Environmental Impact Assessment In China Research Articles

Retrospect and prospect: Public participation in environmental impact assessment in China

With an attempt to improve transparency and public participation, EIA in China has undergone years of institutional construction and practical application. It provides an essential and significant approach for the public to be involved in the process of concretely shaping the meaning of sustainable development in China and making specific development decisions. This article therefore provides an overview of the legal regime of public participation in environmental impact assessment (EIA) in China, evaluates relevant practical experiences, identifies the pros and cons, and sheds light on the prospects for future reforms. Legal doctrinal methodologies are mainly applied in this research. It is observed that the recent EIA legislative reforms in China reflect a tendency towards enhanced public participation for projects that could have a significant environmental impact and a reduction of the unnecessary burden on developers to seek public opinion for projects that only could have a mild or little environmental impact. Regarding the development of statutory laws, the screening of projects is crucial to attaining a balance between scientific and social rationality and integrating environmental protection with economic and social development needs. It is generally commendable for projects that are less controversial to pass the EIA procedure more efficiently, while further participation opportunities are also provided to the public in cases of controversial projects. By highlighting the right to participate of the public that may be affected, the chances of NGOs to participate could be reduced. A detailed discussion is then made from a judicial perspective to provide a practical understanding on how the statutory laws are applied in concrete actual cases in China. The following key questions are answered: the extent of procedural flaws in public participation that could lead to a withdrawal of the EIA decision; the application of administrative licence rules on public participation in EIA; the prospect of public interest litigation on public participation in EIA. Notably, the public interest and minor breaches of the law have been used as reasons to refrain from withdrawing an EIA decision with procedural flaws. Nonetheless, the exceptions should be applied with caution. The strictest and most powerful provision regarding public participation at the approval stage of EIA is the administrative licence rules on the right to a hearing. However, the application of public hearings on projects with a mild environmental impact is excessive. Compared to public interest litigation, traditional judicial review based on individual procedural rights is more reliable and prudent in promoting progressive changes. The finds of this article could greatly contribute to academic discussion on public participation in EIA in China and provide valuable Chinese experiences and lessons for comparative studies.

Evaluation and classification of public participation in EIA for transportation infrastructure megaprojects in China

Public participation is an important aspect of environmental impact assessment (EIA) because of its prominent contribution to sustainable built environment. Developing countries, such as China, have attempted to promote the role of public participation in EIA. While comprehensive evaluations of public participation in EIA in China are still scarce, the government finds it difficult to develop policies to improve the status quo because of the ambiguity in the type of public participation. Therefore, this study collects EIA reports and evaluates their public participation sections, taking transportation infrastructure megaprojects as an example. The public participation index system is adopted to evaluate EIA reports between 2014 and 2021, and the k-means algorithm is used to classify the types of public participation based on the evaluation results. The results indicate that although the Chinese government is increasing its emphasis on public participation in EIA, the impact of public participation on environmental decision-making remains limited. Besides, public participation in China can be divided into three types: non-participation, passive participation, and interactive participation. Among them, non-participation has the largest proportion (61%) and is at the rung 2 “Therapy” of “Non-participation” level. Passive participation follows (23.4%) and is at rung 3 “Informing” or rung 4 “Consultation” of “Tokenism” levels. Interactive participation has the smallest proportion (15.6%) and is at rung 4 “Consultation” or rung 5 “Placation” of “Tokenism” levels. Third, The three participation types reveal three dilemmas: (1) Local governments do not pay attention to public participation in EIA; (2) the public is unwilling to actively participate in EIA; and (3) authorities do not consider broader comments. Fourth, it appears that airports, with their minimal footprint, are more successful in conducting effective public participation during EIA processes. Additionally, economic development has a positive influence on public participation in EIA. These findings help researchers and practitioners in the built environment improve the effectiveness of public participation activities.

