ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

Environmental Law



Environmental Law

Introduction:

Contemporary China is a society in which the tensions between economic growth and environmental protection are all too evident (Kang and Havercamps, 1994; Smil, 1992). The Chinese Government continues to promote sustained and rapid economic growth. Real GDP increased by 9.7% in 1996, and investment in fixed assets increased by 18.2% over the 1995 figure. Inflation was brought down to 6.1% from almost 15% in the previous year (China Daily, 1997c).

The nature and extent of China's growing environmental problems have been extensively documented in the literature (Qu, 1991; Ross, 1988; Smil, 1993; Lotspeich and Chen, 1997; NEPA/SPC, 1994; Wu and Flynn, 1995). Industry is the major contributor to these problems, accounting for 70% of the country's pollution load. Much of China's industry still uses obsolete, outmoded technology, is highly inefficient in the use of energy and produces significantly more pollution per unit of output than its counterparts in the industrialized countries (NEPA/SPC, 1994).

In addition, the rapid development of numerous, dispersed township and village enterprises (TVEs) has resulted in a substantial increase in the pollution burden in small towns and rural areas (NEPA/SPC, 1994; Lotspeich and Chen, 1997). TVEs causing serious pollution have recently been the target of a national campaign involving the closure of more than 62 000 factories in 20 provinces (China Daily, 1997e). Enforcement action has been directed at 15 categories of polluting enterprises, including paper mills producing less than 5000 tonnes of pulp per year, and tanneries processing less than 30 000 hides per year (China Daily, 1997d). TVEs are, in many respects, a 'soft target' for regulators because of their size, dispersed nature, small workforce and lack of administrative protection from controlling ministries. The problems caused by larger industrial plants, especially many state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in major or rapidly growing cities, pose rather different challenges, as we shall demonstrate.

The Government's overall response to the country's looming environmental crisis has been to emphasize the importance of environmental protection as a basic national policy. During the Ninth Five-Year Plan (1996-2000), greater emphasis is being placed on the environment and this is linked to the implementation of a national sustainable development strategy. Some RMB 180 billion (US$21.7 billion) will be injected into environmental projects over the period of the Plan, and environmental spending is targeted to reach 1.5% of GDP by the year 2000. The figure in 1996 was 0.8% of GDP.

The evolution of the environmental policymaking system in China is described in some detail by Qu (1991), Ross and Silk (1987), Sinkule and Ortolano (1995), Zhang and Jin (1992), and others. The mechanics of the system are relatively well understood, at least at the national level, and its operational shortcomings have been highlighted by a number of commentators (for example, Wang, 1996; Xiong, 1991). Attention has, for example, been drawn to the weaknesses in the current application of the polluter-pays principle in China, specifically the operation of the pollutant discharge fee (PDF) system (Wang, 1996). Other writers have focused on the problems of implementing ...