Protection In China Research Articles

A Critique of Legal Protection of China’s Outward Direct Investment in ASEAN – Implications of Guangdong Corporations

As a result of the development of the “One Belt One Road” and the strategy of “Going Out” for multinational enterprises, China’s outward direct investments have grown rapidly. During the transformation period from a capital-importing to a capital-exporting country, issues of legal barriers, investment risks and insufficient investment disputes mechanism on China’s outward investment to Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) have surfaced. Although ASEAN countries and China agreed on further liberalization in investment, the effects of investment agreements and Bilateral Investment Treaties on risk prevention and safeguarding investment interests have rarely been discussed and examined via empirical studies. In examine legal barriers, major investment risks, and investment dispute settlement mechanisms of China’s multinational enterprises in ASEAN States, this study selects 30 state-owned enterprises and private companies among 300 Guangdong businesses, which largely invested in ASEAN via data analyses, surveys, and interviews. Nevertheless, the obstacles in investment treatment and high political risks as a result of outward investment in ASEAN suggest that China’s multinational enterprise should start to seek multiple investment insurance either from Sinosure or the international financial institution, or advancing investment treaties and formulating a “Going-in ” strategy. The findings of this research provide a reference to Chinese multinational enterprises for the investment protection and for the launching of investment litigation of these Chinese multinational enterprises whenever it is required.

Does Increased Representation of Female Executives Improve Corporate Environmental Investment? Evidence from China

Based on the upper echelon theory and theory of feminist care ethics, this paper uses the data of 359 Chinese listed companies between 2008–2016 to investigate the influence of female executives on corporate environmental investment. The results of the pooled OLS (Ordinary Least Square) regression reveals that both having a female as CEO or Chair as well as increased representation of female directors on the board committees significantly increases corporate environmental investment. Moreover, this phenomenon is not only evident in polluting enterprises but also exists in non-polluting enterprises. Further, we examine whether female executives’ environmental investment is driven by the motive of availing government subsidies or to comply with the environmental regulations. The empirical testing reveals that the environmental investment by female executives is not associated with the acquisition of government subsidies. Moreover, female executives’ environmental investment remains significant in China’s eastern regions despite having less stringent government regulations. The study also found that contrary to the result in the male sample, environmental investment by the female executives significantly reduces pollutant emissions. The present study adds a new perspective to the CSR literature and suggests that an increase in environmental investment by the women executives lies primarily in their innate commitment towards social responsibility. Against the backdrop of a greater emphasis on environmental protection in China, it is concluded that increased representation of female executives in enterprises can contribute to a significant improvement in environmental quality.

Utilization and Protection of Water Resources in China: 1978–2018

Since the reform and opening up, China has undergone fundamental economic and social changes, along with which the concepts, researches, and practices related to the utilization and protection of water resources have also changed dramatically. Therefore, it is of great significance to systematically summarize China’s 40-year history of water use and protection, and look to the future demand in the new era. By consulting the literature, the authors have sorted out the process of water resources utilization and protection in China between 1978 and 2018, and divided it into development-focused stage (1978–1999), comprehensive utilization stage (2000–2012) and protection-focused stage (2013 to present). Based on the development demand in the new era, the authors believe that the protection-focused stage will continue for a period of time (till 2025 or so), and a smart water use stage will emerge in the years to come. The authors have also proposed the priorities and directions for future research on water resources utilization and protection in the construction of the Belt and Road, the development of the Yangtze River Economic Zone, the coordinated development of Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region, the construction of the Xiong’ an New Area, and the implementation of the Rural Revitalization Strategy.

Influence of Industrialization and Environmental Protection on Environmental Pollution: A Case Study of Taihu Lake, China.

In order to quantitatively study the effect of environmental protection in China since the twenty-first century and the environmental pollution projected for the next ten years (under the model of extensive economic development), this paper establishes a Bayesian regulation back propagation neural network (BRBPNN) to analyze the typical pollutants (i.e., cadmium (Cd) and benzopyrene (BaP)) for Taihu Lake, a typical Chinese freshwater lake. For the periods 1950–2003 and 1950–2015, the neural network model estimated the BaP concentration for the database with Nash-Sutcliffe model efficiency (NS) = 0.99 and 0.99 and root-mean-square error (RMSE) = 3.1 and 9.3 for the total database and the Cd concentration for the database with NS = 0.93 and 0.98 and RMSE = 45.4 and 65.7 for the total database, respectively. In the model of extensive economic development, the concentration of pollutants in the sediments of Taihu reached the maximum value at the end of the twentieth century and early twenty-first century, and there was an inflection point. After the early twenty-first century, the concentration of pollutants was controlled under various environmental policies and measures. In 2015, the environmental protection ratio of Cd and BaP reached 52% and 89%, respectively. Without environmental protection measures, the concentrations of Cd and BaP obtained from the neural network model is projected to reach 2015.5 μg kg−1 and 407.8 ng g−1, respectively, in 2030. Based on the results of this study, the Chinese government will need to invest more money and energy to clean up the environment.

