science: Remote Sensing Lessons. At Academia Sinica, he discussed Science Diplomacy: Global Inclusion with Common-Interest Building and Informed Decisionmaking for Sustainability. Subsequently, Professor Berkman met with officials at several ministries, including the Ocean Affairs Council, to learn about the coordination of Arctic initiatives in Taiwan.
After his presentation at Academia Sinica, Professor Berkman met with colleagues at Future Earth Taipei in the Center for Sustainability Science to discuss the Global Indigenous Youth Summit on Climate Change (GIYSCC) that would be hosted by Future Earth on August 9th with Indigenous youth contributions from Taiwan. Learning about the 16 Indigenous cultures across Taiwan, he visited visited an Indigenous school in Wutai Township, Pingtung County, and was warmly welcomed to a tour of the surrounding mountainside community as well as treated to a traditional meal.
Overall, the inclusive coordination with Arctic initiatives in Taiwan was perhaps best represented by the special contribution made to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault by Taiwanese Indigenous communities, who deposited 170 varieties of millet seeds in May 2024.
