Where the rubber meets the road(Some thoughts on) Local and regional environmental governance in China

Scott Moore

David versus Goliath

Loose- Loose SituationState Council

Ministry of Environmental

Protection

Provincial EPB

Local EPB

Environmental policy pressure

Development policy

pressure

“The general [environmental] policy framework favoring development over the environment compromises the work of enforcement bodies at the sub-national level and results in widespread non-compliance with environmental requirements”– Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2006

Enterprises

Institutional Failure: the Yancheng acid leak

•2004: People’s Political Consultative Committee raises concern at water contamination in Yancheng•2005: Biaoxin Chemical Company fined for pollution discharge•2008: Yancheng city government says all chemical plants to be relocated away from river, all sewage drain outlets blocked•2009: Water supplies to 200,000 disrupted after Baoxin dumps carbolic acid into Mangshe River•2009: Investigation reveals that water quality detection in Yancheng relies on “sniffing and tasting” •“守法成本高，违法成本低” : Compliance is expensive, evasion is cheap

The fix: the Regional Supervision Centers

"The six [Regional Supervision] centers will…take on the task of supervision of local government and local departments of environmental protection, to prevent administrative inaction, corruption or dereliction of duty in the process of environmental management“ – Zhang Lijun, Vice-Minister, MEP

Ummm….some problems with that

•Uncertain legal basis (No official law or State Council regulation, only SEPA notice)•Confusing relationship with MEP•Information asymmetry (“At present, local environmental protection authorities seal off or conceal information of key pollution sources”– Wang Canfa)•Focus on supervision of enterprises, not local government enforcement (Wang Canfa)•Insufficient resources (RSCs should have 200 staff– Gunaratnam)

Towards a regional approach

MEP

Regional Planning Organization

Local EPB Local EPB Local EPB

Enterprises and regulated entities

NGOs Other civil society actors