Environmental Management In China Research Articles

Occurrence, bioaccumulation, and risk evaluation of selenium in typical Chinese aquatic ecosystems

Selenium (Se), a trace element, is essential for biological growth; however, excess Se in water can harm aquatic organisms, including fish. Thus, increasing attention is being paid to the risk of Se in aquatic ecosystems. However, there has been little research regarding the protection of aquatic organisms from excess Se in China. To comprehensively ensure China's ecological safety, research on the water quality criteria (WQC) of Se is urgently required. Herein, water and fish samples were collected from Taihu Lake and Yellow River estuary to investigate Se distribution characteristics and bioaccumulation factors (BAFs) in aquatic ecosystems. Tissue-based toxicity data and BAFs were used to derive the WQC for Se. Quotient and probabilistic methods were used to assess the ecological risk of Se to aquatic life. The results revealed that the average levels of Se in the water samples were 1.54 and 1.07 μg/L and that the average Se levels in the fish samples were 0.87 and 0.66 mg/kg in Taihu Lake and the Yellow River estuary, respectively. Furthermore, the calculated BAF for Se in fish was 618.69 L/kg, and the calculated WQC for Se to protect aquatic organisms was 0.29 μg/L. The high levels of ecological risk associated with Se in Taihu Lake and the Yellow River estuary indicate that the aquatic risk of Se warrants further attention. This study provides scientific guidance for setting Se water quality standards to protect aquatic organisms and ensure environmental management in China.

Environmental Movements and Satisfaction with Governments

Abstract Environmental movements are a special social movement against environmental injustice, as well as a political conflict regarding environmental issues. To understand the motivation to participate in environmental movements, it is necessary to explore the role of governments in environmental management. Using the cross-sectional data from the China General Social Survey (CGSS) in 2013, the author estimates the associations between participation in environmental movements and satisfaction with governments in environmental management. Results show that participation in environmental movements is not associated with individual satisfaction with the central government but is significantly associated with individual satisfaction with the local government when demographic and socioeconomic characteristics are adjusted in models. This finding suggests that public satisfaction and trust in local governments’ environmental governance can promote the public to participate in environmental protection activities. This study also reflects that Chinese individuals believe the local governments can undertake the responsibility of environmental management, suggesting that the central and local governments reach a consensus on environmental management in China.

Environmental city-regionalism in China: War against air pollution in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region

The state remains central in contemporary environmental politics and policies, although environmental governance increasingly involves neoliberal and non-state mechanisms. Environmental management in China holds features of an ‘environmental state’ and has been undergoing continuous restructuring, manifested by a recent city-regionalism turn. Informed by the theories of eco-state restructuring (ESR) and eco-scalar fix, this paper investigates air pollution management in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region by tracing the practices of environmental and territorial governance over the past decades. Through the analysis of parameters of the eco-state, this paper conceptualises the air pollution governance in China into three phases, namely pollutants emission control (the 1990s–2005), campaign-style regional governance (2006–2012) and city-regionalism in air quality governance (2013 onwards). We find that the central state plays proactive but different roles in each phase, characterised by state strategic selectivity, adjustments of state apparatus, deployment of a set of policy instruments, and enhanced state capacities for monitoring, control and legitimation. In this context, the city-regional level has become the key scale at which environmental regulations are targeted and the economic and environmental realms are being (re)formed. This state-led eco-scalar fix process to cope with urgent environmental issues explains the underlying rationality of building up the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region as a new national strategic project.

