ABSTRACT
Governance in a deliberative democracy requires a new approach of maintaining public order and facilitating collective action, in which not only the government, but also markets and civil society, play prominent roles. The main characteristic of this new norm of governance is the increased use of partnerships, networks and markets to deliver public services and take necessary actions. The advances in remote sensing and Earth System Science have fostered a new holistic way of understanding the Earth and diagnosing the anthropogenic impacts upon it. Taiwan needs to become part of this international trend in global environmental governance by adopting an integrated approach. This chapter illustrates this point using two examples: reducing greenhouse gas emissions and managing solid waste in a source-to-sink framework. Also emphasised are new practices utilising the Internet of Things (IoT), geographic information systems, big data, technical ingenuity and ‘out-of-the-box thinking’ as several lines of innovation. Three examples are given for illustration: 1 a pyramid network for monitoring air quality, 2 using resin sachets for water pollution detection and 3 a new way of combatting dengue fever using the principles of island biogeography.