Research on Strategic Emerging “Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection” Enterprise Performance Control—Based on the “X Inefficiency” Research Perspective

Corporate performance is the foundation of the company's growth. Researching corporate performance issues is the eternal theme of corporate research. This paper specifically analyzes the inefficient allocation of non-material resources in energy-saving and environmentally-friendly strategic emerging enterprises, and proposes various countermeasures for the “X inefficiency” problem of energy-saving and environmentally-friendly strategic emerging enterprises, which will be a strategic new development for energy conservation and environmental protection in China. The development of the enterprise is provided a theoretical basis and methodological guidance.

Environmental Protection in China

Environmental Protection in China

Blending Ratio of Recycled Aggregate on the Performance of Pervious Concrete

Recycled pervious concrete as an environment-friendly and material-saving construction material can satisfy the current development demands of circular economy and environmental protection in China. But studies concerning the performance of recycled pervious concrete are not enough, which limits its application and promotion. In this study, waste prefabricated concrete beams were taken as the source of recycled aggregate and processed by crushing and screening to obtain recycled coarse aggregate. Then pervious concrete was prepared using the recycled coarse aggregate. Taking replacement rate and grain size grade as the running parameters, five groups of mix proportion were designed. Moreover the physical, mechanical and permeability performance and the interrelation were analyzed by tests. The results demonstrated that the 24-hour water absorption rate of the recycled coarse aggregate was 12 times higher than that of natural aggregate, the porosity of the pervious concrete was between 14.2% and 20.44%, and the permeability coefficient was between 0.19 cm and 0.46 cm and increased with the increase of the porosity. The compressive strength of the pervious concrete increased with the increase of the replacement rate. When the replacement rate was 30%, the improvement amplitude was the largest. The compressive strength was improved 35.4% after double grain grade aggregate was mixed, but the permeability performance decreased.

Determinants of agricultural protection in China and the rest of the world

This paper examines why the Chinese government has distorted its agricultural sector more than elsewhere, in both its antiagricultural and proagricultural periods. The updated panel data on agricultural distortions from 1981 to 2010, compiled by Anderson and Nelgen (2013), are adopted. We find that the different effects of arable land per capita, food self‐sufficiency ratios, poverty, and inequality on agricultural distortions in China and the rest of the world explain why China has distorted its agricultural sector more than elsewhere.

Numerical Simulation and Analysis on Spray Drift Movement of Multirotor Plant Protection Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

In recent years, multirotor unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have become more and more important in the field of plant protection in China. Multirotor unmanned plant protection UAVs have been widely used in vast plains, hills, mountains, and other regions, and become an integral part of China’s agricultural mechanization and modernization. The easy takeoff and landing performances of UAVs are urgently required for timely and effective spraying, especially in dispersed plots and hilly mountains. However, the unclearness of wind field distribution leads to more serious droplet drift problems. The drift and distribution of droplets, which depend on airflow distribution characteristics of UAVs and the droplet size of the nozzle, are directly related to the control effect of pesticide and crop growth in different growth periods. This paper proposes an approach to research the influence of the downwash and windward airflow on the motion distribution of droplet group for the SLK-5 six-rotor plant protection UAV. At first, based on the Navier-Stokes (N-S) equation and SST k–ε turbulence model, the three-dimensional wind field numerical model is established for a six-rotor plant protection UAV under 3 kg load condition. Droplet discrete phase is added to N-S equation, the momentum and energy equations are also corrected for continuous phase to establish a two-phase flow model, and a three-dimensional two-phase flow model is finally established for the six-rotor plant protection UAV. By comparing with the experiment, this paper verifies the feasibility and accuracy of a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method in the calculation of wind field and spraying two-phase flow field. Analyses are carried out through the combination of computational fluid dynamics and radial basis neural network, and this paper, finally, discusses the influence of windward airflow and droplet size on the movement of droplet groups.

