This thesis stems from my long and intense interest in management, in particular, the management of the relation between business and other parts of the society. Neither can be isolated and their relation denied. Studying them implies taking into account of the fact that people's intentions, aims and goals are not only in the present. They link the present and the past to the future, in both predictable and unpredictable ways. This has led me to explore how the notion of system structures research as well as management methodologies. An important somehow spin-off effect of this study and of the topic chosen is that I have learnt a great deal about the environmental situation in my own country, China.
One experience that has been most enlightening is getting acquainted with the formalisation that in the literature is referred to as the Commons Problem. Most problems facing our present world either seem to exemplify this problem or to be related to it. It is about the dilemma of doing well for oneself but not for others versus the other way round. As yet, there is no ideal or best solution to this dilemma. Our exploration suggests one (approximate) solution for such problems that might be practical enough to be applicable to the situation in China.
Another interesting experience I had was having to develop research to deal with complex social situations—especially as there was the added challenge of both working in a Western research environment, and being able to understand the background linking to the Chinese literature. Many people have emphasised that the two are not easily combined, such as the leading Chinese researcher Professor Jifa Gu. This proved to be the case, for example, when exploring Checkland's Soft Systems Methodology. One might ask therefore why I did not choose to use a Chinese systems methodology. One of the reasons is that to my mind Chinese methodologies tend to concentrate on the operational level of problems, leaving the normative and strategic issues to the bosses, the powers that be. Another reason is that both the Western and Chinese methodologies tend to function as methods. I wanted to explore the difficulties China is facing as a problem in research—I wanted to search with an open mind and with the aim of finding something that can stand on its own feet, rather than something that is situated, and hence dependent on local conditions. This is satisfying but risky, as one may be re-inventing the wheel. A third reason is that as a Western researcher there seem to be few areas one should not probe into. Lastly, it was interesting to experience the variety one meets in research, in social research and in Western social research. Many aspects of research, any kind of research, are being questioned at present. One of the divides one has to cross is between modern and post-modern interpretations. It is easy to drift too far into either of these. This research project tries to adopt a third way, which is to maintain a modernist awareness of what it means to solve a specific problem and let the solution stand on its own, while embedding awareness of post-modern perspectives into the solution itself. The intention is not to claim a panacea, but to identify a resource for many local solutions. Or in another metaphor, one should keep in mind that although the trees may be different, the soil is needed everywhere.
Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 Introduction
This first chapter aims to explore the goal of this study and to explain how this goal can be achieved through the research undertaken in this project. This will help the researcher to organise the relevant data and make sense of them according to the central theme (the research goal), as well as helping the readers to follow the story as easily and clearly as possible.
1.2 The Goal of the Project
The goal of this project is to identify a way to improve the Chinese environmental situation (water and air pollution in particular, to start with, as a restriction on this study). The way I intend to find solutions to such problems in this project is to view them as the Commons problems, as classified by Hardin (Hardin, 1968). Below is a brief description of Hardin's notion of the Tragedy of the Commons in his own words.
The tragedy of the commons develops in this way. Picture a pasture open to all. It is to be expected that each herdsman will try to keep as many cattle as possible on the commons. Such an arrangement may work reasonably satisfactorily for centuries because tribal wars, poaching, and disease keep the numbers of both man and beast well below the carrying capacity of the land. Finally, however, comes the day of reckoning, that is, the day when the long-desired goal of social stability becomes a reality. At this point, the inherent logic of the commons remorselessly generates tragedy.
As a rational being, each herdsman seeks to maximise his gain. Explicitly or implicitly, more or less consciously, he asks, "What is the utility to me of adding one more animal to my herd?" This utility has one negative and one positive component.
1. The positive component is a function of the increment of one animal. Since the herdsman receives all the proceeds from the sale of the additional animal, the positive utility is nearly +1.
2. The negative component is a function of the additional overgrazing created by one more animal. Since, however, the effect of overgrazing is shared by all the herdsmen, while the negative utility for any particular decision-making herdsman is only a fraction of 1.
Adding together the component partial utilities, the rational herdsman concludes that the only sensible course for him to pursue is to add another animal to his herd. And another.... But this is the conclusion reached by each and every rational herdsman sharing a commons. Therein is the tragedy. Each man is locked into a system that compels him to increase his herd without limit—in a world that is limited. Ruin is the destination toward which all men rush, each pursuing his own best interest in a society that believes in the freedom of the commons. Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all (Hardin, 1968).
The lessons of the Tragedy of the Commons have been learnt many times over the millennia, but apparently have been forgotten as often. According to Hardin (1968), such tragedies have been repeated over the course of the human history. This is because human beings had suffered from a natural tendency of psychological denial as individuals continued to try to gain the maximum individual benefits at the cost to the society, whose sufferings extended to the individuals concerned. One of the solutions for Hardin is through education whereby such awareness and knowledge about the Tragedy of the Commons gets refreshed by generation after generation so that such wrong doings are to be avoided (Hardin, 1968). In conclusion, Hardin stresses that freedom in the commons brings ruin to all and the only solution is "mutual coercion, mutually agreed upon."(Hardin, 1968; 1992).
Interestingly (from a research point of view), for Hardin, the notion of the Tragedy of the Commons can be generalised and applied in a wide range of spheres in our life. Where he has suggested that such a notion may be used to enlighten a class of human problems which can be called "no technical solution problems"(Hardin, 1968). One member of this class of problems is the pollution problem. As Hardin puts it:
In a reverse way, the Tragedy of the Commons reappears in problems of pollution. Here it is not a question of taking something out of the commons, but of putting something in—sewage, or chemical, radioactive, and heat wastes into water; noxious and dangerous fumes into the air; and distracting and unpleasant advertising signs into the line of sight. The calculations of utility are much the same as before. The rational man finds that his share of the cost of the wastes he discharges into the commons is less than the cost of purifying his wastes before releasing them. Since this is true for everyone, we are locked into a system of "fouling our own nest," so long as we behave only as independent, rational, free-enterprisers.
The Tragedy of the Commons as a food basket is averted by private property, or something formally like it. But the air and waters surrounding us cannot readily be fenced, and so the Tragedy of the Commons as a cesspool must be prevented by different means, by coercive laws or taxing devices that make it cheaper for the polluter to treat his pollutants than to discharge them untreated. We have not progressed as far with the solution of this problem as we have with the first. Indeed, our particular concept of private property, which deters us from exhausting the positive resources of the earth, favours pollution. The owner of a factory on the bank of a stream—whose property extends to the middle of the stream—often has difficulty seeing why it is not his natural right to muddy the waters flowing past his door. The law, always behind the times, requires elaborate stitching and fitting to adapt it to this newly perceived aspect of the commons (Hardin, 1968).
We intend to study the Chinese environmental problem in the framework of the Tragedy of the Commons, and try to identify ways forward, which may contribute to the improvement of the Chinese environmental situation.
1.3 On Studying the Chinese Environmental Problem
Most undertakings are meant to realise more than one goal, usually in the form of sub-goals. Sometimes however, as in the present study, there are goals at different levels, and in different spheres of life. This study reports on an undertaking, where there were two such goals. First there was my deep-felt concern about the environmental situation in China, especially its pollution problems both at present and in the future. Second there was my intention to help explore and deal with this problem in a scientific context. While the first goal will be familiar to many people and even shared, the second is not. It deserves some extra explanation, which this section is meant to provide. It will do so at a relatively general level. Additional comments and justifications will follow where appropriate.
Research and study appear to heave an obvious intuitive meaning—satisfying one’s curiosity, and making the results stand on their own feet, without solipsistic overtones, but their formal notion has remained ambiguous. This is not for lack of trying. Two types of development may be mentioned. The first refers to a loss of centralised direction as compared to the generally favoured understanding of research at the height of its success in the physical sciences. This kind of understanding nowadays is called modern, as opposed to the more recent forms of post-modern understanding. The aim of the modern understanding was to make precise what is confused, and to give unique meanings to concepts and words. In this tradition one is not happy with a statement such as the sun rises everyday. One wants to define what is meant by the sun, by everyday, by rising? There have been many situations where projects in this tradition turned out fine. We do have unique answers to such questions, and we are able to distinguish these answers from others, for example, poetic ones, the attractiveness of which is in suggesting many meanings and in addressing us in differentiating ways.
What is successful may become too successful, however in the same sense that it has been said that power corrupts, and that extreme power corrupts extremely. It has been tried, for example, to follow the same uniqueness tradition when studying what it is that makes for interesting conversations, or what we mean by values such as honesty and fairness, or even poems. Most results have indeed been disastrous and have been shown to turn into extreme attempts to impose meanings on others. This has led people to reconsider the tradition and the project of science in it. The new tradition is called post-modern. It emphasises the possibility that there may be situations where there are no unique answers, at least on the level of the individual. A typical example is the situation of the commons which turns into the Tragedy of the Commons with more and more people share the rules of profit maximisation.
This brings us to the second type of development. It has been argued, for example, that if it is better not to share, then there is no use in searching for what is similar or satisfies as a general criterion. Or in other words, one can not assume any uniqueness anymore, or search for it, not even in science at the peril of imposing on others. This has led to what from the modern point of view may be called a devaluation or deflation of science and to an increasing lack of direction and discipline, and to an increasing ambiguity of what are called science and scientific knowledge, and of course from the post-modern point of view to liberation from the other tradition, to being allowed to bring in whatever one fancies, or even to poeticise science.
The Tragedy of the Commons shows that this swing to liberation and non-imposition may go too far. There may be good reasons to avoid over-grazing, and more generally to avoid destroying the Space-ship Earth. There may be a unique answer to the question how this may be done. In other words, there may be a criterion that has to be satisfied, in a disciplined way, if one is to study what may help to avoid the commons disaster, be it in terms of pollution or of over-use. One may think of the notion of property rights, as proposed by Hardin (1968). If we distribute the commons, and make each person responsible for his or her own piece of land, then the limits to profit maximisation become clear quite quickly. The drawback to this approach is of course that it may be expensive to maintain. As soon as one piece of land is destroyed, people may try to take over what is still green on their neighbours' side. There have been other suggestions, therefore, such as to allow for better communication among all those who have a stake in the commons. One may discuss principles and thereby change activities at the individual level. This suggests another criterion: that people may try to avoid over-grazing, but should try to identify an approach that is least costly to maintain and effective, which does not lead to destruction of what in a sense is outside the commons problem, that is, other people. War might indeed be considered the extreme form of imposition. It may be argued, therefore, that the way of science does not need to be either modern or post-modern. It may still search to satisfy a criterion, for example, that of least effort to maintain one’s resources, while at the same time avoiding a sameness that is too local, that does not allow individuals their own position and their own point of view.
