Environmental governance in China

Detailed accounts of the impact of economic development on China’s environmental landscape through the century have been provided by scholars, many of whom are Chinese. By the mid-1800s, wide swaths of northern China were desert; deforestation and poor agricultural practices had degraded vast tracts of land; overuse had depleted fish stocks; and small-scale factories had begun to pollute the country’s water resources. Additionally, the pressures of China’s burgeoning population and frequent wars, which took their own serious toll on the environment, compounded the challenge of China’s development.

However, by the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st centuries, there was an explosive growth in China’s economy. New government policies encouraged the privatisation of agriculture, the wholesale urbanisation of China’s rural population, the development of tens of thousands of small-scale rural industries and an influx of international investment. The results have been staggering: hundreds of millions of Chinese have been lifted out of poverty; China’s economy continues to grow at a rate of 8–12 per cent annually, as it has for two decades and by the end of 2005, China was the fourth largest economy and third largest exporting nation in the world, after the United States and Germany. Nevertheless, China’s environment paid a steep price for this economic growth. Water pollution, air pollution, and soil degradation pose enormous threat to ecosystems and human health. However, these issues are being taken seriously by the Chinese government and are now being incorporated into policies and plans at the highest level.

Just as rapid economic growth, so is environmental governance system in China rapidly changing; resulting in new environmental institutions and practices. State authorities rule increasingly via laws and decentralise environmental policymaking and implementation. Non-state actors –both private companies and (organised) citizens – are given and taking more responsibilities and tasks in environmental governance. The consequence of these reflects in new relations between state, market and civil society in environmental governance, with more emphasis on efficiency and legitimacy.

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Wikipedia