Study on the ecological control line in the major leakage area of Baotu spring in Shandong province, eastern China

Delimiting the red line of ecologically functional space is a system innovation in the field of environmental management in China. This study proposes a method to delineate the spatial red line of ecological functions based on the strong leakage area in Jinan. The ecological control line was delineated by comprehensively considering the influence of topographic slope, lithologic characteristics, tectonic development, thickness and permeability of Quaternary strata, and vegetation coverage. And the vector analysis of these indicators was carried out in ArcGIS, the ecological control lines of the main seepage areas were initially determined by spatial superposition of vector data. In addition, the accuracy of the ecological control lines was effectively improved by vegetation cover and Quaternary stratigraphic thickness. Our results show that the major leakage areas, major leakage protection areas, and buffer areas were 299.75 km2, 114.38 km2, and 185.23 km2, respectively. The near-natural, development-construction, and new development-construction leakage areas were 221.43 km2, 60.97 km2, and 17.35 km2, respectively. This study provides support for the restoration of urban natural ecology, highlighting urban characteristics and orderly implementation of urban organic renewal, and it is of great significance to protect the regional ecology and ensure the continuous flow of Baotu Spring.

How to apply O3 and PM2.5 collaborative control to practical management in China: A study based on meta-analysis and machine learning

Constant increase of atmospheric O3 concentration is a barrier for the further air quality improvement in China. Given that PM2.5 is still controlled as a key pollutant, managements for the collaborative reduction of O3 and PM2.5 are urgently required in China. In the current work, monitoring data of O3 and PM2.5 from 2015 to 2016 in 1464 monitoring sites (MS) was collected and cleaned. Additionally, 7 anthropogenic emission reductions were jointed with the corresponding monitoring data. According to the O3 and PM2.5 variation, a meta-analysis was conducted and divided regions into 4 categories via the effect size, region I: O3 and PM2.5 collaborative reduction, region II: PM2.5 decreased and O3 increased, region III: O3 decreased and PM2.5 increased, regions IV: both O3 and PM2.5 increased. Then, based on the region labels, machine learning was used to identify the pattern between region label and its precursor reductions. The findings were as follows: (1) Principal component analysis showed that NH3 was not focused on. (2) Random forest had a well performance on region classification with the accuracy of 80.40% and the importance of the 7 precursors was in the sequence of VOCs>NH3 > PM2.5 > OC > SO2 > NOX > Coarse PM. (3) Polytomous logistic regression evaluated the critical factors that influenced the region label, which showed that the reductions of VOCs, NH3 and PM2.5 could achieve the collaborative reduction in a short time in most of cities in China. Based on the statistical results above, a kinetic management system including evaluation and policy-making sections was finally established, which filled the gap of the collaborative reduction in environmental management in China.

Environmental Governance Cost Prediction of Transportation Industry by Considering the Technological Constraints

In order to solve the problem of environmental governance investment planning in the transportation industry, a cost prediction model is proposed under technological constraints, where the input output indictors emphasizes the flexibility of prediction and its characters are asymmetric, while the constructs of prediction model focuses on the standardization and its characters are symmetrical. The basic principle of the cost prediction model is based on an extended belief rule-based (EBRB) system to model the input-output relationship in investment planning, and a parameter learning model to improve the accuracy of the EBRB system. Additionally, the technological innovation factors are also embedded in the cost prediction model to investigate the influence of technology-related outcomes on investment planning. Finally, based on the data of environmental governance in China’s transportation industry from 2003 to 2016, the cost of transportation industry environmental management in China’s thirty provinces from 2017 to 2033 is predicted under the constraints of technological innovation. Results show that: (1) the accuracy of the proposed cost prediction model is higher than some existing cost prediction methods; (2) the predicted environmental governance costs have a significant regional difference; (3) the upgrading of technological innovation is conducive to saving the future environmental governance costs of the transportation industry in some provinces. In addition to the above results, the present study provides model supports and policy references for government decision makers in transportation industry-related environmental cost planning.