This kind of combination belongs to the class that De Zeeuw argues extends science in its traditional and mainly modern form, but does not turn it into something that seems to appear as non-science to most people’s intuition (e.g. politics). He speaks of third-phase science (de Zeeuw, 1985; 1986a; 1986b; 1992; 1995;1996 in particular; 1997). It is this combination that is the basis of this study that I am reporting here. It implies that I may use approaches that appear to be in the post-modern tradition but that I have to evaluate these in terms of whether or not they help to prevent the commons problems, and hence sustain the situation of the commons. One such approach is the so-called Soft Systems Methodology(SSM), as developed by Checkland (Checkland and Scholes, 1990). It does take the commons situation into account in that it provides a form of communication among the members of an organisation, or more generally, among those who together have made a mess of things, and have created their problem. It is not part of the combination of modern and post-modern that I have in mind, however, in that it does not indicate any general criterion against which it is to be studied. It is only able to suggest a re-cycling, that is to repeat: if it does not help to achieve the desired result, one should try again and maybe learn.
Although this suggestion is useful as a general advice, it does not help to clarify what one should judge such learning by. In other words, one may stay trapped in the form of communication that SSM proposes in the same way that the moderns do appear trapped in following an approach, the results of which impose too much. This criticism will not prevent me from using either type of approach, and of combining them. My main task seems to be, indeed, that of getting out of the traps as well as to know that I have done so.
Applying SSM in the sense in which it is usually applied has not been possible for me, of course. China is too big to consider all its stakeholders, or even only single representatives of its many parts. In my field trips to China I also discovered that it is difficult to bring together a number of people, and get them to talk in the way of SSM. Authority is ingrained in the Chinese culture, and does not appear to allow for the free-flowing discussion that SSM suggests. I have used this approach in another way, therefore, which will be recognisable in the pages that follow. First I try to paint the rich picture that SSM requires, on the basis of reports from a large number of authors. Then I analyse this picture, to identify basic systems, or root definitions, to eventually develop a conceptual model, that is what I consider a suitable approach to improve the environmental situation in China. It is this model that I present to the readers for further debate—some of which I anticipate in my discussion of the model against the available literature. To avoid being trapped in this approach, that is to avoid being hooked too much to the form of communication that SSM introduces, which is heavily dependent on the notion of a problem and of a problem situation, I will also apply the modern approach, however. This suggests additional questions, for example, whether my problem formulation is sufficient in capturing the situation in China such that solutions do not lead to side-effects that are expensive to control, and whether the form of communication that I propose does indeed allow for a sustainable development. In other words, I will use the modern form of communication (emphasising the uniqueness of answers to questions) to avoid being trapped in a soft approach that allows for (too) many voices and many points of view and hence does not suggest anything. And I will use the latter to avoid being trapped in thinking that solutions should be the same at all levels of a society, in particular a developing society such as China.
1.4 On Method
We have indicated that we are to study the Chinese environmental situation as an example of the Commons Problems identified by Hardin. This still leaves open how we are going to organise the labour involved. There are many ways one may do this. We will follow the sequence identified in Checkland's Soft Systems Methodology (SSM). A summary follows of what this means. It may help to clarify why we chose this approach—in the light of the fact that SSM was not developed as a research design, but rather as a way for people to communicate on, discuss and negotiate how to act. SSM was designed by Checkland in the 1960s to deal with 'messy and ill-defined problems', for which at the time there were no solutions, neither as the result of practical experience, nor as the product of research (Checkland, 1981). One of the basic problems this posed was what unit of analysis to consider, or more generally what aspects of behaviour to include. Checkland defined as his units human beings, who undertake purposeful actions based on their individual worldviews, and who work together to act and to solve the problems that arise in the course of their acting. Sometimes, more general, deeper, or more complex problems arise than the individuals are prepared for—which therefore are considered messy and ill-defined. The help they need follows from this assumption. It should allow people to redesign the way they have been working together, and enable them to take on the challenge of solving problems when these have become messy and tangled. This re-design is cut up into a number of steps or stages. Their main purpose is to identify and change what people tend to see, given their worldviews, on the basis of which they have created their mess. This involves tending to what is seen, what the worldviews are, how they may be changed, and how debate may be organised to choose those worldviews that may be preferred, or improved. Technically, these activities are structured into drawing up rich pictures, searching for root definitions, making conceptual models, comparing them with reality and developing what are labelled culturally desirable and systemically feasible plans for actions (Checkland and Scholes, 1990).
The goal of this process is to change how people interact, and thereby help them see and act so that their 'messes' are turned into well-defined problems again, that is, into problems that they can handle themselves. Later on Checkland realised that this type of systematically supported change is very much like any process of empowerment or enabling in business organisations as well as in research organisations. Alternatively, it suggests that there are many more such processes, each different from others in terms of the steps identified, and of the forms of communication used. It is easy to see that the change SSM supports is most easy to implement when the organisation that has entangled itself in its own mess is already structured on the same lines as SSM. It will be difficult when that organisation is not interested in change, and hence may not even recognise when it needs help. Authoritarian power structures may allow some application of SSM, but only in the marginal areas and will adapt its results only when they are deemed supportive to its own maintenance (Jackson,1991). The ideal of both SSM and of where it is to be applied, is a situation of democratic self-exposure or of alter-identification of one's blind-spots or narrow-mindedness or ignorance or whatever deficiency there is in terms of one's individual worldview. One might hesitate therefore to consider following the steps suggested, in particular in countries like China involving autocratic leaders who also happen to be part of a somewhat revengeful culture. An example is Mao who could not take much criticism even when he himself invited intellectuals to make constructive criticisms of the newly-established Communist government in the 1950s. To this day, people remember the dangers of exposing one's inner worldviews to the public. This suggests that the application of ideas such as those of SSM may indeed remain marginal, only to be accepted after having been judged positively on criteria inherent to the social system involved. The alternative the author has chosen is to try and anticipate on this judgement by making his case as strong as possible. It is the researcher's intention, therefore, to follow the steps suggested by SSM when investigating the Chinese environmental situation in terms of the Commons problems. The former happens to be messy and ill-defined. The advantage lies in SSM's systematic way of identifying what combinations of worldviews lead to organisations, the structure of which may hamper finding solutions to such problems or even make finding them impossible.
Alternatively, systematic exposure could be a lethal weapon for management to unearth potential oppositions and take punitive actions accordingly, at least a distinctive possibility if it is used in China. The way to go, therefore, is to try and make it impossible for anyone or any one group of users (actors) to benefit more than others from the implementation of the proposed solution. In a nutshell, the attempt is similar to that of linking a lake to an ocean, so that the lake can no longer be abused.
1.5 Composition of the Thesis
This thesis will be divided into seven chapters, including this chapter. They follow more or less the steps of SSM, as indicated, to explore and expose the worldviews that are at the back of the Chinese environmental problems. At the same time, to check on impartiality, results are evaluated in terms of the Commons problems. Chapter 1 is a brief introduction to this project as we are doing now. Chapter 2 introduces the Chinese environmental problems in line with SSM's suggestion to bring together a wide range of observations and experiences concerning the situation in China (what is called a 'rich picture'). Chapter 3 is a review of environmental management approaches in a number of countries to gain an insight and identify the different worldviews that guide the management of environmental problems. Chapter 4 presents an overview of the Chinese environmental management situation, to expose the worldview or rationality behind the current Chinese environmental management approach, its relation to alternative views and its historical and contextual development. In Chapter 5 we analyse and search for alternative solutions and compare them. It is here that we will propose our own solution and our conceptual model (an ideal system to solve the problems concerned). Chapter 6 is about the implementation of the solution identified in Chapter 5. It presents a comparison between the ideal system and reality, to explore whether the preferred solution is of sufficient quality, in particular whether it is culturally desirable and systemically feasible as suggested by SSM (Checkland and Scholes, 1990). Chapter 7 is a review of this research project as a whole, with some suggestions for future research.
1.6 Conclusion
The aim of the present Chapter has been to introduce and summarise the origin and goals of this thesis and also to present the results of our problem analysis. It identifies two of the fundamental elements, the theoretical framework (or viewpoint) to be adopted (which is to be Hardin's Tragedy of the Commons) and the approach chosen to do the necessary research and justify its results. The importance in the latter is not only the choice of a research question (which reflects the personal interest of the researcher), but especially also the way in which results are communicated to users (as a guide to action) as well as to outsiders (as a way to recognise results).
Chapter 2
The Chinese Environmental Situation
2.1 Introduction
A good starting point for a project is a detailed description of the problem situation (the first step in Checkland's SSM, finding a ‘rich picture’). This relates to the historical development of the problem situation as well as its current status. This will allow the introduction of relevant stakeholders within the problem situation and later on discussions on their worldviews and so on so forth.
In this chapter, we will try to present the readers with a review of the Chinese environmental situation and its management systems, its structure, its main components, and how they work. The aim of this chapter is not to criticise or analyse the Chinese situation just yet, but rather to present a factual description of the Chinese environmental reality at the present. Although some selection cannot be avoided, however 'factual' one tries to be, the description is as 'rich' as seems suitable for any type of argument, including eventually mine.
2.2 The Chinese Environmental Issue
Like the global environmental issue, the Chinese environmental issue is heavily influenced by the interactions among the three critical environmental factors: a huge population, poverty, and industrialisation, the process of which is exerting a tremendous impact on the natural environment. The fact that the Chinese environmental issue is both of national and global concern is perhaps best described by AISU as follows (http://www.pnl.gov/china/aboutcen.htm):
Due to its size and rapid economic growth, China's development path will affect the world's environment more than that of any other nation. Since 1978 when Deng Xiaoping initiated economic reforms and opening to the outside world, China's economy has expanded at an average annual rate of 9.4 percent. In less than twenty years, the country has evolved from a largely self-sufficient, centrally-controlled Marxist economy to one that now relies on market forces and is integrated with the world economy. While the changes have been dramatic, they are incomplete and have not come without costs.
China's rapid economic growth has been fuelled by coal. This dirty, damaging fuel accounts for three-quarters of the country's primary energy supply. Over 1.4 billion tons are burned each year (28 quads), often inefficiently and with little or no pollution control equipment. Of the 7 countries whose annual energy consumption exceeded 10 quads (10.5 EJ) in 1995, only China relied so heavily on coal (South Africa and Poland also use a high proportion of coal in their energy mix, but total energy consumption amounts to a small fraction of China's.)
