Urbanization, Energy, and Air Pollution in China The Challenges Ahead: Proceedings of a Symposium (2004) / Chapter Skim
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Institutional Issues Environmental Institutions in China--HUA WANG and CHANGHUA WU
Institutional Issues Environmental Institutions in China--HUA WANG and CHANGHUA WU
Pages 251-280
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Institutional Issues
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The number of vehicles in China has been growing at a rate of 20 percent per year in many urban areas, and vehicular emissions are fast becoming the primary 1In 2002, barely one-third of China's 343 monitored cities were in compliance with the nation's residential ambient air quality criteria.
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developing a national environmental network, with the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) as its anchor, and expanding SEPA's environmental coordination function; and (3)
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under the State Council shall conduct unified supervision and management of environmental protection throughout the country. The competent departments of environmental protection administration (environmental protection bureaus, or EPBs)
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pollution Communications control Ministry of Water · water quality, water body Resources sink capacity · total water pollutant control Ministry of Health · drinking water quality Government Players Government has three major responsibilities: legislative, administrative, and judiciary. The NPC Environment and Resources Protection Committee drafts new environmental legislation and revises existing legislation; local people's congresses are responsible for local legislation.
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Some agencies are directly affiliated with the State Council, such as SEPA and the State Forestry Administration. Nongovernmental Organizations Although China's legal framework does not promote the creation of NGOs in the Western sense, environmentally oriented NGOs are beginning to provide a vehicle for public expressions of environmental concerns and for effecting change, although on a limited scale.
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For instance, the Rural Development Institute of the People's University of China in Beijing is one of many educational institutions that combine academic research and rural development projects in China's interior. The Beijing Environment and Development Institute (BEDI)
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A number of institutions have also been actively involved in the development and expansion of environmental management systems in industry. The China National Cleaner Production Center, under SEPA, is an example of an institution that advises businesses on environmental auditing, cleaner production, and setting up ISO 14000 systems.
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Through this program, each government agency has been required to establish clearly defined functions, responsibilities, and powers and to specify the number of staff members to be responsible for each function. State Environmental Protection Administration SEPA is authorized to conduct "unified supervision and management of
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; making suggestions for the establishment of new national natural reservation areas; and supervising national natural reser vation areas. · Cross-cutting and regional issue coordination: directing efforts to deal with interdepartmental and interprovincial issues; investigating and deal ing with major pollution accidents and ecological damage; resolving inter provincial disputes; organizing and coordinating efforts to prevent and control water pollution in national key basins; taking charge of the envi ronmental supervision and administrative examination; and organizing the examination on the enforcement of environmental protection laws.
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· Global environmental issues and international conventions: formu lating national principles for addressing global environmental issues; managing international cooperative efforts; helping to coordinate major events on environmental protection; participating in the negotiations of international environmental protection agreements; coordinating the implementation of international environmental agreements; coordinating and implementing foreign-funded environmental projects; dealing with foreign affairs in relation to environmental protection with the endorse ment of the State Council; and communicating with international envi ronmental organizations. · Nuclear safety: managing radioactive wastes and nuclear materials; formulating guidelines, policies, laws, and standards; participating in emergency responses to nuclear accidents and radioactive accidents; supervising and managing the safety of nuclear facilities; developing mineral resources with radioactive content; and supervising the safety of nuclear pipelines and pressure-bearing facilities.
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The Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) is deeply involved in sustainable development and climate change negotiations and has responsibilities in technology R&D.
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EPBs work directly with local factories and other polluters, as well as with industry bureaus and local governments. REGULATION Policy Making According to the Law on the Prevention and Control of Air Pollution, the national government shall adopt measures to control or gradually eliminate all emissions of air pollutants throughout the country in a planned way; the local governments at all levels shall be responsible for ambient air quality in the areas under their jurisdiction and shall formulate plans and adopt measures to ensure that ambient air quality in their jurisdictions meets defined standards.