Information-Sharing Mechanism of Marine Environmental Management in China

Information-Sharing Mechanism of Marine Environmental Management in China

Sustainability accounting, management and policy in China: recent developments and future avenues

PurposeThis paper aims to reflect on the special issue that has collected studies by the research community in China pertinent to the country’s recent developments in sustainability accounting, management and policy, as well as to suggest possible future avenues of studies.Design/methodology/approachThis paper articulates the current status of researching sustainability accounting, management and policy in China that is instigated by the country’s regulatory initiatives under its political economy. It highlights the papers accepted for the special issue, their areas of focus and the underlying characteristics.FindingsIt points out that the accepted research papers concentrate on issues related to corporate social responsibility disclosures, sustainability reporting and environmental management in China from the perspectives of the domestic stakeholders.Research limitations/implicationsFuture studies are likely to be increasingly interdisciplinary in nature and requires academia, policymakers and practitioners to make better collaborative efforts in researching about China’s sustainability and the efficacy of their engagement with stakeholders.Practical implicationsStudies on alignment between China’s further developments and UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs) are particularly considered desirable as the country continues its globalization initiatives. Education about sustainability accounting for the working professionals and their next generation is much needed for China in support of developing a more sustainable economy aligned with UN's SDGs.Social implicationsScholars in China actively developing their research interests in this field reflect critical thinking about the country’s pursuit of sustainable development within a social-political economy that is dissimilar to the West. In the meantime, the country continues to develop into a significant stakeholder of the world’s sustainability implying expectation of transparency in sustainability performance.Originality/valueWith reference to the review exercise conducted for the special issue, it suggests that there are surging interests in researching accountability for sustainability across the local and international communities to facilitate much needed knowledge exchange. The country and indigenous culture of China, as well as its institutions in relation to sustainability, would require much further exploration in our world under globalization.

Configurational analysis of environmental information disclosure: Evidence from China's key pollutant-discharge listed companies

The environmental information disclosure system is regarded as an important environmental management tool for supervising the environmental behavior of listed companies in China. To explore what drives the environmental information disclosure, a configurational analysis targeted at 264 China's key pollutant-discharge listed companies was studied by fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fs/QCA). The results showed that there were three types of paths to drive the environmental information disclosure: “Strict regulation - low resources - weak capability”, “Strict regulation - low resources - strong capability” and “Strict regulation - high resources - strong capability”, and that strict environmental regulation played a greatly significant role for promoting the environmental information disclosure level. The research provides a theoretical basis for the effectiveness of environmental regulation on environmental information disclosure, and it charts the future direction for environmental management in China.

Scientific decision support system of marine environmental management in China’s Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea based on cloud computing mode

Scientific decision support system of marine environmental management in China’s Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea based on cloud computing mode

Black and Smelly Waters: how citizen-generated transparency is addressing gaps in China’s environmental management

ABSTRACTInformation communication technologies (ICTs) generate new forums for transparency via governance-by-disclosure initiatives designed to improve environmental management and policy. Data generated by these programs are a means to empower citizens, narrowing the accountability gap between governments and people and enhancing public service. There is little empirical evidence, however, that supports the theory that citizen-generated data can be used to improve the accountability of local government officials. Citizen-led transparency efforts are emerging in China, as the country undergoes an information revolution that has brought ICTs to near ubiquity. We evaluate the transformative potential of a new ICT initiative, the ‘Black and Smelly Waters’ program, which China’s government launched to help enforce local government water remediation efforts. Many examples of citizen-generated transparency are grassroots initiatives, yet the Black and Smelly Waters program is distinct in its top-down structure. An empirical evaluation of preliminary data illuminates Black and Smelly Waters’s early successes and challenges as a means to generate transparency and accountability. We discuss these findings and propose a broad application of this new type of disclosure to reshape environmental management in China.

Effectiveness of production reduction policy on improving air quality in Dongying

Emergency command-type production reduction policies have become an important tool for environmental management in China. However, there is currently little literature on systematic and rigorous identification of the effectiveness of corporate production reduction policies. By collecting data such as the air quality index during the implementation of the Dongying City’s production reduction policy from 2017 to 2018, descriptive statistics and differential methods were applied to analyse the actual impact of the production reduction policy on the air quality index. After controlling other influencing factors, the study found that although the implementation of the enterprise’s production reduction policy cannot effectively reduce the degree of air pollution, it can relatively slow the rate of further increase of air pollution.

