Recommended reading
The great leap backward?
The environmental cost of double digit growth in China
Authors:
E.C. Economy
Publisher:
Foreign Affairs [Journal], 2007
China's environmental problems are mounting. Water pollution and water scarcity are burdening the economy, rising levels of air pollution are endangering the health of millions of Chinese, and much of the country's land is rapidly turning into desert. While Chinese government has implemented environmental regulations, it is unable to enforce their regulation. The paper argues that improving the environment in China will require bottom-up political and economic reforms.
The paper highlights the following environmental concerns:
- China is home to 16 of the world's 20 most polluted cities with as much as 90 percent of China's sulfur dioxide emissions and 50 percent of its particulate emissions resulting from coal use
- pollution from increased car use is expected to increase with China having more cars than the United States as early as 2040
- increases in energy ineffecient housing in urban areas
- the Gobi Desert nowengulfs much of western and northern China and is spreading by about 1,900 square miles annually
- overuse, pollution and unequal access to water has led to water shortages in two-thirds of China’s cities.
These growing environmental concerns are inhibiting economic growth, contributing to premature death and fostering social unrest. This is further aggrevated by Beijing’s commitment to a green Olympics in 2008. In response the these concerns, the central government has set targets for environmental protection and the reduction of pollution, however local officials have little interest or incentives to implement environmental regulations.
In order to curb environmental degradation, the paper argues that the Chinese government must::
- make it easier for local officials and factory owners to comply with environmental regulations by giving them the right incentives
- loosen the political restrictions they placed on the courts, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and the media in order to enable these groups to become independent enforcers of environmental protection.