Emerging contaminants in municipal wastewaters and their relevance for the surface water contamination in the tropical coastal city Haikou, China

Wastewater treatment plants in large urban agglomerations are worldwide among the main sources of emerging contaminants in aquatic systems. The present study is a first comprehensive characterization of potentially harmful emerging contaminants in sewage of a Chinese urban area. The study area Haikou City is located at the coast of tropical Hainan Island. A GC/MS based non-target screening approach for the identification of a wider range of lipophilic to semi-polar organic sewage constituents was applied. Pollution originating from sewage was tracked in the urban coastal waters by using selected source-specific indicators.A set of sewage constituents with a high structural diversity was identified comprising both, industrial and household chemicals. Ingredients of personal care products, pesticides and pharmaceuticals were found, that were rarely reported from other regions of the world. This observation might be attributed to different environmental legislation and consumption habits in China. Exceptionally high concentrations of the illegal drug ketamine with up to 1100 ng L−1 were detected, suggesting its high popularity and consumption rate. Noteworthy, sewage constituents reported here for the first time were the pharmaceuticals marmesin, oxolamine and ansimar also with high concentrations of up to 1200 ng L−1.Elevated concentrations of sewage indicators in the main city area suggest the overflow of the sewage system, in particular in the period of a typhoon event. Tracing the sewage contamination in the surface water system of the coastal urban area of Haikou revealed a lower level of pollution. The concentration ranges point to no acute risks for the coastal ecosystem due to sewage inputs from the city area.Generally, the detected spectrum of municipal emerging contaminants has to be considered for the testing and technical improvement of wastewater treatment techniques, for regular monitoring of the surface water quality and for environmental impact assessment in China. Furthermore, the compound spectrum reported here is a good reference point for the composition of municipal sewage in other emerging economies.

Reformed Environmental Impact Assessment in China: An Evaluation of Its Effectiveness

Since 2015, a “reform storm” of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) opened up in China. This study tries to answer the question of whether these reforms improve the effectiveness of EIA. First, we elaborate on the reforms along with three well-acknowledged components, including EIA legislation, administration, and process. Then, evaluate the reformed EIA system against revised Ahmad and Wood’s criteria. The results demonstrate that the revised laws and regulations are more stringent than the old versions. The EIA process is simplified, and its coordination with the pollutant discharge permit system is promoted. The interim and post-event supervision is currently more robust and the penalties are more severe than before. However, the hierarchical position of the Environmental Protection Law is not high enough and the coordination of different government departments is still challenging. In summary, despite the problems occurring at the initial phase of reforms, the effectiveness of the EIA system has largely been improved.

Source tagging modeling study of regional contributions to acid rain in summer over Liaoning Province, Northeastern China.

Strong acid rain was recently observed over Northeastern China, particularly in summer in Liaoning Province where alkaline dust largely neutralized acids in the past. This seems to be related to the regional transboundary pollution and poses new challenges in acid rain control scheme in China. In order to delve into the regional transport impact, and quantify its potential contributions to such an "eruption" of acid rain over Liaoning, this paper employs an online source tagging model in coupling with the Nested Air Quality Prediction Modeling System (NAQPMS). Validation of predictions shows the model capability in reproducing key meteorological and chemical features. Acid concentration over Liaoning is more pronounced in August (average of 0.087 mg/m3) with strong pollutant import from regional sources against significant depletion of basic species. Seasonal mean contributions from regional sources are assessed at both lower and upper boundary layers to elucidate the main pathways of the impact of regional sources on acid concentration over Liaoning. At the upper layer (1.2 km), regional sources contribute to acid concentration over Liaoning by 67%, mainly from Shandong (16%), Hebei (13%), Tianjin (11%) and Korean Peninsula (9%). Identified main city-receptors in Liaoning are Dandong, Dalian, Chaohu, Yingkou, Liaoyang, Jinfu, Shengyang, Panjin, Tieling, Benxi, Anshan and Fushun. At lower layer (120 m) where Liaoning local contribution is dominant (58%), regional sources account for 39% in acid concentration. However, inter-municipal acid exchanges are prominent at this layer and many cities in Liaoning are revealed as important sources of local acid production. Seasonal acid contribution average within 1.2 km-120 m attains 55%, suggesting dominance of vertical pollutant transport from regional sources towards lower boundary layer in Liaoning. As direct environmental implication, this study provides policy makers with a perspective of regulating the regional transboundary environmental impact assessment in China with application to acid rain control.

IMPLEMENTATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT IN CHINA

The paper describes major developments of environmental impact assessment (EIA) in China since 2003 when its EIA law became effective, with emphasis on those aspects not sufficiently touched upon by most researchers so far. These range from threshold-based categorization, evolution in scoping, expansion and upgrading of a series of technical guidelines for EIA, addition of water and soil conservation plan to EIA, public consultation and social impact assessment to interaction with other major means of environmental management in China (i.e. total pollution load control, discharge permit and cleaner production). Based on a literature review, exchanges with EIA practitioners and the author's daily work on EIA, it is found that EIA in China has evolved into a fairly comprehensive and technically adequate system. The biggest problem lies in its poor enforcement and implementation, which is the focus of this paper. By examining each practical step in reviewing, enforcing and implementing EIA, the paper evaluates EIA's role in optimizing decision-making (e.g. by alternative analysis), EIA implementation and its supervision piloted in China, underlying technical, procedural and institutional issues and concerns, and the disconnect between project EIA and plan/regional EIA, both with regards to theory and practice. The main reasons for weak EIA enforcement and implementation are discussed, which include the political system and incentive mechanisms, institutional arrangements, and regulatory and methodological shortcomings. Based on the analysis, recommendations are made for improving enforcement and implementation of EIA in China.

Integration of climate change considerations into environmental impact assessment — implementation, problems and recommendations for China

Climate change plays an important role in affecting and altering the course of human development. So far, there have been no effective and efficient techniques to directly quantify the influences of climate change on human development, but there have been rough estimation and qualitative description of the effects. Since the 1990s, climate change considerations have been required to be included in environmental impact assessment, which is a flexible institutional framework of environmental risk evaluation and management. However, there have been no concrete achievements demonstrated. The purpose of this study was first to summarise the practical experience and to disclose the existing problems during the implementation of the process of integrating climate change considerations into environmental impact assessment in China through a case study. Currently in China, the practice of integrating climate change considerations into environmental impact assessment is mainly concentrated on the strategic environmental assessment level. The influences of climate change were identified as energy consumption, greenhouse gases emission, and the restraint of development under abnormal or extreme weather or climate conditions. Because of a lack of related technical guidelines and practical experience, the climate change considerations that have been selected and the evaluation methods that have been applied are quite different. Recommendations on policies, laws, and institutional regulations institution are proposed to better utilise environmental impact assessment to integrate climate change considerations into economic, social, and environmental decisions and actions.

Exploration and Prospects: the Systemization Process of Environmental Impact Assessment in China

Exploration and Prospects: the Systemization Process of Environmental Impact Assessment in China

Revision of three-stakeholder signaling game for environmental impact assessment in China

Since environmental impact assessment (EIA) regulations were adopted in China 30 years ago, the implementation rate of EIA policies for development projects has been steadily increasing while national environmental quality keeps deteriorating. This contradiction prevents achievement of the goals that the regulations were originally created for, raising concerns regarding the EIA implementation process. One of the objectives of EIA is the evaluation of socio-economic costs introduced by various commercial activities. However, independent economic entities are inclined to break away from these cost related responsibilities, making it necessary for government agencies and EIA organizations to participate in the evaluation process. The practice of avoiding costs may also bring forth other issues, such as rent-seeking behavior and conspiracies. Reducing private costs and the tendency of the three EIA stakeholders to evade social responsibility are intertwined in every EIA process. Their activities are as follows: The government is the lawmaker whose attitude toward the EIA organization determines how business owners react in the EIA process. The government inclination can be interpreted as a signal from which enterprises can determine the nature of the government, which helps the enterprise owners formulate their future actions. A similar relationship also exists among the government, EIA organizations, and enterprise entities. Fundamentally, the correlations between the EIA stakeholders are determined by their socio-economic situation, namely, the economic costs and benefits they encounter. In this article, signaling game theory derived from the classic game theory is applied to describe the EIA process in China by analyzing the activities of the stakeholders and searching for game equilibrium solutions. The optimal reaction schema for stakeholders was obtained by transforming the equilibrium.

