China's urban environmental governance in transition: A tale of two cities

Abstract

As China transits from a planned economy to a market economy, the way environment and resources are governed in Chinese cities has undergone significant changes. The aim of this chapter is to examine the current environmental governance structures of Chinese cities in transition and specifically to address questions on why and how local authorities implement environmental policies differently from the expectations of central government. In particular, I argue that, together with the decentralization since 1978, four underlying features of the current environmental governance structures-multi-sector administration, dual responsibility, lack of public participation, and local interest centred frameworks-have given incentives and enabled local authorities to modify central environmental policies to meet their development priorities. Then, through presenting two cases: implementing water abstraction policies in Benxi city, and solar water heater popularization in Dezhou city, I illustrate the importance of considering the institutional dimension in applying environmental instruments in China. As local institutions vary from one locality to another, local governments motivated by their own incentive mechanisms will adopt diverging policy instruments and implementation mechanisms in response to central government policies, resulting in heterogeneous efforts and resources put into environment and resource management practices.