Environmental dislocations have become increasingly worrisome. Environmental externalities from coal combustion affect human health, agriculture and ecosystems, infrastructure and materials, and quality of life. Sulphur, particulate and carbon emissions from coal use in China have reached alarming levels. Acid rain from coal combustion has become one of China's greatest environmental problems. Average annual sulphur dioxide concentrations are more than 3 times World Health Organisation standards in at least 10 Chinese cities and trans-border migration of sulphur compounds has raised tremendous concern in both Korea and Japan. China will probably become the world's largest greenhouse gas producer by 2020, elevating concerns over China's energy policy beyond the local and regional level. While China currently spends less than 1 percent of it's GDP on environmental protection, both Chinese government officials and foreign experts alike acknowledge that pollution may be costing the country 10 times as much. One promising aspect of China's energy development related to the environment has been in energy efficiency. On average, energy intensity, a measure of energy consumed per unit of economic output, has dropped by over 4 percent each year since 1977. Without this reduction, China would now be consuming twice as much energy as it actually does…energy consumption in 1995 would have been about 2.5 million tons of coal equivalent (Mtce), compared to the actual level of 1.25 Mtce, if intensity remained constant at the 1980 level.
While achieving remarkable success over the past two decades in reducing energy intensity, China still has one of the most wasteful energy sectors in the world. A study by China's Energy Research Institute indicates that China has the potential to cost-effectively achieve a further 30-50 percent reduction in energy consumption by raising its industrial energy efficiency to international levels.
The above reflects a Western point of view on the challenge involved in the Chinese environmental issue, with particular regards to energy consumption and its efficient use. This American point of view has to be re-interpreted in the light of the fact that on average an American consumes energy as much as ten Chinese or twelve Indians. However, there is much to be done in the management of the Chinese environmental issue, which will contribute to the Chinese national policy of sustainable development (Zhang, 1994, pp.4-5). We will examine the Chinese environmental issue in more details in the following sections.
2.2.1 A Society in Constant Dynamic Changes Since 1949
The current Socialist new China was born formally on 1st October, 1949, under Mao’s leadership. In its five decades of history, the Chinese society has gone through many dynamic events, such as the first Five-Year Plan in 1954, the political movement against the Rightists in 1957, the Great Leap Forward in 1958, the economic difficulties in 1960, the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976, the downfall of the Gang of Four in 1976, the rise of Deng Xiaoping and economic reforms since 1978, the Fourth of June Event in 1989, the death of Deng and the new leadership by Jiang Zemin, Zhu Rongji, and others. Accompanying this eventful historical period of the contemporary Chinese society, there have been the collapse of the former communist blocks in Eastern Europe, the collapse of the mighty Soviet Union who was the long-time leader in the socialist pursuit of communism, and the end of the so-called Cold War. Half a century later since 1949, there are not many socialist countries left in the world in the pursuit of the communist Utopia. With the coming of the new century and an unknown future, China has been thinking long and hard about its future as a society of one fifth of the world’s population. Despite the ideological debates in the dominant Chinese political newspapers, the way forward for economic reform is more and more reliance on the market forces. As we have noted from the previous chapter, one major force in the current global market is the so-called green consumerism (a product of environmentalism), whereby sensitivity towards the environment is gaining many companies the green competitive edge, which is as important as other competitive edges such as in technological innovations. It is with this perspective in mind that we will be exploring the Chinese environmental issue and its management.
2.2.2 A Chinese View of the Environmental Issue
In this section, we will explore the Chinese official view about the environmental issue by the Deputy Head of the Chinese National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA). According to Zhang (1994, p.5), the environment has two most significant uses for the human beings. One is that the environment can provide materials, which will support many aspects of human living conditions, such as food, clothing, houses, etc.. This includes direct usage such as coal and oil, and indirect usage such as refined chemical products. Another main use of the environment is its ability to recycle wastes, because of the existence of the various food chains. Hence, the so-called environmental issue or problem is when the human beings cannot make full use of the environment in these two areas, e.g., in the examples of water shortage and high levels of organic substances in the water.
The natural environment has a number of unique features, which determine the nature of the so-called environmental issue. It is owned and used by the whole global community. Its value is very difficult to measure in monetary terms. It has sufficient closure to maintain its independence from outside influences. However, this kind of closure has a limit, which can mean that it may be broken by external forces. The uniqueness of our natural environment means that the so-called environmental problems have resulted from our ignorance or ignoring the basic laws of the nature. It implies that our way of dealing with the environmental issue is part of our progress in human civilisation, which leads to a respect of all natural laws as well as other social laws, such as economic laws. China as a nation must respect the direction of the development of human civilisation, which includes sustainable development of spiritual and material well-being at the balance of speedy economic development and better environmental protection. The challenge of the environmental issue actually offer the Chinese nation another chance to become an active part of the global community, which means that the Chinese people can share the common concern about the environment with people all over the world (Zhang, 1994).
2.2.3 The Chinese Environmental Situation
The environmental situation confronting China is perhaps one of the worst dilemmas in the world. On the one hand, the Chinese economy is making remarkable progress, e.g. a growth rate of GNP at about 10% per annum from 1988. Even so, it is still a great challenge to meet the growing demands of the largest population on the earth and fulfil the nation’s aspiration for modernisation in the 21st century. On the other hand, the process of modernisation itself is having a significant impact upon the natural environment and causing damage which may give concern for the needs of the future generations (Qu and Li , 1994, p.174 & p.213). Worse still, modernisation may not help China carry out the World Conservation Strategy of sustained economic growth while protecting the environment, as we can see in the example of USA.
In the USA, five per cent of the world’s population consumes nearly 30% of total world primary energy, and produces effluents and waste at a level that probably will never be matched at a per capita level anywhere else (Simpson, 1990, p.8).
China itself is fully aware of the serious challenge it faces in the issue of environmental management in the coming century. Urban pollution is getting worse, and expanding into the countryside. The environmental problems facing China today have become a hindrance to further economic development. The challenge to achieve successful environmental management can affect the survival and development of the nation as a whole (Jin, 1997).
The Chinese environmental problems are results from its unique history of social and economic development. According to the Chinese official environmental research, there are five major historical and social economic factors, which have determined the nature of the Chinese environmental problems (Qu and Li, 1992, pp.34-35 & pp.43-47):
Economy: The national economy has made significant progress since 1949, particularly after 1978. However, the level reached for the national economy is not high enough with regard to a poor level at the start and poor economic efficiency. This has resulted in a lack of economic power to deal with environmental issues. We can see this through a comparison between the Chinese investment in environmental protection and that of other countries in the following table.
Country Period Percentage as of GNP (%)
the World 1970-1980 0.5—-2
the Developed Countries 1970-1980 1—-2
the Developing Countries 1970-1980 0.5—-1
Eastern Europe 1980 0.67
Africa 1980 0.2
Oceania 1980 0.7
the U.S. 1970-1979 2
Britain 1970-1979 2.4
Austria; France 1970-1979 1.4
Japan 1972
1975 1.8
2.9
West Germany 1975-1979 2.1
Belgium; Sweden 1974 1.0
China 1981-1988
1990 0.65
0.7
Table 1. Percentage of GNP investing in environmental protection by world major countries and regions (following Qu and Li, 1992, p.45)
Despite the recent efforts by the Chinese government in spending 10 billion Yuan every year on environmental protection, the investment is still insufficient considering the size of the country, its population, and its environmental current status owing to the industrialisation process from 1949.
Population: The population base with its one fifth share of the global population is comparatively large and the population is on the increase all the time. More importantly, there is a large portion of agricultural population in China, which has added tremendous pressure on national economic development and hence the impact on the natural environment. The Chinese population problem, with regard to the Chinese environmental problem, has two characteristics. Firstly, it is a historical problem and is worsening all the time. It can never be solved at once and can be only dealt with through a continuous process with commitment and efforts; secondly, the problem is inter-connected with social and economic development of the Chinese society. The problem of population and the environmental problem cannot be dealt with in an isolated fashion. This means that a policy with a pure population orientation or environmental orientation will never work. However, if China does not deal with the population and environmental problems with serious commitment, then they will in turn hinder the economic and social development of the Chinese society (Qu and Li, 1992, p.XII). The issue of population control is a continuous work in progress by the Chinese government. In the 1997 China Environment Forum, Dr Song Jian, who was State Councillor and Chairman of China’s State Science and Technology Commission, told the Forum that China would achieve zero population growth within thirty years, topping out at around 1.5 billion or 1.6 billion. He emphasised that the first decades of next century would be critical for the country’s further development. According to official estimates, China’s population reached 1.2 billion by the end of 1996. The introduction of the ‘One-Child’ Policy in 1980 had effectively reduced the actual population growth by some 300 million, representing a natural population growth rate to 10.42 per thousand (NEPA, 1998).
Industrialisation: The model for industrialisation adopted in China since 1949 was one that emphasised on progress through higher quantities achieved at higher costs and low efficiency, rather than through improved efficiency. Following this model, it became inevitable that industrialisation was achieved through a heavy waste of resources and energy combined with a low economic efficiency, which in turn resulted in severe damages to the natural environment. Official statistics demonstrated that for generating the same amount of GDP, the Chinese energy consumption was four times more than the Japanese consumption, 3.7 times more than the French, and 2.1 times more than that of West Germany (before German unification). Over the recent years, there has been an emphasis to improve efficiency. But fundamentally, the Chinese problem of low-efficiency industrialisation has not been solved, which means that the industrialisation process has produced a large amount of wastes, causing serious damages to the natural environment. The main cause for adopting this kind of model is the mentality of lack of appreciation of the value of natural resources, particularly in the national economic accounting system. In the economic activities, for a long time, there was a dominating mentality that advocated ‘high price for products, low price for raw materials, nil value for natural resources’, which led to mismanagement of natural resources and careless wasteful behaviours. If we do not change this kind of mentality and social economic system, the Chinese environmental problems can never be solved. Another major factor in the industrialisation process, which has caused the Chinese pollution problems and damages to the ecosystem was the structure of such an industrialisation programme. In the 1950’s, a lot of mistakes were made, whereby there was no systemic planning and management of the industrialisation process, heavily laden with the emphasis on the production of steel. The whole process was chaotic and the industrial wastes were let free without being properly treated and managed, which caused severe damages to the natural environment. For example, there was a policy to place some heavily polluting manufacturing industries into the deep valleys of mountainous areas, which caused severe local pollution to the air and water because of the lack of diluting and spreading geographical conditions. Following that policy, some manufacturing industries were spread out, which meant that industrial pollution and wastes could not be dealt with through a focused approach. There was also a mistaken policy, which commanded to transform cities into manufacturing cities. Worse still, many heavily polluting manufacturing industries were build at the wrong end of wind blows and water sources, which brought about severely damaging polluted air and water to the urban citizens. It requires a lot of efforts in the right direction to deal with these historical legacies of mismanagement of the industrialisation process (Qu and Li, 1992, pp43-44).
Energy: China has abundant natural resources in absolute terms. However, the percentage of natural resources per head is low. The coal-centred energy system implies significant pollution and damages to the natural environment, which means that the Chinese environment takes more pressure from its energy system than other major countries in the world.
