The “Improvement of Living Environment” project was started by the Environmental Protection Administration in 1997. This “bottom-up” project served the following functions through the establishment of Learning Centers of Environmental Protection: (1) to lead the residents of the communities into “Life-long Learning”, (2) to teach them how to “Rediscover the Communities”, (3) to help them build up a consciousness on “We Live in One Common Biosphere” and (4) to endow them with the abilities to participate in public affairs. Other functions of this project were: (1) to organize volunteers to carry out environmental surveys to understand the problems and the specialties of their communities, (2) to make a plan on how to improve and develop a better environment, (3) to invite the residents to participate in actions (e.g., removal of advertisements and wastes, recycling of garbage and kitchen residue, cleaning and greening the alleys, etc.) and (4) to develop community characteristics (industry, culture and social, etc.) Currently, there are 576 communities engaged in this project. The content of this project involved (1) to provide consultation, on-site inspection and guidance to the residences through a technical task force, (2) to hold training courses and to disseminate information and (3) to publish a reference manual on “How to Best Use the Community Resources” and a “Report on Achievements”. The following describes the details: (1) Inspection and consultation service During August and December, 2002, a technical task force was formed with professors and experts. They visited 17 model communities at least twice each, to help them to achieve their annual goals. (2) Workshops for volunteers There were two large-scale workshops held in Taipei Youth Activity Center and Chang Hua Li Der Education House during this fiscal year. Several other workshops were held within the communities during the on-site inspections in order to accommodate more volunteers throughout the island. A total of 201 volunteers were trained this way. (3) Reference manual on “How to Best Use the Community Resources” The content of this manual may be categorized into: (a) how to establish a Community Environmental Protection Resource Center, (b) design of activities, (c) design of training courses, (d) how to integrate resources and (e) report on successful flee-markets. The manual also has figures and photos taken from the 17 model communities. (4) “Report on Achievements” This report is consisted of the introductions of the 17 model communities, their individual visions and the major achievements within this year. The report was further transformed into web pages in order to disseminate the information to a wider audience. There are also many 5” by 7” photos in this report. We are very lucky to have many communities which participated in this year’s project with enthusiasm and good human resource. All the goals had been met and the achievements were vividly demonstrated.

Inspection and consultation service, Workshop for volunteers, Report on Achievements