Old problems and new dilemmas: the conundrum of environmental management reform in China

ABSTRACT

Underpinning China’s severe and continuing environmental degradation is a stubborn gap between environmental regulation and regulatory enforcement at the local level. In the past, scholars have sought explanations for the causes of this implementation gap by interviewing frontline environmental officials. Due to the fact that the self-perception data used in most of those existing studies were gathered prior to 2012, the possible factors contributing to the compromised effectiveness of local environmental enforcement from 2012 onward remain largely unknown. This empirical weakness should not be overlooked, as the prevailing institutions governing China’s local environmental management practices have been experiencing many frame-breaking transformations since 2012. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with leaders of environmental law enforcement teams in all administrative districts of Guangzhou in 2017, this paper not only summarizes pervasive elements which negatively impact the current effectiveness of environmental regulatory efforts, but also provides qualitative evidence and theoretical accounts for three enforcement dilemmas stemming from reform measures taken by the central government.     

The shadow of the past: environmental issues and institutional learning in EU enlargement processes

This paper compares the role of environmental issues in negotiating Spanish membership of the European Union (EU) with the ongoing enlargement talks with Central and Eastern European countries. The paper first argues that the EU has recognized a need to change the way in which it has traditionally managed environmental issues in enlargement processes. Second, the paper provides evidence of learning processes at the Community level that could have effected a change in Community approaches to enlargement in the environmental field. However, the paper shows that the fundamental principles and procedures applied in preparing for eastern enlargement match those used in previous enlargement rounds, resembling a largely technical exercise with exclusive focus on the applicants' ability to align with the acquis communautaire and the length of transition periods. The lack of sufficient adaptation or reform suggests that path dependence and institutional inertia have constrained the scope for innovations at the level of policy strategy and institutions, for which the shadow of the past has reinforced established patterns of institutional behaviour and practices. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

MANAGING POLLUTION FROM SSI<Emphasis Type="SmallCaps">s</Emphasis> – DESIGNING FOR A SUSTAINABLE INSTITUTION

The common effluent treatment plants (CETPs) are being propagated as the policy response to circumvent the pollution problem from the small-scale industries (SSIs), which abound in developing countries. The formation of the CETPs has been hailed as a collective action or co-operative solution to a common problem involving all the agents responsible for pollution. This paper investigated the desired criteria for designing an institution aimed at solving a common resource problem and factors ensuring the smooth functioning or sustainability of the institution. The design criteria and factors are then tested on a CETP set up in the Indian state of Haryana. The CETP, which was commissioned in 1997 had to be converted to a sewage treatment plant (STP) as the collective arrangement collapsed. The criteria used in the present analysis are that of Ostrom’s [Governing the Commons. Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press, 1990] design principles, whereas the factors considered for sustainability are the one suggested by Rawls [A Theory of Justice. USA, Harvard University Press, 1971]. The analysis indicates that the Kundli CETP failed in both counts as neither all the design principles were met nor did the institution fulfil different sustainability criteria. The paper concludes with the lessons that can be learnt from Kundli’s failure. Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

The Impact of Changes of Property Rights on Farmland Use： An Empirical Study of China during Transition

In China, farmland property rights characterized by the household-responsibility system （HRS） have been improved since the reform and opening-up. The rights of use, transfer and gain become more stable, authorized and complete. This paper firstly analyzes the impact on farmland productivity, which comes from the improvement of farmland property rights. Then, an economet-ric model is built to test the above analysis. It concludes that changes of property rights will affect farmland performance in China. In the end, some policy implications are explored for fur-ther reforms.     

Conservation and Aid: Designing More Effective Investments in Natural Resource Governance Reform

Abstract:  Biodiversity conservation outcomes are closely related to the rules and institutions governing resource use. Creating local incentives for conservation through more secure resource tenure is central to conservation outcomes on private and communal lands, where the preponderance of biodiversity occurs. Conservation efforts in sub-Saharan Africa are therefore centrally concerned with governance dynamics and institutional reform processes, such as the decentralization of property rights, and how best to achieve such reforms. Traditional mechanisms for financing conservation efforts in Africa rely heavily on funds channeled through multilateral and bilateral aid agencies. The history of development aid highlights a range of constraints these aid agencies face in terms of working toward more effective resource governance arrangements and promoting reforms. Government aid agencies possess incentives for promoting large-scale and short-term projects that maximize expenditure volumes and tend to define issues in technical rather than political terms. The history of development aid suggests that these and other characteristics of aid agencies impedes their ability to influence governance reform processes and that aid funding may discourage the adoption of reforms. Greater emphasis in African conservation financing needs to be placed on flexible, small-scale investments aligned to local interests and constituencies that prioritize innovation, learning, and experimentation. Additionally, more research is required that explores the linkages between conservation funding, donor decision-making processes, and governance reforms.     

