By Adam Froiran
China’s environmental issues
increasingly command domestic and international attention – what’s the role of
civil society in promoting environmental protection?
In fact, environmental nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are relatively new to China. The first Chinese
environmental group was only established in 1994: the Green Culture Institute of the International
Academy of Chinese Culture, today known as Friends of Nature. Two years later, Green Home and the Global
Village of Beijing established the second and third groups to work on this
issue.
The number of Chinese environmental groups has rapidly
increased over the past fifteen years. Today they can be divided into six categories:
registered NGOs, sometimes also referred to as “government-organized NGOs” or
GONGOs; non-profit enterprises, which are run as non-profit organizations while
officially registered as business enterprises; unregistered groups; web-based
groups, which mostly function through the internet while remaining
unregistered; student environmental associations which are registered on
university campuses; and university research institutes, or NGOs that operate
under the umbrella of a university. Chinese official news sources estimate that
there are roughly three thousand five hundred environmental NGOs in China, including
international groups. Approximately two thousand are officially registered,
while the remaining fifteen hundred are either unregistered or registered as
commercial enterprises.
Gaining official registration is a very difficult process for most organizations and means registering
with the Social Organizations Registration and Administration Act. It is then necessary to pay taxes, have
full-time staff, maintain a constant business venue and have an official
government sponsor. Because of the
expense and the political obstacles to gaining the necessary government sponsorship,
many groups never register, or register only as a commercial enterprise. Groups
that operate without registration or under registration as commercial
enterprises face the risk of shutdown. In addition, they cannot accept foreign
donations or funding without government approval.
One of the early priorities of
China’s environmental movement was to promote the conservation
of indigenous species in Western China.
Friends of Nature focused on the protection of the Tibetan
antelope and snub-nosed monkey.
Thus, from 1994-2000 NGOs focused on initiatives to “save” nature, and
enhanced the wider public’s knowledge and participation in the relatively new
environmental movement. NGO staff traveled
throughout China’s vast territory to promote environmental awareness in even
the most remote areas, support litigation by victims of pollution, and engage in media outreach to
promote greater coverage of the issues.
Since 2000, China’s
environmental NGOs have continued to evolve and address new issues. Examples include the conservation of energy,
the impacts of large-scale dams and how best to address the toxicity levels in
China’s air and water. In order to boost
energy conservation, environmental NGOs have joined forces to urge large public
buildings to maintain thermostats at low levels, and to assist farmers in the
production of renewable energy.
Groups also work to combat
the negative impacts of large-scale dams in China’s Yunnan and Sichuan
provinces. Environmental groups are
addressing the legality of the controversial displacement of individuals as
part of these projects. In order to improve access to clean water, Huai River
Protectors encourages rural residents to dig deeper water wells.
Although Chinese environmental
groups continue to face hurdles in their advocacy work, interest is steadily
growing among many Chinese, particularly among youth who become engaged online
and through university-based volunteer organizations. As China continues to
develop, there is little doubt that the influence and role of environmental groups
will continue to grow.
Adam Froiran is an undergraduate student at Seton Hall University and an intern with Asia Catalyst.
