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Reforming China’s multi-level environmental governance: Lessons from the 11th Five-Year Plan

Liu, Lingxuan, Bing Zhang, Jun Bi. 2012. Reforming China's multi-level environmental governance: Lessons from the 11th Five-Year Plan. Environmental Science and Policy, 21: 106–111. Online access

Abstract

China’s planned environmentalism during the 11th Five-Year Plan (FYP) period was successful at reducing sulfur dioxide (SO2) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) due to the target responsibility system (TRS) on pollution reduction goals, which led to a redefined responsibility of environmental protection from local Environmental Protection Bureaus (EPBs) to local government leaders. However, the weakness of current mono-centric planning process is obvious in the context of governing complex socio-ecological changes. In this paper, two alternative approaches, decentralization of the nation’s planning regime and participatory governance with public involvement, were proposed to improve China’s environmental governance system.

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