World China the U.S. Japan France
Petroleum 38.0% 17.1% 43.2% 55.6% 43.2%
natural gas 20.0% 2.3% 22.4% 10.2% 12.5%
Coal 30.0% 76.0% 23.3% 18.8% 10.0%
Nuclear power 5.0% 0.0% 6.1% 10.3% 32.8%
Hydroelectric
and others 7.0% 4.6% 5.0% 4.9% 1.7%
Table 2. An international comparison of national primary-source energy system (following Qu and Li, 1992, p.46)
This coal-centred energy system mainly affects the cities and industrial areas. The problem situation is worse in the North of China than the South. In the countryside, the main problem is the lack of energy resources, so that many have to burn rice/wheat sticks and tree branches for cooking and keeping warm. This has resulted in damaging the organic resources for farming, caused flooding, the loss of soil, and the desertisation of farmland, which in turn breaks down the normal cycles of the ecosystem.
Science and Technology: China has been an agricultural nation for thousands of years. The Chinese agriculture was mainly based on manpower and God’s blessing rather than technological advance like in the West. The lack of technological progress has led to a lot of problems such as the saltening of the soil, low efficiency in the use of water, a large number of deforestation through forest worm problem and forest fire. These have caused severe damages to the ecosystem and caused many environmental problems like floods. On the whole, China has an imbalance between a few leading-edge science and technology and a mainly backward majority of science and technology. The education level is low with poor environmental consciousness. There is a lack of scientific and technological support for the environmental protection and improvement. Currently, the Chinese industry of environmental protection products has just been developed. It does not have the ability to produce sufficient amount of highly efficient and effective products with high quality at reasonably low prices. There is also a problem that the environmental protection market has been flooded with low quality and low technology products, which can lead to serious problems in environmental protection.
Complexity: China has a large variety of complex ecosystem, which provide many advantages as well as some distinctive disadvantages for economic development. The natural environmental systems in many regions are very vulnerable and have low limits for exploration and development. The Chinese environmental issue is thus complicated by its huge population, various ecosystems, and unbalanced economic development among different regions. The complexity of the Chinese environmental issue can be seen from two angles: environmental pollution and ecosystem damages.
Environmental Pollution: Environmental pollution includes pollution in several aspects: water pollution, air pollution, solid waste pollution, and noise pollution. The Chinese water pollution has been mainly caused by industrial wastewater. According to national statistics, the total discharge of industrial wastewater was 24.9 billion tons in 1990. This had been the case throughout the 1980’s with little variation. Most of the industrial waste water which had not been treated had been discharged directly into rivers and underground water and caused serious water pollution, now affecting the rivers, lakes, underground water. This caused a serious threat to bio-diversity and the hygiene of the drinking water, which in turn threatened people’s living and health (Qu and Li, 1994, pp.35-37).
The Chinese air pollution has been mainly caused by coal smoke. The air pollution in the cities is very bad, with the northern cities worse than the southern ones. With regard to the fact that the Chinese industrialisation is almost at the 1950’s level as in the West, the Chinese urban air pollution is almost as bad as that of the end of 1960’s in the West, when industrial pollution was at its worst. Many cities and regions have experienced acid rain, with the South of the Yangtze River being worse than the North. The worst region for acid rain is in the South West of China, where the average monthly pH value of the rain over a year is below 5 (Qu and Li, 1994, pp.37-39).
In 1990, the national statistics showed that the Chinese industrial solid waste produced amounted to 0.58 billion tons. The total discharge was 0.05 billion tons with 0.01 billion tons into rivers. The total amount of industrial waste in storage was 6.48 billion tons, which occupied 59,170 hectares (among which was 4040 hectares of farmland). Over the recent years, there had been an upward trend in the production, discharge and storage of industrial solid wastes. These, plus the daily-life solid wastes, had not been properly treated, placed, and reused. Only 26 per cent of national industrial solid wastes had been reused after treatment. Less than 6 per cent of urban rubbish and manure had been treated and deemed as harmless. This resulted in most of the untreated and non-reused solid wastes of all types being stored in urban and rural areas or discharged into rivers, lakes and seas, which in turn became secondary pollution sources.
Year Production
(10,000 tons) Discharges
(10,000 tons) Accumulative Storage
(10,000 tons)
1981 37,664 —— 348,332
1982 38,369 —— 364,019
1983 38,545 —— 545,138
1984 42,435 —— 482,897
1985 46,153 —— 506,718
1986 60,364 13,306 741,541
1987 53,541 8678 633,658
1988 56,132 8545 658,646
1989 57,173 5265 674,892
1990 57,797 4767 648,173
1991 58,760 3380 596,250
Table 3. Chinese National Statistics of industrial solid wastes production, discharges, and storage (following Qu and Li, 1992, p.39; Guojia Tongjiju 1992, pp.822-23, quoted in Edmonds, 1994, p.170).
Noise pollution is as important an environmental issue as water, air, and solid waste pollution. Noise pollution mainly occurs in the urban areas, which includes noise pollution from the transport system, daily life, industry and other areas. In 1990, transport noise pollution amounted to 32.7% per cent, daily life noise pollution 40.6%, and other noise pollution 26.7% per cent of the total urban noise pollution. Most of the Chinese cities suffer from high noise pollution. In the recent years, with the condensation of urban roads and fast development of industrial expansion and redevelopment and the increasing number of private businesses, this high level urban noise pollution has been expanding into the towns and other near-city rural areas (Qu and Li, 1992, p.40).
Ecosystem Damages: The damages to the Chinese ecosystem in the recent years can be seen in the following areas: reduction of forest and farmland, degradation of grassland and soil, and extinction of some animal species and plants (Qu and Li, 1992, pp.40-43). The problems there are also very serious, which can be evidenced by the annual floods in the 1990’s (Jin, 1997).
2.3 Chinese National Environmental Management
Besides this dilemma between increasing demands from a growing population and the need for environmental protection, China also faces a dilemma in its efforts to manage the environmental issues. On the one hand, China has enacted four environmental laws, more than twenty environmental regulations and more than 200 environmental standards since 1973. It also has 1363 environmental monitoring organisations with 16,000 staff all over the country (up to 1992). On the other hand, there is a lack of substantial financial investment on environmental issues ( e.g. only 0.7% of GNP) combined with a lack of efficiency in utilising its limited environmental investment (Liu et al., 1994, p.581). The resulting consequence of the above dilemma is that we see China is still facing a huge task in managing its environmental issues, particularly in three aspects: industrial pollution management; urban environmental management and natural environmental management (Zhang, 1994, p.7).
The Chinese dilemma is further complicated by the need for the developed countries to help China in its environmental management. Despite the progress made in the recent economic reform, China is still developing. China is looking to the West for foreign investment and technological transfer to deal with its dilemma. Whilst it is obvious that the environmental issue facing China will have a major impact upon the world environment, it is no easy job to convince the West to support China’s commitment and efforts to manage its environmental issues. Such a reluctance from the West may further hinder progress in China’s efforts to manage its environmental issues with regards to its impact on the world environment as a whole (Ye, 1994, pp.18-19).
China has adopted a unique national approach to the environmental management with regard to its unique national characteristics. There are three main features of this unique approach as follows:
• There is an emphasis and attention on the population and environmental issue in the process of economic development: this indicates that economic development policies should encourage the protection of our natural environment while discouraging a tendency to rely on manpower which leads to increasing population particularly in the countryside;
• It is to further improve the population control system in China through better control, better education, and better development of human potentials;
• The environmental policy is to rely on the human beings through advocating a long-term holistic view of the environmental issue and encourage the participation of the public in environmental management. It is to utilise the abundant human resources for protecting environment, such as planting trees and grass in a large scale (Qu and Li, 1992, ppxii-xiv).
The recent Fourth National Environmental Protection Conference of China pinpointed the following areas for improvement in the environmental management processes:
• consolidate the environmental law system;
• improve environmental monitoring and management processes;
• make technological advance as a key to further progress;
• increase environmental investment;
• develop an environmental education programme.
These appear to be a sound basis in the attempt to carry out the World Conservation Strategy (1980) calling for all countries to aim at sustainable development. It is the implementation of these strategies, which will be crucial to the success of China's environmental management. However, there will be no quick fix due to the fact that the Chinese environmental problems have resulted from its historical development and China is still lacking the economic firepower needed for modern environmental protection. The environmental task will demand a long-term commitment and efforts (Qu and Li, 1992, p.xii).
2.3.1 The Chinese Environmental Regulatory Bodies
China has a comprehensive regulatory system with regulatory bodies at all levels of the administrative hierarchy, which have also been experiencing the ongoing reform process.
National Level: At the top of the hierarchy of the Chinese environmental regulatory bodies is the State Council and the National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA). The State Council is part of the Central Government, which is responsible for the administration of environmental regulation with power to draft legislation and regulations. Besides the control over the NEPA, the State Council has also authority over some specialised organisations. These include the Science and Technology Committee; resource administrations such as the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Forestry, and the Marine Bureau; and industrial ministries such as the Metallurgical Industry, the Ministry of Chemical Industry and the Ministry of Energy Resources. These organisations work autonomously and are supposed to exercise powers in accordance with the Environmental Protection Law and other relevant legislation. Their action however is somehow constrained by other State Council decisions on non-environmental matters (Spedding, 1995, p.22).
The NEPA bears responsibility for the centralised supervision and administration of China’s environmental issues. The agency was established in 1979, and has been the engine room of China’s environmental management system (Spedding, 1995, pp.20-21). Today, according to the NEPA itself, it is mainly responsible for unified supervision and management of nation-wide environmental protection according to laws and regulations. It is also responsible for the prevention and control of pollution and other public hazards, and the protection and improvement of living environment and ecological system in order to achieve a sustainable, integrated and sound development of economy and society. NEPA's major responsibilities are:
1. To Formulate national guidelines, policies, laws and regulations on environmental protection and provide supervision over their implementation;
2. To work out national plans and programmes for environmental protection; to participate in the formulation of medium and long-term programmes and annual plans for national economic and social development;
3. To formulate and issue national standards for environmental protection;
4. To be in charge of environmental protection concerning the atmosphere, water, soil and oceans; to provide supervision and management for the control and prevention of pollution;
5. To supervise and administer the work in nature conservation of the country and to make programmes and plans for the establishment of nature reserves and to put forward proposals for setting up new national nature reserves to the State Council for approval;
6. To organise the implementation of environmental management and enforcement, provide monitoring and perform environmental impact assessments;
7. To formulate and organise the implementation of national policies for environmental protection;
8. To manage and supervise environmental monitoring, nation-wide;
9. To direct and co-ordinate nation-wide education on environmental protection;
10. To assist in the formulation of China's basic principles on global environmental issues and to participate in negotiations dealing with international conventions (ZPM, 1997).
