Tackling Climate Change in China: A Hybrid Approach

Giuseppe Poderati,Shutian Ou

doi:10.1163/24686042-12340070

Giuseppe Poderati, Shutian Ou

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1163/24686042-12340070

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Abstract

Abstract This article argues that climate change policies should be designed as far as possible with the involvement of civil society at large, as it is an existential problem that concerns the whole of humanity. It is suggested that in the Chinese context, the legal system and political decision-making processes could better address climate change for example, through the participatory processes promoted by the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development 1992 and subsequent instruments. The article explores the possibility of adopting a hybrid approach in China by developing an interactive platform linking the relevant components of civil society in order to gather critical expertise and insights from the community as a whole. A hybrid approach would be directed at combining the current top-down approach with a bottom-up approach, which would potentially contribute to an increase in transparency and accountability in legislative and political decision-making processes to produce the best possible legal approaches and policy strategies for addressing climate change.

Highlights

It is broadly recognized that the world continues to be greatly affected by the phenomenon of climate change.[1]
A hybrid approach would be directed at combining the current top-down approach with a bottom-up approach, which would potentially contribute to an increase in transparency and accountability in legislative and political decision-making processes to produce the best possible legal approaches and policy strategies for addressing climate change
As reported by US media for example, ‘direct democracy, made possible by the Internet, has given a new centrality to citizens rural communities’.83. This Italian experience could encourage the adoption of the bottom-up approach in China by, inter alia, (i) improving the procedural arrangements for public participation so that the general public could have access to laws and regulations made by the Chinese public institutions, and (ii) increasing the implementation of environmental law by increasing ecological awareness of the grass-roots movements

Summary

Introduction

It is broadly recognized that the world continues to be greatly affected by the phenomenon of climate change.[1]. Civilization[5] (shengtai wenming 生态文明) becoming a national goal[6] as well as being incorporated into the Chinese Constitution[7] and environmental legislation.[8] Arthur HANSON, former international chief advisor to the China Council for International Cooperation of Environment and Development, states: Ecological civilization is being used by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to provide a coherent conceptual framework for adjustments to development that meets 21st century challenges It differs from sustainable development in the emphasis placed on political and cultural factors, as well as on defining new relationships between people and nature that would permit living well, and within the eco-environmental bounds of planet Earth.[9].

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