After putting two highly polluting projects on hold as a result
of public pressure, the top environmental watchdog yesterday said
it would seek to establish a proper mechanism to allow for its
further participation in environmental governance.
"The public is the most interested party when it comes to the
environment and has the biggest incentive to protect it," the
vice-minister of the State Environmental Protection Administration
(SEPA) Pan Yue said at an urban management symposium in
Beijing.
"Therefore, people should be given the right to know, to
express, to participate and to supervise," he said, adding the
government should establish a system to protect these rights.
The Environmental Impact Assessment Law, passed in 2002, and
administration documents have made it clear that public involvement
in environmental management is encouraged, although there is so far
no detailed or effective mechanism to safeguard such
participation.
The lack of public participation could harm the implementation
of environmental policies and cause conflicts between governments
and the people, Pan said.
Earlier this month, thousands of people in the eastern coastal
city of Xiamen took to the streets to voice their anger after the
government approved the construction of a chemical project close to
local residential areas.
At about the same time, hundreds of people gathered at the
SEPA's offices in Beijing to protest against a planned waste
incineration power project in the city. Protesters in both cities
said local governments had failed to listen to their concerns.
The administration subsequently suspended both projects pending
further environmental assessments.
However, officials admitted there is still no clear path to a
standardized communication mechanism.
"How to design and formulate the mechanism is still under
discussion," Bie Tao, deputy director of the administration's
policies and regulations department, said.
But he said a project supported by the World Bank was a good
attempt.
The project, which was initiated in 2000 and will end this year,
seeks to hold regular roundtable meetings featuring representatives
of the government, commerce and industry, and community groups to
allow the public to have a bigger say in environmental
governance.
The project has successfully held more than 30 meetings in nine
cities, most in East China's Jiangsu Province and the northern
Hebei Province, and helped improve the transparency of local
policymaking.
However, Wang Hua, a project leader and senior economist with
the World Bank, said the project had failed to set up a regular
mechanism due to a lack of government support.
"If there is no clear regulation, most local governments are
unwilling to take the trouble," he said.
Meanwhile, a new website, which officially opened yesterday, is
seeking to provide detailed information relating to environmental
laws and regulations.
The site, www.greenlaw.org.cn, is a
joint venture between environmental NGOs, China Environment Culture
Promotion Association and the US-based Natural Resources Defense
Council (NRDC).
Alex Wang, director of the NRDC China Environmental Law Project,
said China has about 600 laws and regulations regarding public
participation, but they are not always easy to understand.
"The website aims to provide clear and concise information,
using case studies and a legal database," he said.
(China Daily June 22, 2007)