The Effect of Public Participation on Environmental Governance in China–Based on the Analysis of Pollutants Emissions Employing a Provincial Quantification
The Effect of Public Participation on Environmental Governance in China–Based on the Analysis of Pollutants Emissions Employing a Provincial Quantification
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DOI：
10.3390/su10072302
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发表时间：
2018-07
期刊：
影响因子：
3.9
通讯作者：
Tong Zhang;Chao Chen
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Tong Zhang;Chao Chen
一直以来，政府和企业都是中国环境治理的两大主体。随着环境问题的日益复杂和公众环境意识的提高，公众参与在中国的环境治理过程中逐渐发挥着重要作用。本文旨在探讨中国的环境治理中公众参与的必要性、理论基础和具体效果。首先提出了一个理论模型来说明公众参与的意义。然后，基于中国2011年至2015年30个省的面板数据，构建了公众参与对SO2、NOx、COD、NH4四种主要污染物排放影响的实证模型。研究结果表明：(1)公众环境投诉对污染物减排具有显著的正向影响；(2)不同污染物对污染物减排的影响程度不同，其中SO2减排效率最高；(3)公众参与对污染物减排的影响具有滞后性和地区差异性的特点。研究发现，滞后一个时期的公众参与率每增加1个百分点，中国中部、东部和西部地区的人均SO2减排量分别为5.03吨、1.54吨和0.94吨。因此，环境治理亟需强化公众参与的地位，迫切需要有效的公众参与。从长远来看，需要建立公众、政府和企业之间系统的合作治理。
For a long time, governments and enterprises have been the two main subjects for environmental governance in China. With the growing complexities of environmental issues and the improvement of public environmental awareness, public participation is gradually playing an important role in the process of China’s environmental governance. This paper aims to explore the necessity, the rationale, and the specific effect of public participation on environmental governance in China. A theoretical model is first proposed to illustrate the significance of public participation. Then, an empirical model is built to investigate the impact of public participation on pollutant emissions of the four main pollutants SO 2 , NO x , COD, and NH 4 , based on the panel data of 30 provinces from 2011 to 2015 in China. The results and main findings are: (1) public environmental complaints exert a noticeable and positive impact on the reductions of pollutants; (2) this impact varies according to different pollutants, among which reducing SO 2 emissions shows the most efficiency; and (3) the impact of public participation on the reduction of pollutants shows the characteristics of hysteresis and regional difference. We find that when the rate of public participation of lagging one period increases by 1%, the reduction of SO 2 is 5.03 tons per capita, 1.54 tons per capita, and 0.94 tons per capita in the region of middle, east, and west China, respectively. Therefore, the status of public participation should be strengthened and effective public participation is urgently needed in environmental governance. A systematic cooperative governance among the public, governments, and enterprises needs to be established in the long run.