Taipei, Sept. 22 (CNA) Environmentalists from Canada and the U.S. encouraged Taiwanese environmental groups to "keep doing the right things" and to never underestimate themselves in a seminar Friday.
Mark Angelo from Canada and Robbi Savage from the U.S. were both impressed at the number of participants attending the seminar, which was held at National Taiwan University and focused on water resource-related issues.
It takes years and a lot of effort to see the results of water quality improvement and cleaning the waterways, said Angelo, who started a Rivers Day initiative in British Columbia, Canada in 1980 to clean up the waterways.
"But never underestimate yourselves even when you are local groups," he said, adding that by establishing networks and alliances, local groups can have a huge impact.
Angelo's initiative was a perfect example. It was recognized by the Canadian government as a national event in 2003. And the United Nations followed suit with the launch of a global Rivers Day campaign in 2005.
Taiwan's environmental groups should also work with local and central governments, said Robbi Savage, who in 2003 started the World Water Monitoring Day (WWMD) initiative. Since its inception, more than 80,000 people in 50 countries have participated in the program.
For environmental protection programs to be successful, legislation and regulation should be in place. And these programs and initiatives need financial and technical backing from the government as well, she explained.
Angelo said he understood how drastically different environmental pressure in Canada can be from a densely populated nation like Taiwan.
"But our attitudes and hopes to protect the environment are the same," he said.