A new environmental protection law, many old problems?: challenges to environmental governance in China
Through a three-year revision involving various stakeholders, China has enacted a new Environmental Protection Law (EPL). The new law seeks to harmonize economic and social development with environmental protection and for the first time establishes clear requirements for the construction of an ecol...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
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Oxford University Press
2016
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/47516/ |
| _version_ | 1848797564861677568 |
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| author | Zhang, Bo Cao, Cong Gu, Junzhan Liu, Ting |
| author_facet | Zhang, Bo Cao, Cong Gu, Junzhan Liu, Ting |
| author_sort | Zhang, Bo |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Through a three-year revision involving various stakeholders, China has enacted a new Environmental Protection Law (EPL). The new law seeks to harmonize economic and social development with environmental protection and for the first time establishes clear requirements for the construction of an ecological civilization. It toughens the penalties for environmental offences with specific articles and provisions for raising public awareness. It also places greater responsibility on local government and law enforcement for the protection of China’s environment. However, many of the problems identified in the old EPL and especially the obstacles to its implementation have not been fully addressed and resolved. Effective environmental governance entails not only environmental laws but also implementation mechanisms, accountability regimes, and institutional arrangements. Raising the status of the EPL and of the general environmental protection apparatus is only the first step to meeting China’s environmental challenges. More efforts in the area of enforcement and implementation will lead China to a cleaner future. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:05:53Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-47516 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:05:53Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | Oxford University Press |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-475162020-04-29T15:28:51Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/47516/ A new environmental protection law, many old problems?: challenges to environmental governance in China Zhang, Bo Cao, Cong Gu, Junzhan Liu, Ting Through a three-year revision involving various stakeholders, China has enacted a new Environmental Protection Law (EPL). The new law seeks to harmonize economic and social development with environmental protection and for the first time establishes clear requirements for the construction of an ecological civilization. It toughens the penalties for environmental offences with specific articles and provisions for raising public awareness. It also places greater responsibility on local government and law enforcement for the protection of China’s environment. However, many of the problems identified in the old EPL and especially the obstacles to its implementation have not been fully addressed and resolved. Effective environmental governance entails not only environmental laws but also implementation mechanisms, accountability regimes, and institutional arrangements. Raising the status of the EPL and of the general environmental protection apparatus is only the first step to meeting China’s environmental challenges. More efforts in the area of enforcement and implementation will lead China to a cleaner future. Oxford University Press 2016-07-08 Article PeerReviewed Zhang, Bo, Cao, Cong, Gu, Junzhan and Liu, Ting (2016) A new environmental protection law, many old problems?: challenges to environmental governance in China. Journal of Environmental Law, 28 (2). pp. 325-335. ISSN 1464-374X https://doi.org/10.1093/jel/eqw014 doi:10.1093/jel/eqw014 doi:10.1093/jel/eqw014 |
| spellingShingle | Zhang, Bo Cao, Cong Gu, Junzhan Liu, Ting A new environmental protection law, many old problems?: challenges to environmental governance in China |
| title | A new environmental protection law, many old problems?: challenges to environmental governance in China |
| title_full | A new environmental protection law, many old problems?: challenges to environmental governance in China |
| title_fullStr | A new environmental protection law, many old problems?: challenges to environmental governance in China |
| title_full_unstemmed | A new environmental protection law, many old problems?: challenges to environmental governance in China |
| title_short | A new environmental protection law, many old problems?: challenges to environmental governance in China |
| title_sort | new environmental protection law, many old problems?: challenges to environmental governance in china |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/47516/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/47516/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/47516/ |