The NEPA consists of the following major Departments: Administrative Office; Department of Policies, Laws and Regulations; Department of Planning and Financial Affairs; Department of Science, Technology and Standards; Department of Supervision and Management; Department of Nature Conservation; Department of International Co-operation; Department of Communication and Education (ZPM, 1997). The far-reaching authority of the NEPA, with regard to legislative drafting powers and regulatory functions, is further supported by various subordinate bodies of the NEPA which exercise regulatory and research functions. These include the following: the China National Environmental Monitoring Station; China Environmental Scientific Research Institute; China Environmental Economics and Policy Research Centre and Training Base. Besides, the NEPA also controls official environmental publications such as China Environment News and China Environmental Science Press (which makes it difficult to obtain impartial and critical evaluation of the effectiveness of environmental regulation at source—a common Western critique) (Spedding, 1995, p.21). Apart from its many regulatory and management activities, the NEPA is currently in charge of organising a series of international seminars, with a view to raise the public's environmental awareness and promote the country's protection of the environment. The NEPA invites relevant government officials, experts, scholars and leaders in the industrial circle of various social organisations to participate in the seminars, which discusses on possible approaches to address environmental problems in the course of development. It also invites internationally eminent persons and representatives in the industrial and financial circles, who have concern for and wish to show support to China's environment and development, to express their views on China's major environmental concerns and put forward constructive recommendations and solutions to problems (Xie, 1998).
Regional Level: There are NEPA agencies in the provinces and municipalities, which, in theory, are there to enforce environmental regulation on a regional basis. These regional agencies operate within local governments, and may exercise their powers to establish local environmental standards in the form of regulations or detailed rules for items not specified in the National Environmental Protection law. Generally the environmental awareness at local government level is good, since the Environmental Protection law specifies that local governments at all levels should be responsible for the environmental quality of areas under their jurisdiction. According to the Chinese official statistics, there are 2,039 monitoring stations and 148 research institutes in the Chinese provinces (Spedding, 1995, pp.21-22).
The economic reforms since 1978 have seen China go through a period of high growth in economy, low efficiency in the utilisation of natural resources and increasing complexity in the management of environmental issues particularly in the manufacturing industry. China has made it a national policy to maintain sustained economic growth while protecting the environment (Qu and Li, 1994). China now can pride itself with a comprehensive ‘pyramid’ system of environmental management systems. It consisted of the ‘old three’ systems. The first is the environmental impact assessment system, which deploys agencies with requisite skill and knowledge (in theory) to critically evaluate the environmental impact of any new construction, re-engineering and expansion projects, which are likely to have pollutant effects. The authorities in charge of the projects will scrutinise the evaluation report and have them examined by the regional environmental authorities for approval. Then, they will pass them on to the NEPA or its subordinate agency (where appropriate) for the required permission. However, there has been question as for the impartiality and quality of evaluation of assessment reports in view of the fact that they are not publicly available and the assessment authority are reluctant to release them (Spedding, 1995, p.23). The second one is the ‘Three Simultaneous System’ (TSS), which was based on the 1973 ‘Three Simultaneous Regulations’ (TSR). TSR established ‘the preventive principle of simultaneously implementing pollution control measures during the three seminal phases of the design, construction, and operation stages of a building project (Spedding, 1995, p.19). The TSS goes further to require that the environmental protection facilities for new expansion and construction projects and re-engineering projects should be set up at the same time as the main construction work. The third one is the ‘polluter-pays’ system, which demands the polluters to pay for their non-compliance. It has also included the ‘new five’ systems. Firstly, there is the target responsibility system, which aims to list environmental quality as one of the most important indicators for evaluating the performance of government at various levels. Secondly, there is the quantitative monitoring system on pollution treatment facilities. Thirdly, there is the pollution-permits system for aggregate control in a given region. Fourthly, there is the centralised pollution control system. Finally, there is the system of the prioritised timetable to treat pollution for some large and seriously polluted industrial enterprises (Liu et al., 1994, pp.65-92).
2.3.2 The Chinese Environmental Management Systems
Before the introduction of the ‘new five’ environmental management systems, although it was easy to put laws and legislation onto paper and set up environmental management systems, the intended results were not always achieved (Lu, 1994). For example, it was often the case for environmental agencies to be marginalised by politically powerful ministries and find it increasingly difficult to enforce laws and regulations. Agency fragmentation and poor co-ordination hinders policy implementation (Boxer, 1991). Perhaps, the main progress brought about by the ‘new five’ systems is the transference of total responsibility from the hands of the environmental management organisations to those in charge of governments of all levels, departments and business organisations. The whole environmental management system seems to present an emphasis on co-ordination between all levels of governmental offices and an effort to involve more and more participation by the public in China’s determination to protect the environment in the modernisation process (Liu et al., 1994, pp.68-69).
Having now assigned the governors and managers the responsibility to manage the environmental issues in co-operation with the environmental protection organisations, there seems to be a general lack of attention on these ‘new environmental managers’ and their environmental management practices. Maybe too much attention is still placed on collecting pollution fines (e.g., in 1992 alone the Chinese government collected the equivalent of almost US 0.4 billion in such fees (Spedding, 1995, p.23)) and monitoring what is happening to the environment. There seems to be a recent awareness that the more attention must be switched onto the way how we can manage the environmental issues with a proactive rather than fire-fighting approach (Lu, 1994). There may arise a new need to assist the ‘new environmental managers’ in learning how to fulfil their new responsibility in addition to their social and economic responsibilities.
The reason for this need is that managing environmental issues is often a dilemma. It is a dilemma, which involves making decisions between conflicting choices such as less pollution and higher abatement costs. It is a dilemma because our judgement of whether particular environmental problems are serious enough to merit corrective action is determined not simply by rational analysis but by our perception of the issue, by our values and beliefs. There is no objective measure of what constitutes an acceptable level of environmental risk (Bennett, 1992, pp.4-8).
It is also a dilemma because the issue of ‘the environment’ is changing all the time, often becoming more problematic as a result of the disastrous consequences of our sometimes ignorant and often irresponsible behaviour. Directing our attention to the Chinese SOEs in the manufacturing industry, traditionally one of the main sources of the industrial pollution, the issue of environmental management can be extremely problematic indeed.
The problem is complicated by the inherent short-termism in the recent economic reforms in the industry. The reforms in the industry include the introduction of a management responsibility system, where the managers are contracted by the government to be responsible for meeting the factory’s targets (Wilson, 1996, p.198). With this contractual responsibility system, a focus on short-term gain characterised the reformer’s approach as they sought to build political support for the reform. Knowing leaders have changed and will change policy overnight; managers, workers, and merchants all use their new autonomy to exhaust state assets rather than to invest for the long term (Harmrin, 1990, pp.212-213).
In order to understand the complexity facing the Chinese environmental managers within the Chinese manufacturing SOEs, there is a need to explore the process of SOE reform since 1984, which is the task to be reported in the next section.
2.3.3 The SOE Reform So far
Since 1978, China has been working hard at carrying out the policies of reforms and opening up to the outside world. From then on, China’s real GNP has grown by around 10% per year except for a brief contraction in the late 1980’s (Bolton,1995). It was in 1984 that China entered the stage of all-embracing structural reforms of economy, which focused on revitalising the State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs). The SOEs represent 46% of current industrial output, most urban employment, half of all exports, and most large-scale activities in the economy (World Bank, 1995).
The reform of the SOEs was carried out in three stages (Chen Qingtai, 1995). At the first stage, in order to encourage liberation of the SOEs from State bureaucratic control and planning, the Chinese authorities empowered the SOEs’ managers to retain a percentage of profits and to make limited strategic planning, with the aim of a drive towards market orientation. This was the beginning of decentralised decision-making for the SOEs. Because there were some governmental departments responsible for operation of the SOEs, it was impossible for insiders to take full control of the enterprises.
At the second stage, a new Enterprise Law was implemented, which prescribed how the enterprises should be managed and operated. During that period, the main theme was to introduce the Contract Responsibility System and Managerial Responsibility System into the SOEs, since they had worked miracles in the countryside. The aim then was to liberate and empower individual managers to make full use of their potential. The running of the SOEs was assigned to the top manager in charge, confirming that the SOEs should be profit-earning units in themselves rather than relying on the State to organise their material sources and product marketing. It, for the first time, partially separated the operational rights from the ownership of the SOEs. This meant that the managers were freed from many former bureaucratic controls, and many of the government departments in charge of the SOEs were gradually abolished. This, on the one hand, gave the managers more freedom to run the enterprises with more creative entrepreneurship. On the other hand, it created managerial reliance on their subordinates so that they could maximise short-term profitability to meet contractual targets. The insecurity with short-term contracts (normally one to three years) had perhaps pushed the managers to fall into a dangerous trap that was later identified as the ‘insider control’ phenomenon. Even though overall profitability was greatly improved during that stage, more profit was shared out among the workers than was re-invested in the business. According to the official statistics, Chinese personal earnings in 1993 accounted for 65.0% of the national GDP, whilst in 1978 it only stood for 50.5% (Statistical Yearbook of China, 1994).
At the third stage, there was a concentrated effort to implement further new legislation concerned with the construction of a market-oriented managerial mechanism for the SOEs. This was intended to make a clear distinction between the responsibilities of the government and those of the enterprise managers, in order to have the SOEs run by professional managers without too much outside intervention. Prior to this initiative, the SOE managers were chiefly concerned with involvement in sorting out the workers’ social welfare, housing, nursery, medical care and so on, while a mayor or a provincial governor was mainly anxious about the running of the SOEs. The abolition of governmental intervention and the empowerment of the enterprise managers occurred almost at the same time, so the SOE managers assumed the functions which previously belonged to the State to make decisions and distribute profits without any kind of restriction.
The main theme here has been a conflict for benefits and rights between enterprise managers and the government. The purpose of the economic reforms had been gradual empowerment to emphasise better managerial incentives, yet Chinese authorities had no experience in how to control the macro-economy after changing their roles. As a result, the SOEs suffered from the violent shakes between ‘hyper-strong external control’ and ‘hyper-weak external control’. ‘Hyper-strong external control’ refers to the situation in which the SOEs have no property rights of their own, not even being allowed to act independently as corporations. They can be seen only as enlarged workshops for the ‘big company’ (the State in China’s case). The government has full control of the fate of the SOEs, including merging loss-making the SOEs with other profitable ones, changing enterprise managers and so on. The managers are actually ‘dummies’ with no real power. ‘Hyper-weak external control’ refers to the situation in which insiders try to expand their power and influence throughout their management process, both mentally and in action. Insiders want to be free from any form of external controls, such as that of government institutions, but they do not have, or only have a small part of, the ownership, the results have been that many have put their individual interests above anything else and tried to ‘transform’ the State or society’s properties into their own by every possible means (Zhao and Jin, 1997).
