TEIA is dedicated to two primary goals: enhancing the distribution of environmental information and promoting the model of an environmental charitable trust.
(1) Enhancing the distribution of environmental information
Established at TEIA’s inception, the Environmental Information Center has worked to disseminate environmental information to the Taiwanese public as a way to generate awareness and guard the country against environmental threats. We believe that information is the foundation of any helpful action.
We provide, on a daily basis, environment-related information including news, feature articles, editorials, and green events, created by our staff and experts from various fields, on our official website (http://e-info.org.tw). Our information reaches 30,000 browsers per day on average.
We circulate newsletters through email subscriptions to approximately 100,000 readers and seeks to reach out to our community through Facebook.
We won Taiwan’s “Social Responsibility Award” given by The Foundation for Excellent Journalist Award for distinguished journalists and media.
(2) Promoting the environmental charitable trust model
Apart from offering environmental information, TEIA also aims to promote the environmental charitable trust model as a way to permanently protect and preserve natural heritage. An environmental trust is a means to entrust natural property privately owned to a civic organization for the purpose of environmental protection and sustainable management.
The country’s first environmental trust fund was launched in 2011 to protect a hill of 1.8 hectares in northwest Taiwan (named Nature Valley). It was later transferred from its first receiving trustee to TEIA in 2014.
Our main tasks at the site are threefold: protecting lowland forest biodiversity, building partnerships with the local community, and operating an environmental learning center for people to get involved.
Apart from Nature Valley, we also manage various habitats to experiment with the conservation strategy of land stewardship in trusts. Current projects include farmland in eastern Taiwan and two islets off the west coast of the main Taiwan island.
We have also worked to engage the public in efforts to preserve natural habitats through Eco Working Holidays from 2004.