Developing Approaches to Trans-boundary Environmental Impact Assessment in China: Co-operation through the Greater Tumen Initiative and in the Pearl River Delta Region

Trans-boundary environmental impact assessment (TEIA) applies to the relationship between States, with provisions found in customary and treaty law; it may also apply within a State, where there are separate jurisdictions. This article considers both of these dimensions from the experience of the Greater Tumen Initiative in Northeast Asia, and in the Pearl River Delta Region in South China. The fact that both areas focus on river basins is significant, as much experience with TEIA relates to trans-boundary rivers. TEIA is defined with reference to the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)inaTrans-boundaryContext (theEspooConvention).Recommendationsincludea morewidespreadapplication ofTEIA, establishment of new governance structures and amendment of China’s domestic EIA Law.

Planning Environmental Impact Assessment Orienting Sustainable Development: Opportunities and Challenges

Strategic Environmental Assessment is a frontier subject in the field of Environmental Impact Assessment. In rise past two decades, especially in recent years, much more importance has been attached to Strategic Environmental Assessment. The Envinmental Impact Assessment Law of the P.R. China which was promulgated provides a great opportunity for the development of Planning Environmental impact Assessment and brings great challenges for the development of traditional Project Environmental Impact Assessment and Planning Environmental Impact Assessment at the same time. In order to promote the implementation of ”The EIA Law”, the inherent limitations of Project Environmental Impact Assessment must be identified sufficiently and the theory research and practice of Planning Environmental Impact Assessment should be strengthened as well. Measures should be taken currently to enforce the operation system. The authors wish to offer a few references to the progress and implementation of Planning Environmental Impact Assessment in China.

Environmental impact assessment of projects in the People's Republic of China: new law, old problems

After more than 20 years of experience with environmental impact assessment (EIA), the government of the People's Republic of China is set to introduce a new EIA Law, in September 2003, in which strategic environmental assessment (SEA) complements the current project-oriented EIA process. In general, the new law does not attempt to modify the existing EIA system in any radical ways, suggesting that the government consider current practices satisfactory. In order to assess the likely prospects of the new EIA Law for project-level EIA, this paper presents an evaluation of the current EIA process in China, first, establishing the historical context of the current process and, second, considering the main issues and concerns relating to the institutional and procedural arrangements, and practical implementation of the process. The main problems highlighted are as follows: the narrow historic focus on pollution of air, water and soil, at the expense of the consideration of wider environmental, social and health impacts; environmental protection agencies being funded by development-oriented local government administrations; the lack of consideration of alternatives in EIA processes; and the lack of effective public participation. More specific procedural issues are also discussed. On the basis of this analysis, we make recommendations for improving the effectiveness of EIA at the project level. The introduction of SEA in the new law marks a real step forward for EIA in China, although it appears to exclude central government policies, and there are improved provisions for public participation. However, the prospects for EIA in China will remain mixed as long as the new law leaves project-level EIA largely unchanged.

Incorporating cleaner production analysis into environmental impact assessment in china

An environmental impact assessment (EIA) system was established in 1979 in China. Although EIA was designed as a tool for pollution prevention, in practice it has been based on end-of-pipe (EOP) treatment control since it was first introduced. This approach has ensured an overwhelming focus by enterprises on the use of EOP treatment, rather than pollution prevention, to meet environmental standards, and it has produced a low rate of operation for EOP facilities. The low operation rate for EOP facilities can be traced to the traditional EIA system: it leads project proponents to develop large EOP treatment facilities, but once the main production lines are put into operation, proponents rarely have sufficient funds to operate the treatment facilities. This paper analyzes problems that exist in the EIA system in China, and it describes the Cleaner Production Index and Evaluation System, which is being proposed by environmental authorities in China to evaluate EIA projects based on cleaner production criteria. The paper also suggests how cleaner production analysis can be integrated into the EIA system to improve it.

Environmental impact assessment in China: Present practice and future developments

Environmental impact assessment in China: Present practice and future developments