农村合作经济组织发展的制度分析

农村合作经济组织是将农民组织起来进入市场、参与竞争的桥梁和纽带,是新时期推动农村经济发展和提高农民收入的重要因素之一。在制度层面运用新制度经济学理论从实现土地规模经营、节约市场交易费用和维护农民利益等三方面分析了合作组织发育的需求诱致性动因;接着从制度环境状况、现有社会科学知识的积累、现存的制度安排、组织的制度变迁成本、非正式制度安排等外部制度供给方面以及产权和组织制度等组织内部制度方面分析了其存在的缺陷;最后提出了推动合作组织发展的政策建议：其一,只要是以“三农”服务为宗旨,政府在政策上都应允许和指导合作组织灵活地创新产权制度、因地制宜地进行多种形式的组织创新;其二,政府要力所能及地为合作组织提供一些制度服务。     

Adapting participatory processes to fine-tune conservation approaches in multiactor decision settings

Conservation decisions are typically made in complex, dynamic, and uncertain settings, where multiple actors raise diverse and potentially conflicting claims, champion different and sometimes contradictory values, and enjoy varying degrees of freedom and power to act and influence collective decisions. Therefore, effective conservation actions require conservation scientists and practitioners to take into account the complexity of multiactor settings. We devised a framework to help conservation biologists and practitioners in this task. Institutional economic theories, which are insufficiently cited in the conservation literature, contain useful insights for conservation. Among these theories, the economies of worth can significantly contribute to conservation because it can be used to classify the types of values peoples or groups refer to when they interact during the elaboration and implementation of conservation projects. Refining this approach, we designed a framework to help conservation professionals grasp the relevant differences among settings in which decisions related to conservation actions are to be made, so that they can adapt their approaches to the features of the settings they encounter. This framework distinguishes 6 types of agreements and disagreements that can occur between actors involved in a conservation project (harmony, stricto sensu arrangement, deliberated arrangement, unilateral and reciprocal compromise, and locked-in), depending on whether they disagree on values or on their applications and on whether they can converge toward common values by working together. We identified key questions that conservationists should answer to adapt their strategy to the disagreements they encounter and identified relevant participatory processes to complete the adaptation.     

Organizational adoption of sustainable manufacturing practices in India: integrating institutional theory and corporate environmental responsibility

Organizations are increasingly engaging in socially and environmentally sustainable initiatives. This paper focuses on the institutional isomorphism mechanisms to analyse the organizational adoption of sustainable manufacturing practices like eco-design, source reduction, and environmental management practices. This paper empirically examines the role of institutional influence in the organizational adoption of sustainable manufacturing practices among firms in India. The results of this study confirm the significance of the three institutional isomorphism mechanisms in influencing sustainable responses, but not all mechanisms influence the organizational response equally. In particular, the results show a strong influence of self-regulatory normative isomorphism on the implementation.     

Basic principles and ecological consequences of changing water regimes on nitrogen cycling in fluvial systems

Understanding the environmental consequences of changing water regimes is a daunting challenge for both resource managers and ecologists. Balancing human demands for fresh water with the needs of the environment for water in appropriate amounts and at the appropriate times are shaping the ways by which this natural resource will be used in the future. Based on past decisions that have rendered many freshwater resources unsuitable for use, we argue that river systems have a fundamental need for appropriate amounts and timing of water to maintain their biophysical integrity. Biophysical integrity is fundamental for the formulation of future sustainable management strategies. This article addresses three basic ecological principles driving the biogeochemical cycle of nitrogen in river systems. These are (1) how the mode of nitrogen delivery affects river ecosystem functioning, (2) how increasing contact between water and soil or sediment increases nitrogen retention and processing, and (3) the role of floods and droughts as important natural events that strongly influence pathways of nitrogen cycling in fluvial systems. New challenges related to the cumulative impact of water regime change, the scale of appraisal of these impacts, and the determination of the impacts due to natural and human changes are discussed. It is suggested that cost of long-term and long-distance cumulative impacts of hydrological changes should be evaluated against short-term economic benefits to determine the real environmental costs.     

制度创新：依托武汉建设长江中游城市群

经过上千年的发育和发展,我国长江中游流域已形成了规模庞大的、以武汉为中心、经济联系紧密的城市群落的雏形。通过对长江中游城市群内部的分析以及与珠江三角洲、长江三角洲等发达区域的比较,阐明了其经济发展相对滞后 和城市群内部各城市间发展水平参差不齐的深层次制度性障碍,提供了诸如转变政府职能,建立跨行政地界的区域协调机构,城市土地制度改革和促进区域内小城镇发展等一系列以区域整体协调和持续发展为目标的制度创新的基本思路。在此基础上,提出了圈层梯度推进、建设以武汉为中心的长江中游城市群的发展战略。为实现我国东部地区产业向西部转移,推进西部大开发提供了重要的战略支点,从而促进全国经济全面持续快速发展。