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J. Li
as separate issues. For example, some valued only development, pursuing economic
growth through impractical projects at the cost of the environment; some focused
only environmental protection, taking it as the excuse for inaction when it came to
the pursuit of development; and some could not come up with innovative strategies to promote green development, or failed to balance between development and
protection. On the other hand, it takes time for China to complete the transformation in its development model. China is still in the process of industrialization, and
has not thoroughly changed its industrial structure with high energy-consumption,
high-emissions, and high-pollution industries still as pillars. It also has not got rid
of the negative impacts of what has been done previous, or fully solved the environmental problems caused by a unidirectional, linear and extensive economic model of
“resources—products—pollution.” Meanwhile, China is still relatively underdevelopment in the R&D and application of technologies related to ecological civilization
development, making it difficult for it to see great achievements in both development
and environmental protection.
3. Difficulty in forming synergy between partial and systematic protection
An ecosystem is a unified and interdependent natural system. Ecological civilization development, especially environmental protection and governance, must be
promoted in a holistic and systematic way which is line with the special characteristics and inherent laws of an ecosystem. All elements have to be taken into
account to carry out overall protection, systematic restoration and comprehensive
management to enhance the capacity of the ecosystem. At present, we are deepening
the reform of the management system for an ecological civilization, which cannot
be accomplished at one stroke. First, departmental functions need to be better integrated and further improved. After the new round of institutional reform, the Ministry
of Ecology and Environment was established, taking charge of all aspects of environmental protection by bringing together functions that were previously scattered
among various departments, solving the problems of overlapping functions, contradictory actions, and poor coordination. However, these problems are not yet fully
solved, especially when it comes to comprehensive administrative law enforcement
where further efforts are needed for better integration and coordination. Second, it
will take some time for the reform towards a vertical management system to take
effect as the reform, targeted at monitoring, supervision and law enforcement by
environmental protection authorities at and below the provincial level is currently
being rolled out nationwide. All in all, explorations are still needed to find solutions
that really work in practice to such problems as intervention from local governments
in environmental law enforcement and failure to fulfill environmental protection
obligations. Third, institutions and mechanisms for cross-regional and cross-basin
ecological management need to be further improved. As some water bodies span
multiple provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, ecological and environmental management for them requires effective coordination between different
administrative divisions. However, due to the different stages of economic and social
development, local governments tend to make different choices between environmental protection and economic development. Therefore, it is often difficult to form
J. Li
as separate issues. For example, some valued only development, pursuing economic
growth through impractical projects at the cost of the environment; some focused
only environmental protection, taking it as the excuse for inaction when it came to
the pursuit of development; and some could not come up with innovative strategies to promote green development, or failed to balance between development and
protection. On the other hand, it takes time for China to complete the transformation in its development model. China is still in the process of industrialization, and
has not thoroughly changed its industrial structure with high energy-consumption,
high-emissions, and high-pollution industries still as pillars. It also has not got rid
of the negative impacts of what has been done previous, or fully solved the environmental problems caused by a unidirectional, linear and extensive economic model of
“resources—products—pollution.” Meanwhile, China is still relatively underdevelopment in the R&D and application of technologies related to ecological civilization
development, making it difficult for it to see great achievements in both development
and environmental protection.
3. Difficulty in forming synergy between partial and systematic protection
An ecosystem is a unified and interdependent natural system. Ecological civilization development, especially environmental protection and governance, must be
promoted in a holistic and systematic way which is line with the special characteristics and inherent laws of an ecosystem. All elements have to be taken into
account to carry out overall protection, systematic restoration and comprehensive
management to enhance the capacity of the ecosystem. At present, we are deepening
the reform of the management system for an ecological civilization, which cannot
be accomplished at one stroke. First, departmental functions need to be better integrated and further improved. After the new round of institutional reform, the Ministry
of Ecology and Environment was established, taking charge of all aspects of environmental protection by bringing together functions that were previously scattered
among various departments, solving the problems of overlapping functions, contradictory actions, and poor coordination. However, these problems are not yet fully
solved, especially when it comes to comprehensive administrative law enforcement
where further efforts are needed for better integration and coordination. Second, it
will take some time for the reform towards a vertical management system to take
effect as the reform, targeted at monitoring, supervision and law enforcement by
environmental protection authorities at and below the provincial level is currently
being rolled out nationwide. All in all, explorations are still needed to find solutions
that really work in practice to such problems as intervention from local governments
in environmental law enforcement and failure to fulfill environmental protection
obligations. Third, institutions and mechanisms for cross-regional and cross-basin
ecological management need to be further improved. As some water bodies span
multiple provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, ecological and environmental management for them requires effective coordination between different
administrative divisions. However, due to the different stages of economic and social
development, local governments tend to make different choices between environmental protection and economic development. Therefore, it is often difficult to form