ge junjie
TRANSCRIPT
E i t l I f ti Di l d P bliEnvironmental Information Disclosure and Public
Participation in Lake Tai Basin: Evidence of YixingParticipation in Lake Tai Basin: Evidence of Yixing
Junjie GeJunjie GeCEMP, NJU
January 14 2010January 14, 2010
Why conduct this research?y
Command and control instruments and economic policies could not solve all the environmental problems, public
ti i ti b d i t l i f tiparticipation based on environmental information disclosure seems more urgent than beforePil h d b h W ld B k d CEPA Pilot research supported by the World Bank and CEPA from 2006, three cities in Jiangsu Province included
d d b i l j fi i l d Funded by National Water Project：financial and political support
i h i h Cooperative research with IDE, JETRO, Japan
The Location of Yixing —— Upper Lake Tai
Why choose Yixing?y g
In the pper reaches of Lake Tai man ri ers from In the upper reaches of Lake Tai: many rivers from here run down to Lake Tai
Environmental sensitive areas: punishmentin the crisis of 2007
High pollution load：population, industry, agriculture
Great progress was made including environmental protection: elected as one of the ten most happinessprotection: elected as one of the ten most happiness counties of China in 2009
Process of our research
December 3，2008, pilot meeting in Yixing Economic Development Zone
Fill in the questionnaireFill in the questionnaire
January 8, 2009, review of the pilot meeting
July 2009: Field and questionnaire survey in YixingJuly, 2009: Field and questionnaire survey in Yixing
August 6，2009：the first roundtable meeting in a company’s meeting-roommeeting-room
Futures of the first meeting:g
Executives of the enterprises actively participate in the meeting
Positive interacting between the representatives of enterprises and government: most of time enterprises askedenterprises and government: most of time, enterprises asked government for looser environmental regulation
Consensus attained formally in the meeting Consensus attained formally in the meeting driven by the experts
Deficiency of the first meetingy g
Most people are leaders of the villages
Representatives of the public did not express their opinion fully and freely for some reasonopinion fully and freely for some reason
Media did not play an important role in the meeting g
Reasons analysisy
Insufficient arrangements before the meeting，especially selecting and training the public
Presence of higher level officials makes the public have hesitation to tell local environmentalpublic have hesitation to tell local environmental issuesWith t h i ti th Without enough communications among the public, government and enterprises
December 8,2009:the second meeting in the community meeting roon
Futures of the second meeting
W i ti d b tt l th bli
g
Warm communications and rebuttals among the public, enterprises and government
Active responses of the government and enterprises to the environmental problems
Free and enough expression of the public
Fair attitude of the government
Local media attended and reported the meeting
Deficiency of the second meetingy g
No effective consensus attained
Difficult to supervise the promise of the government and enterprises without constitutionalgovernment and enterprises without constitutional aid such as the information disclosure
Reasons analysisy
Selecting and training of the public before the meeting, encourage them to deliver their own voice
Make certain the topics of the meeting with the help of the local government and inform thehelp of the local government and inform the relevant enterprises in advanceL l t d t ll t t l th Local government do not really want to solve the environmental problems by the public participation
Questionnaire survey results analysisQ y y
280 questionnaires data were checked and input
Chart 10 Difficulties of environmental public participation
Lack of practical results 33%Without others’ support 29%pp %Insufficiency of professional knowledge 35%Lower organized level of the public 51%Lack of environmental information 52%Without support of the government 57%
Chart 11 Key factor of environmental cooperationChart 11 Key factor of environmental cooperation
Government36%
NGO media and experts
33% 36%
EnterprisesPublic13% Enterprises
18%13%
Chart 13 Factor of promoting the environmental public participation
E i t 31%Economic encouragement 31%Legal support and judicial relief 40%Aid of NGO, media and experts 53%Aid of NGO, media and experts 53%Identity and support of the residents 55%Support of the government 80%
Brief conclusion
High demand of the public environmental appeal
Unsatisfied status of environmental information disclosure both of enterprises andinformation disclosure both of enterprises and governmentWeak conscio sness of the go ernment on Weak consciousness of the government on environmental public participation
Government is the key facor
Policy proposaly p p
Policy-levelStart up and strengthen legislation of environmental
bli ti i ti ll i f ti di lpublic participation as well as information disclosure Organization-level
D fi th t ibl f th i t lDefine the sector responsible for the environmental information disclosure and public participation, establish relative working programrelative working program
Operation-levelImprove environmental information disclosure byImprove environmental information disclosure by internet, construct the path for public participation such as environmental roundtable meetingg