Environmental concern-based site screening of carbon dioxide geological storage in China

Environmental impacts and risks related to carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and storage (CCS) projects may have direct effects on the decision-making process during CCS site selection. This paper proposes a novel method of environmental optimization for CCS site selection using China’s ecological red line approach. Moreover, this paper established a GIS based spatial analysis model of environmental optimization during CCS site selection by a large database. The comprehensive data coverage of environmental elements and fine 1 km spatial resolution were used in the database. The quartile method was used for value assignment for specific indicators including the prohibited index and restricted index. The screening results show that areas classified as having high environmental suitability (classes III and IV) in China account for 620,800 km2 and 156,600 km2, respectively, and are mainly distributed in Inner Mongolia, Qinghai and Xinjiang. The environmental suitability class IV areas of Bayingol Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture, Hotan Prefecture, Aksu Prefecture, Hulunbuir, Xilingol League and other prefecture-level regions not only cover large land areas, but also form a continuous area in the three provincial-level administrative units. This study may benefit the national macro-strategic deployment and implementation of CCS spatial layout and environmental management in China.

A National Survey of Public Awareness of the Environmental Impact and Management of CCUS Technology in China

Carbon dioxide capture, utilization and geological storage (CCUS) is regarded as an important option for climate change mitigation. China is also undertaking a series of actions for emissions reduction with paying much attention to the CCUS technology. In order to better promote the deployment and development of CCUS projects from the perspective of environmental management in China, a national survey was conducted to investigate the public awareness and understanding of the environmental impact and management of CCUS technology. The key findings of the survey can be concluded as follows: (1) CCUS technology itself shows some favorable environmental benefits, but awareness of high environmental risks lowers public acceptance; (2) The government departments with high expectations to play a key role in environmental management; (3) Information about CCUS projects on traditional and electronic media, or from expert lectures and government departments can lower the perceived risk and improve the public acceptance of CCUS.

Allocation of the Environmental Impact in Iron and Steel Industry

Life cycle assessment (LCA) can provide technical support for environmental management in China. However, there is no consensus on allocation method in inventory analysis. According to the World Steel Association (WAS), the environmental impact, life cycle environmental load and environmental benefit of China's iron and steel industry should be considerd when investing scrap iron and steel. The results of this study show that according to the different allocation methods, the environmental impact of China's iron and steel industry will be divided into 3 methods: 1) not considering environmental load and environmental benefit of the environment (Cut-off approach); 2) considering the environmental load or environmental benefits (Waste evaluation method) and 3) considering environmental load and environmental benefits (Recycling benefits method). The environmental impact of Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) steel billet is raising by using the waste evaluation method compared with that of basic oxygen furnace (BOF), which are all decreased by using the cut-off approach. Recycling benefits method compared with Cut-off approach that the BOF hot rolled steel coil (HRC) environmental impact, the environmental impact of EAF steel billet all decreased, and leading the BOF hot rolled steel coil environmental impact to a larger proportion of the environmental impact.

Discharge inventory of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in Beijing, China

Abstract Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) are emerging environmental contaminants, whose potential risk for the ecological environment has caused wide attention in recent years. In China, quite a large amount of PPCPs were annually emitted into the environment. Their existence in different matrix has been reported frequently, including river water, sediment and soil. However, the contribution from different sources was seldom reported and still unclear in China. Wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) was usually considered to be the main source to the urban river, but livestock and aquaculture farms were also reported as significant pollution sources of PPCPs due to poor environmental management in China. This study summarized environmental discharges of different PPCPs from various sources and obtained the discharge data through different environment media in Beijing, the statistical source of PPCPs was analyzed in detail. The sources comprised WWTPs, excess sludge, hospital wastewater, municipal untreated wastewater, aquaculture wastewater and landfill leachate. This article helps understand the general situation and the potential risk of PPCPs in Beijing.