Despite the fact that the Chinese economy has made amazing progress since 1978, little has been questioned about the real cost to the whole society in the long run. It is argued that the economic gains of China came at a very high cost in terms of investment and labour input (World Bank,1990). Such costs can take the form of low efficiency in utilising materials and capitals, and huge damage to the environment. As Meier (1989) stated, poor productive performance has been the main growth hindrance in many developing economies, and China is no exception. Further growth of the Chinese economy may not be sustained if it occurs without sufficient improvement in efficiency, which in turn has been causing serious damages to the natural environment, as noted in the previous sections on Chinese environmental problems.
2.3.4 Environmental Enforcement
Ideally, environmental issues are managed by the people and organisations themselves, in accordance with environmental laws and legislation, monitored and regulated by the various governmental bodies at all levels. However, often the enforcement by the Court is equally important in the process of guaranteeing environmentally responsible behaviours either by the individuals or the organisations. Chinese courts have jurisdiction to hear both civil and criminal cases. China has one Supreme Court, 30 High Courts, 2,000 Medium Courts, 10,000 Lower Courts, to which 20,000 tribunals are attached. These courts heard 3 million civil cases in 1992. The Chinese legal system has developed quite rapidly over the last fifteen years, most significantly in the areas of economic and civil law. Environmental law was part of this progression resulted from heightened concern over pollution and ecological damage, e.g., the annual rate of reported industrial pollution accidents stands at over 2,000. However, it has to be conceded that environmental interests are often subordinated to economic development. Environmental liability may be civil or criminal depending on the specific offences involved. The Environmental Protection Law (EPL) provides certain grounds for civil liability, which is similar to the treatment to all civil liability with some significant differences in some areas, e.g., Article 42 of the EPL for claims for environmental damages. Article 43 of the EPL imposes criminal liability for certain specified offences, referring most notably to unlawful conduct, which has caused a major accident resulting in significant property damage and/or personal injury. This kind of criminal liability is confined to those who are directly responsible for the accidents. The responsible parties may also have administrative liability imposed upon them in circumstances where procedural offences are judged to have taken place (Spedding, 1995, pp.22-23).
2.4 The Current Status of Chinese Environment
The 1997 China Environment Forum International Conference on ‘Integration of Economic Development, Social Progress and Environmental Protection’ was held in Beijing on 18-21 November 1997 (http://www.peoplesdaily.com). It was the first international environment conference ever held in China under the auspices of a Chinese non-government organisation. There were over 300 participants from more than 20 countries. During the Forum, China’s leaders (Prime Minister Li Peng, Vice Premier Zhu Rongji and Zou Jiahua, and State Councillor Song Jian) endorsed the role of non-government organisations in mobilising public opinion on the environment and supervising environmental protection. Under the general theme of environment and development, the seminar had focused its discussion on the following aspects:
• policies and environment;
• population and environment;
• industrial structure and environment;
• energy and environment;
• trade and environment;
• agriculture and environment;
• science & technology and environment.
• education and environment.
Along with introducing China's priority environmental projects in the period of the 9th Five Year Plan, discussion was also held with regard to the following:
Economy and Environment in the Three Lakes (Tai Lake, Dianchi, Chao Lake);
Economy and Environment in the Three Rivers (Huai, Hailuan and Liao Rivers);
Economy and Environment in the Pearl River Delta;
Economy and Environment in the Yangtze River Economic Zone;
Economy and Environment in the Western Region.
Leaders of the Chinese Government, senior officials of foreign governments and international organisations, and internationally eminent persons had been invited to participate in the opening ceremony which was held at the Great Hall of the People. In addition, as a complement to the seminar, corporate display places had been provided during the meeting for exhibiting products and advanced technologies of environmental enterprises and science and technology institutions. The following were some of the large number of reports on the status of China’s environmental policy and circumstances (XIE, 1998):
Polluters along Huai River: Zang Yuxiang, who was the deputy director of the Pollution Control Department of NEPA, used the occasion of the Forum to issue a new warning to an estimated 1,500 polluters along the Huai River. He warned that they face compulsory shutdowns for non-compliance with national standards by December 31 1997. The Huai river is one of China’s five major rivers, whose basin covers 35 percent of the country and has a population of 150 million. Zang reported that last year’s shutdown of nearly 5,000 small businesses had reduced river pollution by 25 percent. The end of 1997 deadline should reduce pollution levels by another 30 percent. Waste water from small paper mills and breweries were responsible for more than 70 percent of the pollution.
Afforestation: Li Yucai, who was the Vice Minister of Forestry, told the Forum that China would raise its forestation rate from less than 14 to over 20 percent in 13 years. China has already increased its forestry coverage by some six percent from the eight percent coverage level 45 years ago. Li said that China had 134 million hectares of forests, representing a total of 11.8 billion cubic meters of timber. The per capita level of timber was only one-sixth of the worldwide average. However, every year, China planted trees on 8.8 million hectares of land or hills. The Forestry Ministry will introduce six new forestation projects to areas in Yangtze and Yellow River valleys over 12 months. The government also plans to increase the coverage of nature reserves from the current 6.37 percent to 8.33 percent of the nation’s total territory in order to protect wildlife and endangered species.
Qinghai Lake: Qinghai Lake is the largest lake and largest saltwater lake in the north-western province of the same name. According to Liu Guanghe, the Vice Governor of the Province, it was losing 11 cm in water level annually because of dry weather and biological degradation. Drought and serious soil erosion had caused a major decrease in the flow of the Yellow River, a major source of the lake’s water. The lake, lying at 3,200 meters above sea level, is fed by seven rivers. Liu explained that Qinghai’s forest coverage was only 2.59 percent, and that 46 percent of the Province’s total land was affected by soil erosion. The Province has worked out a 15 to 20-year plan to control soil erosion, including tree planting, sowing grass and promoting environmentally friendly agriculture and animal husbandry.
Green Projects by 2000: Xie Zhenhua, who was the Administrator of the National Environment Protection Agency (NEPA), told the Forum that China planned to allocate about US$22 billion for environmental protection projects by the year 2000. Xie officially launched NEPA’s Trans-Century Green Plan. The plan focuses first on controlling water pollution along the Huai, Liao and Hai Rivers and Dianchi, Chao and Tai Lakes, but also tackles air pollution control and ozone layer protection projects. Xie announced that local governments would be responsible for collecting funds for environmental infrastructure projects. The central government will support related projects by offering loans and introducing foreign investment. In addition to this large green project, the NEPA also announced that China would seek foreign co-operation for 70 major environmental projects.
Shanghai: Shanghai, like other Chinese centres and organisations at the Forum, made clear their goals in attracting foreign investment in environmental protection work. In particular, Shanghai announced that it would give priority to the control of sulphur dioxide air pollution and noise pollution, toxic waste disposal, clean production methods and large environmental protection ventures. Lu Shuping, who was the Director of the municipality’s Bureau of Environmental Protection, said Shanghai had established pollution control ventures with Great Britain, Australia, Japan, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and some international organisations.
A Unique Chinese Environmental Situation: In his closing remarks on 21 November, Vice-Premier Zou said that China’s environmental problems were not unique, but were faced by people around the world. He said that China could use a considerable amount of help from outside the country. His remarks were supported by the former Australian Prime Minister, who in a keynote address at the Forum called on the world to match the efforts of the Chinese government in fighting the battle of environmental protection in China.
All the evidence suggests that the environmental difficulties we face in the Asia Pacific over the next 25 years will become more difficult to manage, …, noting that if we can help China resolve its problems, we are also helping to resolve our own.
He concluded that the environmental problems faced by large developing countries like China are different from those faced by industrialised countries like the USA and Japan, or resource producers like Australia and Canada, or small island states of the Pacific. For the developing countries in Asia, problems tend to include water supplies of poor quality and limited quantity, polluted air, waste management, chaotic urban planning, and land degradation. He observed that Asia’s energy demands double every 12 years, with bad consequences for air quality and global warming. By 1997, five of the seven cities in the world with the worst air pollution were in Asia. He noted that around 500 million East Asians lived in towns in the 1990s, but by 2020 this figure will have tripled to 1.5 billion. But, he pointed out that protection of the environment need not be a constraint on economic growth, and it is the only way of ensuring that such growth continues, and it is important to see that the converse is true, that economic growth is essential to solving environmental problems.
For the countries of Asia, and for most of the developing world, the option of limiting growth does not exist…(XIE, 1998, p.67-68).
2.5 Conclusion
In this chapter we have reviewed the current Chinese environmental status together with its historical development and the major factors influencing the Chinese environmental situation. Like most of the human affairs, the Chinese environmental problems are deeply rooted in its history, particularly China's recent past under the Communist regime. As historical problems, they accumulate (in this case, aggravate) with the passing of time. It would be nice to have a cut-off point and be able to deal with the problems as they were, which is, as we know, always impossible. While we are reviewing the literature covering the Chinese environmental situation and its management and problems here in this thesis, the Chinese environment has moved on into its next phase. From what we have read so far, it could only get worse. So urgent attention is required to explore better ways to handle this ever-evolving environmental situation. This is why it makes an interesting research topic for this project. Hopefully, you the readers will agree with that. It is with this genuine concern for this serious situation confronting one fifth of the world population that we shall continue our journey into the next chapter.
The next step in Checkland's SSM (Checkland, 1981; Checkland and Scholes, 1990), is to expose the worldviews in the problem situation, as they usually determin how people see the problem situation together with their actions as Checkland also notes. Before we explore the worldviews in the Chinese problem situation, it may be beneficial to explore the way developments in other countries are determined by dominant and not-so-dominant worldviews existing in countries around the world, so that comparisons and analysis can be undertaken in Chapter 4.
Chapter 3
Review Of Global Environmental Management
3.1 Introduction
In Chapter 2 it was argued that the Chinese environmental situation is a historical situation, which is particularly influenced by its recent past under the Communist regime since 1949. In reviewing the global environmental situation, we seek to find out the similarities and differences in possible causes and solutions (environmental management), together with the embedded worldviews. These will become useful when we undertake a detailed research for a better way forward for the Chinese national environmental management in Chapter 4.
3.2 The Global Environmental Situation
Environmental issues began to be perceived by the general public as seriously problematic in the mid-1960s. Although a range of environmental problems had been identified, people were also questioning whether these problems were real. Was our survival threatened from so many sides, or could the power of science and technology overcome these problems (Murdoch, 1975, p.vii)? In the ensuing decades, people came to the realisation that
…environmental issues are complex and that to understand them one must combine scientific evidence and theory, analysis of social processes, knowledge of technological possibilities and awareness of underlying value positions (Sarre, 1991, p.1).