PSY31 - Europe-China Comparison of Orphan Drugs Approvals

Rare diseases, today, constitute a public health issue. Specific legislations to incentivize the development of orphan drugs were adopted in Europe in 1999, whereas no specific legislation was established in China until now. Therefore, our study aimed to assess the availability of orphan drugs in China compared to Europe and to discuss potential challenges facing orphan drugs in China. The official websites of European Medicine Agency (EMA) and China Food and Drug administration (CFDA) were searched to identify approved orphan drugs up until 01/03/2018 in Europe and China, respectively. The delays in approval were calculated and delay rationales were discussed. A total of 102 orphan drugs were approved in Europe. Among these 102 orphan drugs, 15 (14.7%) were approved in China. Only the drug Dacogen® was approved earlier in China than in Europe, with a time interval of 3.98 years. The median delay was 3.29 years. The shortest and longest time lags were 55 days and 14 years, for the drugs Nexavar® and Zavesca®, respectively. Delays in approval may be due to several reasons: 1) the lack of a clear definition of rare disease in China, 2) the requirement of completing a phase 1 study outside China before implementing clinical trial in China, 3) manufacturers’ decision because of complex procedures, concerns regarding the profitability and uptake in the market 4) other reasons include staff shortage in drug evaluation center and inadequate intellectual-property protection in China. Special approval procedure for priority review of orphan drugs has been established as of 2017 in China. In addition, orphan drugs may also achieve faster reimbursement by national drug price negotiation. Improvement is expected for orphan drugs access. However, more efforts and a specific legislation for orphan drugs are still needed in China to ensure rapid patient access to orphan drugs.

Hungry Birds and Angry Farmers: Using Choice Experiments to Assess “Eco-compensation” for Coastal Wetlands Protection in China

The JYNNR – a Ramsar Site, Biosphere Reserve and important wintering ground for 15–18% of the world's Red Crowned Cranes – faces major pressure from regional development. This paper uses choice experiments to assess farmer preferences for an “eco-compensation” program targeting pesticide use by rural communities in and near the Jiangsu-Yancheng Coastal Wetlands Rare Birds National Nature Reserve (JYNNR). “Eco-compensation” is a China-specific term encompassing many incentive-based environmental management approaches. To identify options to reconcile rural welfare improvement with conservation, data was collected from 311 rural households in and near the JYNNR assessing perceptions of the JYNNR, wetland birds, use and impact of pesticides, and preferences for contracts to mitigate pesticide impacts. Results suggest that conflict with the JYNNR is growing, and that pesticide management could be an effective entry-point for engagement. The analysis finds several options for cost-effective contracts: granting rights to leave the program without penalty and increasing share of household land enrolled significantly reduce willingness-to-accept-payment (WTA), while longer contracts and larger reductions in pesticide use increase WTA, which interact meaningfully with farmer characteristics. Providing communities with training and technical support on proper pesticide use could, under specific contract structures, be sufficient to induce 100% enrollment without subsidies.

A Potential Model of Electric Energy Substitution for Environmental Protection Based on Emission Reduction Targets

In this paper, we proposes a potential model of electric energy substitution for environmental protection based on emission reduction targets. By analyzing the environmental capacity under the constraint of PM2.5 compliance by region and main pollutant emission in waste gas by region, we obtained the emission reduction targets by region (either SO2 or NOx). Then, we can calculate the potential of electric energy substitution by region based the effect of electricity emission reduction. Calculation shows that the potential of electric energy substitution for environmental protection in China is 2134.95 × 109kwh.

Research Trends and Prospect of the Catenary-Powered Ship

Combining the development of catenary-powered ship at home and abroad, the theoretical development and technological research dynamics of catenary power ship is reviewed and summarized mainly from the aspects of the design of power receiving devices and the prevention of ship offset technology. Responding to the background of promoting low-carbon transportation and energy conservation and environmental protection in China, the prospects for the further development and promotion of catenary power ship are expected to provide a certain reference for the research and development of the catenary-powered ship

Environmental Changes and Human Behaviors in China: On Environmental Anthropology with the Chinese Characteristics

Deterioration of global environmental problems endangered the development of human society. The current study discusses the sustainable development of economic construction and environmental protection in China. It utilizes valuable theoretical and practical methods of modern western environmental anthropology to evaluate the creating and developing process of environmental anthropology with Chinese characteristics. It aims to make contributions to overall development of environmental anthropology in China, both theoretically and practically.

Does the giant tree rhododendron need conservation priority?

The giant tree rhododendron (R. protistum var. giganteum) is one of the most famous plants in China, and is critically endangered. As previous conservation efforts only focused on the two recorded populations of this variety, key issues regarding relatedness to R. protistum var. protistum still remain. Our field investigations and SSR analysis of the two varieties in China and Nepal suggest that the two varieties are not significantly different, and we suggest that limited conservation resources could be better used elsewhere given the numerous endangered plants urgently needing protection in China. We suspect that the problems we identified in this study will also apply to many other taxa in developing countries identified as endangered on the basis of incomplete information.

