COVID-19 Prompts Tang Prize Laureates to Examine New Challenges Facing Sustainable Development

TAIPEI, TAIWAN -�Media OutReach - 11 September 2020 - To explore issues complicated by the
coronavirus, including sustainable development, climate change and
environmental protection, the Tang Prize Foundation and National Tsing Hua
University will co-host the 2020 Tang Prize Masters’ Forum for Sustainable
Development, taking place at 4p.m. (GMT+8) Taiwan time, on September 21.
Livestreamed on the Foundation’s website (https://www.tang-prize.org/en/week.php?cat=94)
with Chinese and
English settings available, this forum features several Tang Prize laureates
who, though unable to travel to Taiwan due to the pandemic, will deliver their
speeches, take part in roundtable discussions and answer the audience’s
questions via videoconferencing. This special organization is not only to
reflect how the pandemic has undoubtedly changed the way we used to live but
also to show the Foundation’s determination to provide a platform for people
around the world to have serious conversations on topics closely related to
sustainable development and thus to become more alert to possible dangers
caused by mankind’s disregard of ecological balance.  

 

Economic development, environmental
conservation, and social justice are the three pillars of sustainable
development, at the core of which is ecological conservation, the main theme of
this forum. In addition to the moderator, President of Taiwan’s Academia Sinica
Dr. James Liao, and the keynote speaker, 2020 Tang Prize winner in Sustainable
Development Dr. Jane Goodall, three previous Tang Prize laureates will also
contribute their professional opinions. They are Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, former
director-general of the WHO, Dr. James Hansen, director of the Program on
Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions in the Earth Institute at Colombia
University, and Prof. Veerabhadran Ramanathan, Edward A. Frieman Endowed
Presidential Chair in Climate Sustainability in UC San Diego. Moreover, Prof.
Huey-Jen Jenny Su, president of National Cheng Kung University, and Prof.
Chia-Wei Li from the Department of Life Science at National Tsing Hua
University will serve as panelists. These experts will take us through problems
magnified during the pandemic, such as social and economic inequalities,
climate change, and the relationship between humans, animals and nature, all of
which will have profound impact on sustainable development.      

 

In her speech,
“Ecological Conservation and Sustainable Development of Human Society: The
Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic,” Dr. Goodall will elaborate on how animals and
species have been forced to move away from their usual habitats because of
mankind’s exploitation and disrespect of nature. This could create situations
where species that normally wouldn’t be in touch at all end up coming into
contact with one another, or animals go into cities in search of food. The
current pandemic is thought to have started because we traffic and sell
wildlife in markets, making it easier for a pathogen to jump from an animal to
a human.

 

Thrown into a global health emergency, we
have witnessed how our lives have been disrupted and how our wisdom and
responses to crises have been put to test. Therefore, the Tang Prize Foundation
cordially invite you to join us in this forum and learn about the masters’
insight as to how to realize sustainable development under these trying
circumstances.

 

About Tang Prize

Dr.
Samuel Yin, chairman of Ruentex Group, founded the Tang Prize in December of
2012 as an extension of the supreme value his family placed on education.
Harkening back to the golden age of the Tang Dynasty in Chinese history, the
Tang Prize seeks to be an inspiring force for people working in all corners of
the world. For more information on the Tang Prize and its laureates, please
visit www.tang-prize.org