Environmental Governance: Issues and Challenges

摘要

Deciding when and how to regulate behavior is an important first step toward protecting our environment. Below, Wanxin Li addresses the concept of environmental governance in hopes of improving our understanding about the environmental problems we face, the institutional arrangements responding to these challenges, and the efficiency and effectiveness of available policy instruments. After describing those situations under which governmental intervention is justified, she examines the policymaking process and available regulatory tools and enforcement mechanisms. She then analyzes the current situation in China, looking at its environmental problems, policy responses, achievements, and the work that remains. She concludes that China faces several challenges, including streamlining environmental regulatory implementation and enforcement, enhancing the institutional capacity of local governments, and improving monitoring and enforcement.