The environmental issue does not appear to be one of those straightforward management issues, which we can fix with clear-cut solutions. As we will observe from the following literature review, the global environmental management has been undertaking an evolutionary course, as it creates its path behind its own trails. We will explore first the global environmental issues, then the global environmental management.
3.2.1 The Global Environmental Issue
The global environmental issue can come in many different types over many parts of the world. For example, it happened in the Aral Sea, which was once the world’s fourth largest freshwater lake and a thriving ecosystem. However, in the 1960s, central planners in the former Soviet Union decided to divert water from the two major rivers feeding the Aral Sea to irrigate the surrounding plains. Agriculture flourished, but the lake was ruined with loss of 60 per cent of its volume and a treble rise in its saltiness. As a result, the fishing industry, which supported 60,000 jobs in the 1950s was shut down because all fish had disappeared.
Another environmental disaster came from the human burning of the rain forests, for the sake of farming, housing and other development purposes. During the 1980s, Brazil lost on average about 5 million acres of rain forest a year. The destruction of the rain forest had destroyed many species, worse still, the widespread burning contributed significantly to global warming.
Another environmental case came in the early 1990s when hundreds of tons of highly hazardous wastes were exported from the United States. Some was dumped in southern China. The Chinese government actually supported this venture, since they paid more attention to the benefits of economic gains than the costs to the local environment. The hazardous waste dump left a lasting impact on the local environment and the health of the local residents. (Post, et., 1996, pp.300-301).
Such cases of environmental degradation come in numerous numbers all over the world. It seemed that except for extreme disasters, the environmental incidents were mostly resulted from man’s endeavour to rebuild the earth to our own survival, prosperity and convenience, depending on the level of poverty or richness in the local areas. Such an endeavour is causing increasing number of so-called global environmental problems. Some examples of such problems are Ozone depletion, global warming, reduced bio-diversity, and etc.(Post, et., 1996, p.308). It seemed that in most of these so-called global environmental problems, there were always some local communities who happened to gain (e.g., economic gains) in the short term, while the global community as a whole (including those local communities) suffered in the long run. It could be useful to view our natural environment as the global commons, which is shared by the people of the present and the future. As we learn from the Commons Tragedy the lesson that ‘freedom in a commons brings ruin to all’,(Hardin, 1968)there is a need for restraint, either voluntarily or through mutual agreement (Hardin, 1992, pp.1243-1248). Such may be the underpinning for the challenge of the global environmental issue.
3.2.2 Critical Factors In the Global Environmental Issue
Some authors (e,g, Post, et al., 1996, pp.305-307) have identified three major factors which are adding increasing pressure on the sustainable development of our global commons. These are population growth, world poverty, and the rapid industrialisation of many developing nations. As it happens, we recognise from the previous chapter that they are also the major factors causing the Chinese environmental problems. This is important because it makes the Chinese environmental problems belonging to the same class of problems confronting the rest of the world. This makes it useful for us to review the global scene in order to shed insights into the Chinese situation.
The population explosion: The exponential growth of the world’s population has been blamed as the major cause for environmental degradation. There were only 10 million humans on the earth 10,000 years ago. By 1993, the world population had increased to 5.5 billion. The United Nations estimated that the population would reach about 11.5 billion by around 2150. To make the problem worse, this growth of population was more evident in the developing countries than in the developed countries. Each additional person uses raw materials and adds pollutants to the land, air and water. The rapid growth of population makes the task of environmental protection even more difficult, as more and more people, particularly those in the developing countries, are suffering from a vicious cycle of deepening poverty while living on less and less productive land.
World Poverty: The second critical factor causing environmental problems is poverty, especially with regard to the inequality between rich and poor countries. In 1992, the United Nations estimated that there were 1.3 billion people lived in absolute poverty, which is below the level needed for a nutritionally adequate diet and other basic necessities of life. To contrast, in 1991, the richest fifth of the world’s nations received about 85 per cent of all income, while the poorest fifth received less than 2 per cent. For example, Japan’s national income was roughly as much as that of the entire developing world, which had about 37 times as many people. Countries at either extreme of income tend to cause more environmental damages than those in the middle. People in the richest countries consume far more fossil fuels, wood, and meat; while people in the poorest countries often misuse natural resources just to survive.
Industrialisation: The third critical factor in the global environmental issue is that of industrialisation. Industrialisation is somehow double-edged. On the one hand, it promises to reduce poverty and slow population growth. On the other hand, industrialisation has been one of the main contributors to the growing ecological crisis. For example, industrialisation has increased the demand for energy and the emission of pollutants. Industrialisation in agriculture has over-killed with pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilisers.
Conclusion: There are also other critical factors in this so-called global environmental issue or the global commons dilemma. The crucial point, as raised by the authors of Beyond the Limits (Meadows, et al., 1995), is whether our human society has demanded more than the earth’s ecosystem can provide for. The problem for them is that the human society is suffering from an ignorance of the consequence of its own actions not until it becomes known and too late for any remedies. There are many who would challenge the pessimistic ‘doomsday mentality’ in this kind of limits to growth hypothesis as above. Some may argue that the market force will impose the necessary constraint as required in the solution to the commons dilemma. Alternatively, others would argue that maybe technology will provide the answer to the challenge of this global environmental issue. However, the discussion above may have persuaded the readers that the global environmental issue is really a serious matter for concern, and more importantly for management action. So far, we have been made aware that the global environmental problems are a class of problems confronting individual countries. There are some general characteristics of this class of problems, e.g., in their main causes such as poverty, population and industrialisation, but different countries’ sufferings are at different levels, depending upon the unique characteristics of their own, in terms of their history, their natural, social, political and economicenvironments. Hence, we seek to find whether they would respond to such environmental challenges in the ways, which also share some similarities but differ in some other aspects.
3.2.3 The International Response to the Global Commons Concern
There are several types of international responses to the global commons concern, which is the global environmental issue. These can be seen in terms of the collaboration among national leaders in the form of international conferences and summits on the environmental issue. There are also the emergence and development of environmentalism and voluntary international environmental organisations, and perhaps most significantly the International Organisation for Standardisation (with its influential ISO9000 series of standardisation for quality management and ISO14000 series of standardisation for environmental management).
International Conferences and summits: The international attention on the connection between business and the environment was put on the world’s political and economic agenda by the United Nations Conference on Human Environment held in Stockholm in 1972. This was the first international conference which, according to Richard Sandbrook, demonstrated that it was time to take responsibility for the “effluence of the affluent”. This Conference brought forth a global plan for the environment and the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP). The UNEP was established to build global environmental awareness and stewardship. Following the Conference, the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) was also established. Its task was to reassess and report on the environment in the context of development. The Commission published its landmark report “Our Common Future” in 1987, which first coined the word “sustainable development” in the world arena and called for industry to develop effective environmental systems. Over 50 world leaders had publicly supported the report by the end of 1988. They called for a major international event to discuss and act on it. This resulted in the decision by the UN to hold the first Earth Summit (Wolfe, 1997, pp18-19).
The first Earth Summit (or formally, the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development (UNCED) was held at Rio de Janeiro in 1992, where a host of national leaders gathered and endorsed international conventions on some of the most important environmental issues. The Summit passed a few important international agreement, such as the Framework Convention on Climatic Change, the Convention on Biological diversity, the declaration of Forest principles, the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, and the Commission on Sustainable Development and Agenda 21 (Spedding, 1995, pp.5-6). The Rio Earth Summit was followed by Earth Summit II held at the United Nations in New York in 1997. More than 100 Presidents, Prime Ministers, and other top officials attended this Summit to assess the progress of individual nations since the Rio Summit. The aim of such summits is to put the environmental issue onto the national political agenda, and involve the national leaders in the formulations of international conventions on environmental protection so that there can be a balanced global approach (or at least commitment) to address the environmental, economic, and social challenges facing the international community (Earth Summit Watch, 1997).
Prior to the Earth Summit, the Business Council for Sustainable Development (BCSD) was formed of around fifty top corporate executives from around the world in 1990. The group set out to stimulate the participation of the international business community. Over a two-year period, the group sponsored over fifty conferences in more than twenty countries—especially in the developing nations of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The central theme there was to develop a global business perspective on economic development and the environment.
Environmentalism: Environmentalism had its root in the counter-reactions to the Industrial Revolution and critiques of early industrial capitalism in the nineteenth century in the developed countries. After the Industrial Revolution, there were various authors such as Dickens, Mrs Gaskell, Marx and J. S. Mill who questioned the acceptability of unfettered growth and demonstrated an environmental awareness. The cultural residue of the Romantic Movement also contributed to the sensitivity to conservation. But at that time, there was little direct political activity connected with environmentalism.
It was in the late 1960s that environmentalism became politically significant in most advanced industrial societies. Environmentalism, like feminism, was born during the post-war economic growth as part of vibrant counter-cultures, which challenged the fundamental structures and values of advanced capitalist societies. Various voluntary environmental groups (such as Friends of the Earth, the Greens, the Club of Rome) emerged, which carried around with them the central tenet of environmentalism: eco-centrism. This has resulted in the prevailing environmentalism and proliferating voluntary environmental groups and organisations today. Environmental issues (such as global warming, deforestation, disposal of toxic wastes, and acid rain) have become regular features of contemporary media reports. Almost daily, governments and international agencies propose new initiatives to counter various threats to some aspect of the environment, from pollution to conservation.
After decades of development, the environmentalism has shifted from citizen action groups towards much more institutionalised forms of political action such as pressure group activity, the establishment of ‘green’ political parties. However, environmentalism is still very much supported mainly by a new generation of middle class and well-educated people mostly in the developed countries. The legitimacy of such a political movement for the sake of environmental protection can only be recognised in the West. However, the environmental action therein is getting increasingly onto the global scene and being internationalised through linking together global environmental groups. The diffusion of environmentalism in the 1990s can be seen in the examples of green consumerism, diffusion of green values, and increased state regulation. There is now a distinctive feature of the present environmentalism, which is its intensification in the globalisation of environmental issues and politics, as well as its being the critical dynamic in stimulating more extensive national regulation of environmental matters. There are four major features, which stand out for the current era of environmentalism:
• public concern with environmental issues;
• the growth of green consumerism;
• the diffusion of ecological values;
• the intensification of state regulation of environmental matters (McGrew, 1993; Pearce, 1991).
Over the past two decades, environmentalism has been embodied in a powerful social, moral and political force with wide-ranging economic and organisational implications. It is going to have a long-lasting effect on our approaches to the environmental issue in the years to come (Shrivastava, 1993).
