Tang Prize Newsletter

After two weeks of discussion, drafts, and revisions, the long-awaited COP21 climate deal was passed by 196 nations when climate conference president and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius struck the gavel on December 12. The document is the first in history to call for all the nations of the world—both developed and developing—to set long term goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It follows on the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, and is the first agreement to be at least in part legally binding.

Notwithstanding its brevity at 29 articles, the Paris Agreement is the first such agreement to involve all the nations of the world in the reduction of GHG emissions. It places a 2 degree Celsius ceiling on the average global rise in temperature from preindustrial levels and strongly endeavors to keep that rise within 1.5 degrees. Developed countries have also agreed to allocate US$100 billion per year to developing countries to aid in emissions reductions.

Over the next decade the agreement is expected to lead to massive transformations in the global economy, one that has up until this point been driven by fossil fuels, and will give the world a chance at a cooler, more sustainable mode of development.

Dubbed the "Godmother of Sustainable Development," recipient of the inaugural Tang Prize in that field, Gro Harlem Brundtland was in Paris this December 6-7 to observe the progress of negotiations at COP21, the 21st instance of the UNFCCC's Conference of the Parties.

Notwithstanding her busy schedule, Brundtland visited with Tang Prize CEO Dr. Jenn-Chuan Chern and the Tang Prize team at its stand at the civil society area on Monday, December 7, where a ring of fans and—fortuitously enough—a group of Norwegian carolers greeting her with song.

On the topic of the day, COP21, Brundtland stressed that if leaders around the globe can perform the actions that achieve sustainable development goals, there is promise of improving quality of life for billions of people around the world, to say nothing of preventing irreparable damage to the environment.

Brundtland was one of the first political leaders to bring governmental and public awareness to the problems we now face in sustainability. Her visit on Monday struck a chord with the visitors to the stand, who praised the Tang Prize for its international reach, academic rigor, and substantial contributions to humanity.

Read more about Brundtland Praises Tang Prize Presence at COP21>>

COP21 has been called by many the most crucial event for sustainability in recent years due to the potential of a 2-plus-degree rise in global temperatures. Aside from the official discussions on this serious matter taking place at the Le Bourget Exhibition Centre, civil society members were also given a voice at the Climate Generations Area. Tang Prize CEO Jenn-Chuan Chern and company were at the event centre to introduce the Tang Prize and participate in discussion with the general public.

Chern said that the prize was honored to participate in such an important event. The prize in Sustainable Development is intended to urge sustainable principles in humanity and the environment, and thus this is the perfect venue to let the public know about those goals and values, he added.

Read more about Sustainability Central to Tang Prize and COP21>>

Expanding the mind and reducing your footprint were the two central themes at the COP21 civil society area. The Tang Prize Foundation, during its two week display at the area, saw no shortage of innovative displays and creative minds. Here are just a few of the choicest picks:

●At COP21 "unplugged" doesn't mean "acoustic." No wires needed at the solar concert station, nor are any needed at the nearby mobile charge kiosk.

●Old tennis nets are reused to produce tough, durable carpeting.

●With a shortage of arable land, innovators have made hanging gardens that make it possible to increase agri-productivity; their verticality also makes it possible to reduce fossil fuel consumption and reuse water for irrigation.

Even the event centre materials have been recycled and re-combined to become a mini Eiffel Tower.

Read more about Innovation Pop-Ups at COP21>>

The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) held its annual meeting this November 18, 2015, in Vienna, Austria. The meeting, which opened with speeches from academy presidents Bai Chunli and the Federal President of Austria Heinz Fischer, was attended by over 300 academicians representing 60 countries. Albie Sachs, the inaugural Tang Prize Laureate in Rule of Law, was invited by the academy to deliver the keynote speech on sustainable development and poverty.

Sachs' speech was an uncommon departure from the usually scientific discussion, though it touched on an important and often unlooked aspect of the field. His speech, entitled "The Grootboom dilemma─sustainable development and overcoming poverty" evoked three separate cases to show how sustainable development is intimately tied with poverty. Sachs wove elements from each case in his call to give more attention to those people with the least means. But the through-line connecting them all was the African humanist concept of Ubuntu.

Read more about Sachs Sees Principle of Ubuntu as Focus of Sustainability and Poverty>>

The October 8 edition of the German newsweekly Die Zeit recently published an infographic comparing the academic prizes of the world. The Hamburg-based publication has a readership near 2 million, and is one of the top news publications in Germany, the other being Der Spiegel. The international award infographic (linked below) is color and size-coded for the fields and amount awarded. The Tang Prize, shown center-left, is described as "a biennial prize based out of Taiwan that is given in four categories: Sinology, Biopharmaceutical Science, Rule of Law, and Sustainable Development."

Read more about Tang Prize Gains Awareness in Germany, World>>

Looking to raise awareness of ecological protection, inaugural Tang Prize laureate in Sustainable Development Gro Harlem Brundtland donated her US$0.33 million grant to the Milgis Trust of northern Kenya, where the organization fights for the wildlife of the area, spotting poachers, protecting water resources, and preserving the local cultures such as the Samburu. Foundation CEO Dr. Jenn-Chuan Chern and company, during the signing ceremony for the project, provided a small donation of several backpacks for the locals’ long scouting trips, gifts which have now found an important use.

Tracking poachers means long trips out in the expansive Lugga where food and equipment must be brought on one’s person. Now, with the funds from Gro Harlem Brundtland and the backpacks from the Tang Prize Foundation, Milgis scouts have useful provisions for their journey. As education strengthens local life and scouting protects the elephants, the people are again learning about how to coexist sustainably with wildlife.

Read more about New Backpacks for Milgis Trust Scouts >>

Professor Emeritus of Chinese Studies at Princeton University and recipient of the first-ever Tang Prize in Sinology Yu Ying-shih donated his NT$10 million grant accompanying the Tang Prize to the founding of a new fellowship, the "Yu Ying-shih Fellowship for the Humanities." Each year, six recipients are named as fellowship recipients: three recipients for the Academic Publication Scholarship, worth NT$360,000 each; and three recipients for the Dissertation Scholarship, worth NT$240,000 each. The awarding of the first year of scholarships will take place this 12/24 at the Academia Sinica in Taiwan.

Active from May 2015 through 2019, the fellowship is intended to support promising researchers and scholars in the humanities fields with the financial assistance needed to complete dissertations and other larger academic works.

Read full story Yu Ying-Shih Fellowship Recipients Announced>>

This year, 2015, the Tang Prize has been taking the Sparking Innovation—Innovation in High Schools Competition into Taiwan’s campuses. Kung-Tung Technical took the gold for their project showing how sustainability enters into our daily lives, Kaohsiung Municipal Girls brought home the silver for rule of law, and National Tainan First Senior won the bronze for their performance in Sinology.

Kung-Tung used a lightbulb display to show the public how much power LEDs really save, and brought awareness to the impact of global warming by having students don layers of plastic raincoats.

Through the Sparking Innovation—Innovation in High Schools Competition, students will not only learn more about the Tang Prize and thrive within its four fields, they will carry the enthusiasm for learning and the habit of thinking innovatively through the rest of their lives.

For the latest news on the Tang Prize and the laureates, as well as occasional promotional events, visit the Tang Prize Facebook fan page here:

https://www.facebook.com/tangprize>>