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In accordance with the national ambient water quality standards and the country's economic and technological conditions, SEPA shall establish national pollutant discharge standards. The governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities may establish local standards for the discharge of water pollutants not specified in the national standards; for items specified in the
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TABLE 3 Pollution Control Instruments Command-and- Economic Voluntary Public Disclosure Control Instruments Incentives Instruments Instruments · Concentration-based · Pollution levy fee · Environmental · Cleanup pollution discharge limits · Noncompliance labeling system campaign · Mass-based controls fines · Promotion of ISO · Performance on total provincial · Environmental 14000 system disclosure discharge (pilot only) compensation fee · Cleaner production · Environmental impact · Sulfur emission fee assessment (experimental)
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The available data suggest that these measures did contribute to reversing industrial water pollution emissions by the middle of the decade. SEPA, the leading government agency in enforcement, formulates regulations, policies, and standards and uses implementation instruments to prevent and control industrial pollution.
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Supervision and monitoring are mostly the responsibility of law enforcement agencies, including SEPA and local EPBs, which both have departments of environmental supervision and inspection. There are also some supervision and inspection institutes, such as the South China Environmental Protection Supervision and Inspection Center.
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Thus, the collective ownership of agriculture was ended, which radically altered the functions of government. 3Decentralization refers to any act in which a central government formally cedes powers to actors and institutions at lower levels in a political-administrative hierarchy.
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Another round of restructuring took place in 1993 and was focused on separating government from business, separating rule-making from implementation, strengthening supervision, and reducing the direct government management of enterprises. In 1998, the State Council established a government administrative system that would support China's socialist economic system.
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Second, the streamlining of environmental management has become a major feature of the delegation of environmental jurisdiction. Authorities with crosscutting responsibilities in the environment and sustainable development were greatly strengthened after the 1998 government reforms, when SEPA was promoted to its present ministerial status and SDRC was given a clear mandate to lead China's sustainable development efforts in close collaboration with a number of ministries and agencies.
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efforts to address the so-called "horizontal-vertical" issue, in which lower level EPBs report to higher level EPBs, and ultimately SEPA, but receive their funding from local governments. The heads of local EPBs must now be endorsed by a higher ranked environmental agency.
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, sustainable development is designated as the "guiding principle and strategy" for the country's economic and social development. The Five-Year Plan also identifies environmental protection as a national priority, but not quite on the same level as economic growth or the alleviation of poverty.
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So far, the enforcement of environmental laws and regulations has been spotty. Interagency Coordination With sustainable development and the environment high on the national agenda, one would expect that a mechanism would be in place for integrating and coordinating environmental and economic policies.
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However, public disclosures of local government environmental performance can provide incentives for local governments to enforce regulations enacted by the central government. Nongovernmental Organizations and Research Institutes Authoritative advice from independent, reliable sources is crucial to sound decision making, especially for the complex issues involved in sustainable development.
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Goods for which quota, license and MOFTEC specific import administration measure are eliminated Prohibited exported goods MOFTEC Prohibiting export of black moss MOFTEC TABLE 5 Import and Export of Hazardous Chemicals Topics Agency Circular on strengthening the management SEPA, MOFTEC, Ministry of of hazardous chemicals Public Security, etc. Provisions on environmental management SEPA, MOFTEC of the first import of chemicals and the import and export of toxic chemicals Standards of registration fee for SEPA environmental management of chemical export and import Circular on renewal of registration of SEPA environmental management of first import of chemicals Through environment-related provisions in the legal agreements for China's accession into the WTO, China is obligated to abide by various requirements.
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Dust plumes from these storms have even been identified in the United States, reportedly transported via the jet stream. One positive aspect of regional and global environmental developments is that they have led to meetings between high-level government officials in the affected countries to discuss solutions to China's growing environmental problems.
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Although China has not become an official member of the committee, China is involved along the upper reaches of the Mekong, which originates in the Tibet-Qinghai Plateau. Thus, what China does along the watershed and how China plans to use the water resources of the upper reaches of the Mekong have a major effect on the river itself and the development of countries along the middle and lower reaches of the river.
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The lack of cross-sectoral coordination is commonly considered to be at the heart of the critical problems related to water resources management, urban planning, forest management, product-related environmental measures, and many other areas. To improve cross-sectoral coordination, a national environmental network, with SEPA as its anchor, should be developed; in addition, SEPA's environmental coordination function should be enhanced.
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Beijing: State Environmental Protection Ad ministration. Stockholm Environment Institute and the United Nations Development Program.
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