Environmental protests and NIMBY activism: Local politics and waste management in Beijing and Guangzhou

Protests in post-Mao China not only indicate citizens’ increasing dissatisfaction but also challenge the regime to act and take appropriate measures. This article discusses local government response to environmental activism within China’s decentralized political structure. Anti-incinerator protests in Beijing and Guangzhou are used to illustrate the emergence of public participation in municipal policymaking on waste management. The Beijing and Guangzhou governments’ different attitudes and responses to citizens’ grievances are analysed, particularly in light of a new public-consultative waste management mechanism implemented in Guangzhou, the Guangzhou Public Consultation and Supervision Committee for Urban Waste Management (广州市城市废弃物处理公众咨询监督委员会). Changes in policies on waste management and disposal are examined through documentary analysis and in-depth interviews with stakeholders involved in anti-incinerator protests. The main goal here is to demonstrate that policy change is not only determined by protest outcomes, but that it is also greatly affected by the responses of local governments and actors within a framework of advocacy coalition. This study throws new light on Chinese policymaking on environmental issues and it re-appraises studies of environmental management in China.

Public participation in environmental management in China: status quo and mode innovation.

Public participation in environmental management is critically important in the development of a healthy environmental governance system. However, public participation has not been well institutionalized in China and the public's role in environmental management is limited. Chinese policy-makers and researchers currently face a dilemma wherein they must determine how to fully and effectively involve the public. This paper aims to contribute an innovative approach that can effectively engage the general public, allowing them to participate more in China's environmental management. In this paper, we first review the current status of environmental management and public participation in China. Based on China's political and socio-cultural-legal dynamics, an Environmental Community Consultative Group (ECCG) was developed to be an innovative means to engage community members. A pilot study of the ECCG was carried out in Yapu village of Changzhou City in Jiangsu Province. The evaluation of the process and outcome of the ECCG showed that the group's effectiveness and influence were significant; the ECCG model was a powerful means by which to promote public environmental awareness, improve public environmental behavior and facilitate public engagement in environmental management. But the ECCG is a small local group that may not function well regarding more complex issues covering a much larger area and has limited impact on environmental policy making. The ECCG experience offers the prospect of grassroots involvement in environmental protection for China's rural areas, while also laying the foundation for further research on community participation in environmental management.

Prioritizing chemicals for environmental management in China based on screening of potential risks

The rapid development of China’s chemical industry has created increasing pressure to improve the environmental management of chemicals. To bridge the large gap between the use and safe management of chemicals, we performed a comprehensive review of the international methods used to prioritize chemicals for environmental management. By comparing domestic and foreign methods, we confirmed the presence of this gap and identified potential solutions. Based on our literature review, we developed an appropriate screening method that accounts for the unique characteristics of chemical use within China. The proposed method is based on an evaluation using nine indices of the potential hazard posed by a chemical: three environmental hazard indices (persistence, bioaccumulation, and eco-toxicity), four health hazard indices (acute toxicity, carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, and reproductive and developmental toxicity), and two environmental exposure hazard indices (chemical amount and utilization pattern). The results of our screening agree with results of previous efforts from around the world, confirming the validity of the new system. The classification method will help decisionmakers to prioritize and identify the chemicals with the highest environmental risk, thereby providing a basis for improving chemical management in China.

Green supply chain management and the induced performance changes of companies in the Yangtze River delta of China

Corporate environmental management in China has been expanding from the efforts of individual companies to various cooperative practices improving environmental performance of the supply chain, which may be classified as green supply chain management (GSCM). Using the data collected from 165 companies in the Yangtze River delta of China, this paper analyses the driving mechanisms of GSCM of the companies with different practice levels. The valid respondents are classified as laggard companies and advanced practitioners by a cluster analysis of the scores presented to the pre-defined 12 GSCM activities. Multivariate regression analyses indicate different driving models for these two groups of companies. GSCM of laggard companies are driven by the regulatory pressures and the client’s demands but restricted by the company’s capacities. The GSCM levels of advanced companies may be attributed to the company’s business strategies for development. The business competitor’s performance and top management support are identified as influential factors. This paper also confirms that GSCM practices help the improvement of environmental performances of the companies especially in terms of the reduction of pollutant emissions and the increase of employee’s environmental awareness.