China’s environmental governance : evolution and limitations

It has been widely acknowledged that China, one of the world's fastest growing and most populous countries, has been facing some serious environmental challenges since the 1950s. This has led to environmental degradation especially since its opening-up and reform policy in the late 1970s (Smil, 1980; Boxer, 1989; Sanders, 1999; Ross, 1998; Zhang et al., 1999; Ho, 2003). This policy has driven its continuously phenomenal economic growth, transforming it into the second largest economy in the world. As a result, China was ranked 116th among 132 countries assessed for environmental sustainability in 2012 (Emerson et al., 2012). To address the environmental challenges, China has begun to create a comprehensive domestic framework, institutionally and legislatively, since the 1970s. Hence, it has already established its environmental governance which “comprises the rules, practices, policies and institutions that shape how humans interact with the environment” (UNEP, 2009). However, this does not follow that China's environmental challenges have been tackled successfully and effectively and that China's environmental situation has been improved greatly. In reality, the scale and seriousness of its environmental problems persisted even in the 2000s