Farmers’ adaptability to the policy of ecological protection in China—A case study in Yanchi County, China

Due to long-term human activities, grassland ecosystems have been severely damaged. To protect grassland ecosystems, the prohibited grazing policy (PGP), a grassland ecological protection policy, was instituted for Chinese grasslands in 2002. However, it is unknown whether farmers have effectively adapted to the PGP. The adaptability of farmers to this policy has directly influenced the effective implementation of the policy and the sustainable development of the ecosystem. Previous research on adaptability has not focused on the adaptation to political change. This article uses a case study in Northwest China to investigate the adaptability of farmers to the policy. First, we study the restoration status of ecosystems. In addition, this paper studies the perceptions regarding farmers’ adaptability to the policy and explores the adaptation strategies of different types of farmers. Finally, this paper discusses the main factors that influence farmers’ choice of adaptation strategies. The implementation of the PGP has achieved remarkable ecological benefits. Farmers of different types had different adaptation perceptions, and their choices of adaptation strategies also varied. In addition to the farmers’ perception of the policy, the main factors that influenced farmers’ adaptation strategies also included livelihood capital.

Cognition and Management Methods of Marine Environmental Protection in China Based on Cognitive Neuroscience

Cognition is a kind of advanced neural activity that can reflect the reality. The cognition of marine environmental protection is a special brain activity that aims at marine environmental protection. Based on this, this paper starts from the four perspectives of marine environmental cognition, designs questionnaires which are distributed to college students in Shandong Province, and then summarizes the survey results. And this paper discusses the cognition degree of marine environmental protection of contemporary college students in China from the perspective of neuroscience. On this basis, this paper points out the existing problems and puts forward policy suggestions for management methods of China’s marine environmental protection.

Characteristics of public concern on haze in China and its relationship with air quality in urban areas

Severe air pollution associated with the rapid urbanization is a pressing issue in China. Moreover, the public awareness of environmental protection in China is awakening, which poses enormous pressure on governments to enforce environmental regulations. The study of environmental problems from the public perspective plays a crucial role in effective environmental governance. The Baidu search engine is the China's largest search engine. The search index of haze based on Baidu search engine reflects the public concern on air quality in China. The aim of this study is to uncover important relationships between public concern and air quality monitoring data based on the case study of haze pollution crisis in China. The results indicate that: (1) the year 2013 is the turning point of the public concern on air quality in China; (2) according to daily data analysis, the search index of haze has increased progressively with increased PM2.5 concentration with a time lag of 0–4 days and the lag time has a declining tendency from 2013 to 2017; (3) according to annual data analysis, the public concern showed a weak correlation with air quality and they showed an opposite temporal trend. However, when the long-term annual trend was removed, the strong positive correlation emerges between the fluctuation parts of the search index of haze and monitoring data of air quality. This indicates the public is more sensitive to the short-term fluctuation of air quality. The results of this paper provide statistical evidence on the evolution of public concern on air quality from 2013 to 2017. This study will help policy makers to better understand the patterns of the public's perception of environmental problems and consequently improve the government's capability to deal with these challenges.

Analysis on occupational exposure to dust and harmful gas and corresponding protection in adults aged 40 years and older in China, 2014

Objective: To understand the current status of dust and/or harmful gas exposure in adults aged ≥40 years and corresponding protection in China, and provide evidence for strengthening the occupational protection against dust and harmful gas exposure. Methods: The data were obtained from 2014-2015 COPD surveillance in China. A total of 75 107 adults aged ≥40 years selected through multi-stage stratified cluster sampling from 125 surveillance points in 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) were surveyed in face to face interviews. Occupational exposure was defined as occupational exposure to dust and/or harmful gas for more than 1 year. The weighted percentages of exposure were estimated by using complex sampling design. Results: Among eligible 71 061 participants, the exposure rate of dust and/or harmful gas was 46.3%. The exposure rate in rural area (51.7%) was significantly higher than that in urban area (40.3%), and the exposure rate in the western area was higher than those in the eastern and central areas (P<0.001). Among the groups with different education level, the exposure rate in those with education level of primary school and below was highest (49.7%, P<0.001). The exposure protection rate was 26.7%, and the exposure protection rate was highest in the eastern area (29.9%), followed by that in the central area (27.0%) and that in the western area (22.9%) The exposure protection rate in urban area was significantly higher than that in rural area, and the exposure protection rate was lowest in those with education level of primary school and below. The regular exposure protection was taken by only 50.7% of the adults surveyed. Conclusion: The exposure rate of dust and/or harmful gas is high in China, while the exposure protection rate is very low. Health education, occupational protection and supervision should be strengthened among those with low education level, and those living in rural area and in the western area.

Exploring ‘new generation’ employees’ green tactics in environmental protection in China

As an emerging group, new-generation employees have attracted increasing interest. Based on the ‘sense-making’ process, this study investigated the new generation’s so-called ‘green’ behaviour in Chinese workplace. Using qualitative interviews, we explored how they weigh different forces and make green behavioural decision. Employing grounded theory, we examined a ‘dual-system’, which was the interactive influence of pro-environmental consciousness and green psychological climate on the new generation’s green behavioural decisions. We also discovered that their behavioural tactics may change over time driven by individual traits, institutional forces and issue characteristics. Our findings contribute to the new generation and green behaviour literature by exploring the behavioural tactics chosen and changed under different conditions.