President Ma Ying-jeou met with Dr. Elinor Ostrom, winner of the 2009 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, at the Presidential Office on the morning of August 23. During the meeting, President Ma expressed his admiration for Dr. Ostrom's outstanding contributions in the field of economics.
The president remarked that Dr. Ostrom is the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Economics, and noted that she was originally a political scientist and not an economist in the traditional definition, but her theories have been proven correct in many areas. In addition, Dr. Ostrom and her husband Dr. Vincent Ostrom established the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, and her work on the theory of institutional diversity is closely followed throughout the world.
President Ma stated that Dr. Ostrom believes that common property is a type of non-exclusive, non-rival resource. Issues ranging from global warming to the use of public wells in villages, for instance, are all Dr. Ostrom’s areas of concern. She has thus inspired new thinking in political science and economics, the president said.
President Ma commented that Taiwan is an island that has extremely limited natural resources, but is frequently hit by natural disasters. The tension associated with the use of common resources here may be higher than that of other nations. Consequently, Dr. Ostrom's theories should be useful in Taiwan, he remarked.
The president stressed that since taking office over two years ago, he has strongly emphasized energy conservation and the reduction of carbon emissions, and efforts to achieve those ends have yielded concrete results. Carbon emissions in 2009 were cut by 5% here, while they were reduced by 4.4% in 2008. Taiwan's economic development in the first half of this year was especially vibrant, he said, pointing out that first- quarter economic growth stood at 13.71% and second- quarter growth was 12.53%. According to estimates by the Ministry of Economic Affairs' Bureau of Energy, Taiwan's energy intensity is only 9%. Even though this year's reduction in carbon emissions will not be as pronounced as last year or the year before, at least the nation uses energy very efficiently, he said.
President Ma said that global warming and climate change have already had an enormous impact on Taiwan. Last year, devastating landslides and flooding in early August in southern and eastern Taiwan caused the loss of nearly 700 lives, he said. The president added that while Taiwan is not able to take part in activities related to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, we will not shirk our responsibilities as a citizen of the world. He said that the reduction of carbon emissions will continue to be an important administrative policy. The president stated that Taiwan intends to cut carbon emissions by 2020 to the level of 2005, and to further bring them down in 2025 to the level of 2000. President Ma said that this objective is extremely challenging and that he hopes Taiwan will achieve it on schedule with expected quality.
Dr. Ostrom was accompanied to the Presidential Office in the morning by Environmental Protection Administration Minister Stephen Shu-hung Shen to meet President Ma. Also attending the meeting was National Security Council Deputy Secretary-General John C.C. Deng.