Changes in Environmental Policy in the Past 40 Years of Reform …
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play a more important role. Second, the primary function of the environment protection system should gradually change from decentralized management of resource
and environmental factors to a holistic approach to the management of ecosystems.
Third, the responsibilities of business owners and environment regulators must be
clearly defined and a system of checks and balances should be formed. Fourth, the
distribution of power and responsibilities between central and local governments
must be clear and reasonable and a relatively independent monitoring, evaluation
and supervision system should be put in place.
In March 2018, at the first meeting of the 13th National People’s Congress, a
plan for institutional reform at the State Council was adopted, and one of the major
moves included therein was to establish the Ministry of Ecology and Environment,
putting pollution prevention and control functions uniformly under this one authority
while also mandating it with such responsibilities as climate change response and
marine environment protection, environmental inspection and urban and rural pollutant discharge regulation. This reform achieved the following results: First, the supervision functions in the three major areas of environmental governance, i.e. pollution
prevention, ecosystem protection, and nuclear radiation protection, were put together
in accordance with the roadmap of major institutional reforms, laying a solid institutional foundation for future attempts to address the problems fragmentation of the
structure of government authorities and responsibilities. This is also a major highlight and the most prominent feature of this round of institutional reform. Second,
the reform clarified the responsibilities of natural resource owners for development
management and the responsibilities of resource regulators for supervision and law
enforcement, and to a certain extent realized the separation between implementation
and supervision as required in the system design. Third, environmental protection
actions were better unified and aligned, resulting in heightened authoritativeness,
and ecological protection, urban and rural pollutant discharge control, administrative regulation, law enforcement, and supervision were fully integrated in the overall
responsibility structure. Of course, there are still many problems to be solved before
we can fully ensure the effectiveness of the reform. Yet still, the reform has laid a
solid foundation for the country’s effort to build a moderately prosperous society in
all respects and achieve the goal of building a beautiful China.
All in all, along with the implementation of the reform and opening-up strategy,
the past forty years have seen continuous improvement of China’s environment
protection system.
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play a more important role. Second, the primary function of the environment protection system should gradually change from decentralized management of resource
and environmental factors to a holistic approach to the management of ecosystems.
Third, the responsibilities of business owners and environment regulators must be
clearly defined and a system of checks and balances should be formed. Fourth, the
distribution of power and responsibilities between central and local governments
must be clear and reasonable and a relatively independent monitoring, evaluation
and supervision system should be put in place.
In March 2018, at the first meeting of the 13th National People’s Congress, a
plan for institutional reform at the State Council was adopted, and one of the major
moves included therein was to establish the Ministry of Ecology and Environment,
putting pollution prevention and control functions uniformly under this one authority
while also mandating it with such responsibilities as climate change response and
marine environment protection, environmental inspection and urban and rural pollutant discharge regulation. This reform achieved the following results: First, the supervision functions in the three major areas of environmental governance, i.e. pollution
prevention, ecosystem protection, and nuclear radiation protection, were put together
in accordance with the roadmap of major institutional reforms, laying a solid institutional foundation for future attempts to address the problems fragmentation of the
structure of government authorities and responsibilities. This is also a major highlight and the most prominent feature of this round of institutional reform. Second,
the reform clarified the responsibilities of natural resource owners for development
management and the responsibilities of resource regulators for supervision and law
enforcement, and to a certain extent realized the separation between implementation
and supervision as required in the system design. Third, environmental protection
actions were better unified and aligned, resulting in heightened authoritativeness,
and ecological protection, urban and rural pollutant discharge control, administrative regulation, law enforcement, and supervision were fully integrated in the overall
responsibility structure. Of course, there are still many problems to be solved before
we can fully ensure the effectiveness of the reform. Yet still, the reform has laid a
solid foundation for the country’s effort to build a moderately prosperous society in
all respects and achieve the goal of building a beautiful China.
All in all, along with the implementation of the reform and opening-up strategy,
the past forty years have seen continuous improvement of China’s environment
protection system.