Strengthening China's Environmental Protection Administrative System : Analysis and Recommendations

Abstract

The Chinese economy has experienced an
 unprecedented 30-year period of economic growth and
 development that has delivered enormous social and economic
 benefits to the people but has had seriously adverse and
 continuing effects on the state of the environment. The
 government is well aware of the problem. Over the last five
 to ten years, environmental objectives have become
 increasingly important in priorities set under successive
 national five-year plans. To address these problems, the
 government has provided increasingly large infusions of
 capital and implemented a series of administrative reforms.
 Notwithstanding all these actions, the state of the national
 environment continues to deteriorate, and further action is
 clearly needed. This policy note focuses particularly on
 continuing issues related to the operations of the Ministry
 for Environmental Protection (MEP), including the legal
 framework under which it operates and its operational
 relationships with other agencies at the national level and
 with its counterparts at lower levels of government. This
 focus is justified given that MEP's effectiveness is
 critical to the effectiveness of the government's
 overall environmental objectives. Without an effective MEP,
 the other elements necessary for China's
 environmentally sustainable development will not be able to
 achieve these national goals.