International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO ): The International Organisation for
Standardisation (ISO) is a world-wide federation of national standards bodies, from about 100 countries. It is a non-governmental organisation, which was established on 23rd February 1947. The mission of ISO is
…to promote the development of standardisation and related activities in the world with a view to facilitating the international exchange of goods and services, and to developing co-operation in the spheres of intellectual, scientific, technological and economic activity. (http://www.iso.ch/infoe/intro.html)
The main tasks of ISO are to publish International Standards, which are reached through international agreement. From its emergence to answer the call by export-oriented industries to reduce/abolish ‘technical barriers to trade’, the ISO has aimed to facilitate the world-wide progress in trade liberalisation by providing ‘the language of trade’. The principles of ISO standards are ‘consensus, industry-wide, and voluntary’. ‘Consensus’ means that the ISO standards will take account of the views of all interests including manufacturers, vendors, and users, consumer groups, testing laboratories, governments, engineering professions and research organisations. ‘Industry-wide’ means that the ISO standards are global solutions to satisfy industries and customers world-wide. ‘Voluntary’ means that international standardisation is market-driven and therefore based on voluntary involvement of all interests in the market place. The procedure for formulating an ISO standard is as follows:
1. A need for a standard is usually expressed by an industry sector, which communicates this need to a national member body;
2. The member body proposes the new work item to ISO as a whole;
3. The ISO will proceed to recognise and agree upon the proposed need for a new ISO standard;
4. The ISO will organise to define the technical scope of the future standard. This phase is usually carried out in working groups, which comprise technical experts from countries interested in the subject matter;
5. The next stage is for countries to negotiate the detailed specifications within the standard, which is the consensus-building phase;
6. The final phase comprises the formal approval of the resulting draft International Standard (with the acceptance based on approval of no less than two-thirds of the ISO members who have actively participated in the standards development process and approval by 75% of all members that vote). Following that, the agreed text is published as an ISO standard with most of them periodically updated or revised (no less than once every five years). (http://www.iso.ch/infoe/intro.html).
Originally, international standardisation began in the electrotechnical field, and was mainly focused on mechanical engineering. These tasks were carried out by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the International Federation of the National Standardising Association (ISA). Since the birth of ISO, its main emphasis has been placed upon the industry-wide standardisation of goods and services (i.e., all standardisation fields except for the field of electrical and electronic engineering, which is covered by IEC). To date, ISO has created 9300 International Standards (ibid.). For our interest, we are mostly interested in the ISO 14000 series of standardisation, which is aimed at the field of environmental management.
From Technical Standardisation to Systems Standardisation: The ISO 14000 series of international standards for environmental management came after a fundamental shift in the work by ISO. Before the ISO 9000 series of international standards were established in 1979, the majority of the ISO standards were still for the engineers with regard to product specification, safety and component interface. The success of the ISO 9000 series on quality assurance meant a re-orientation by the ISO to place international standards at the heart of the strategic business management. That indicated a re-orientation towards more systems standardisation, as in the case of the ISO 9000 series of quality assurance systems standardisation and the ISO 14000 series of environmental management systems standardisation. The move from technical standards to systems standards can be seen as an increasing demand from business organisations to achieve horizontal integration and co-ordination rather than vertical compartmentation and functionalisation (as in technical standards). This might be seen as an effect from the recent development of environmentalism and environmental awareness among business organisations. We started to realise that our current environmental crisis may have been caused partly by our lack of horizontal or holistic thinking—we had long been vertical thinkers, which meant that we had neither seen nor recognised the importance of the ecosystems of which we were a part. As vertical thinkers, we cared mainly about product specification (as in technical standardisation) than about the management of the resources needed or the wastes created. We tended to work, think, and develop standards in silos of discrete activity and not in interconnected open systems (Wolfe, pp.17-18). We will concentrate on the ISO 14000 series of environmental management systems standardisation.
The ISO 14000 Series of Environmental Management Systems Standardisation: The ISO 14000 series is a family of environmental standards. It is supposed to help any company in any country to meet the goal of ‘sustainable development’ and environmental friendliness. The ISO 14000 series bears many similar characteristics with its cousin ISO 9000 series for quality management. Accordingly, a company is free to shape its management system to fit the needs of its size, market, and economic situation. Additionally, some elements of a management system are the same, such as document control and statistical methods. The ISO 14000 provides the general guidelines to developing an environmental management. The ISO 14001 provides specification of Environmental Management Systems (EMS). The ISO 14004 provides guidelines for ISO 14001. The ISO 14010 through ISO 14012 provides specifications on Environmental Auditing and related activities. ISO 14031 provides specifications for Environmental Performance Evaluation (Clements, 1995).
There have been many different comments on the ISO 14000 series of international voluntary environmental management standards. Some are positive, citing that such standards will become drivers for the international integrated environmental management (Wolfe, 1997) and for cleaner production world-wide (de Hoo, 1997); while others explore the possible negative effects of such international standards, e.g., with regard to its potential as trade barriers (Pfliegner, 1997). For our interest, it is sufficient to note that it is always difficult to set a world-wide standard, which is supposed to be applicable in countries with widely different levels of economic development and environmental regulation. We cannot ignore the fact that there are both economic and regulatory differences, particularly between developed and developing countries, as well as the fact that the developing countries are underrepresented in the process of setting the ISO 14000 standards. Accordingly, there might be a concern that the standards could lead to the requirements and management systems of advanced industrial nations being imposed on developing countries (Pfliegner, 1997). However, our main interest in the ISO 14000 series of environmental management standards is that it may serve as a linkage between the global, the national and the enterprise levels of environmental management. In this case, this linkage will be explored again in later sections on national and enterprise environmental management.
Regional Initiatives: There have also been some regional initiatives, which are worth mentioning as part of the international response to the global commons problem, perhaps at the regional level.
Eco-management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) : The concept of Eco-management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) is not new. European industries and business associations and individual enterprises have developed and used internal environmental auditing systems to control their environmental impact for many years. The idea of a pan-European eco-audit scheme was announced in the European Union’s Fifth Action Programme on the Environment, ‘Towards Sustainability’. The Eco-management and Audit Regulation was adopted on 29th June 1993 but only came into effect on 10th April 1995. During the 21-month lead time, member states were allowed to develop the administrative structures and undertake trials of the scheme. The central theme of this Scheme is the use of a management tool in the form of environmental auditing. It is designed to be a voluntary, market-based tool for independent assessment, which results in its credibility (Hillary, 1997b, p.129).
In order to be certified under the EMAS, the companies are encouraged to take the following comprehensive set of prescribed actions in order to be registered under the Scheme:
1. Develop an environmental policy for the company;
2. Conduct an initial environmental review of the sites;
3. Establish an environmental management system, programme, and a register of significant environmental effects (past, current and future);
4. Establish procedures to ensure that suppliers, contractors, and subcontractors comply with the company’s environmental policies;
5. Communicate with the public about the company’s environmental policies and other relevant environmental information;
6. Carry out internal environmental audit at least every three years;
7. Issue the company’s environmental statements;
8. Validate the environmental statements and the internal environmental management system with independent external environmental audit (ibid., p.133; Szekely et al., 1996, p.93).
During the negotiation process, there was considerable opposition to the Scheme as part of the pan-European environmental regulations. Some business associations opposed the Scheme’s concentration on defining internal management requirements, as they think such are not the concerns for the policy makers. Others would much prefer to develop such a voluntary scheme independent from the involvement of the regulators. Many pan-European and national trade associations did not take a positive position to advise their members of the Scheme. There was also objection by member states. Germany objected to the generic nature of the Scheme for its lack of specific environmental standards to judge organisations. Spain and Ireland maintained that the Scheme was too bureaucratic for smaller enterprises, while excessive for the large companies, since they were already well managed (Hillary, 1997b, p.133).
Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC): The IPPC is a most recent piece of EU environmental legislation. It is aimed to advocate a holistic approach to pollution control, by ensuring that industrial plants are regulated by one licence that limits emissions into the air, water and soil—rather than separate ones for each emission. This is the first attempt to recognise the interactions between various types of emissions and to address the ‘overall load’ on the eco-system. It is used to control emissions from large—especially polluting—industrial plants inside the EU. It is termed as an integrated approach to licensing new and existing industrial installations. Its rules apply to a wide range of industries including energy, steel, chemical, food processing, factory farming, and the pulp and paper sector.
Some EU member states such as France, Ireland, the UK and Denmark have had the experience of similar integrated approach to pollution in their national legislative actions, which implies that companies in these countries may lead the way to complying with the IPPC rules. Others must follow, as the legislation stipulates that no new installation covered by IPPC will be allowed to operate without the IPPC licence three years after the directive is approved. The EU regulators are hoping to use this legislation to encourage firms to consider emission trade-offs and move away from ‘end-of-pipe’ pollution control towards more integrated (holistic) approaches (Szekely et al., 1996, pp.93-94).
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA): The agreement on co-ordinated environmental management standards guiding industry and business is part of the North America Free Trade Agreement for the three North American countries. However, such environmental management standards are not as explicit as the European EMAS. The primary objective of the NAFTA environmental agreement is to ensure that individual countries enforce their domestic environmental laws. In fact, there have been a few environmental conventions such as the International Pact Prohibiting Illegal Trade, the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, the Basel Convention on Hazardous Wastes. The recent trend is that the NAFTA countries are moving towards using the international standards—ISO 14000, driven by a wish to export into the global market (ibid., p.94).
Conclusion: In this section, we review some of the major responses of the international community to the challenge of global commons problem. There are other landmark events, which may be also worth mentioning. There was the book Silent Spring in 1967 by the American author Rachel Carson. There was the establishment of the famous ‘the Club of Rome’ with its model of The Limit to Growth in 1971, and also the establishment of various voluntary international green groups such as the Green Peace (1971) (Szekely et al., 1996, pp.4-5). It is interesting to recognise that the interaction between the growing concerns and concerted actions by national leaders in the global arena and the emergence of environmentalism from the common people. And we shall not forget the impact of major environmental disasters such as the Exxon Valdez oil spill, Bhopal, the Three Mile Island explosion and the chemical spills in Tours, France and so on (Welford, 1994, p.113). This could be seen as the background, which led to the development of voluntary international environmental management standards (in the form of the ISO 14000 series) through a conversational process among various organisations across many nations in the world. This is now attracting increasing international attention and participation by more and more nations.
3.3 Environmental Management at the National Level
In the last section, we have described various international responses to the global commons problem. In this section, our attention is directed to the national level of environmental management. We will start with a brief overview of the national environmental management. Before, we should be made aware that one of the most prevailing approach to national environmental management until the recent past has been the command and control approach. A brief introduction of this approach may be helpful.
The command and control approach assumes that governments must force business to respond to environmental issues by passing laws and ensuring their compliance. There are four key elements, which determine the success or failure of such an approach. There must be sufficient scientific knowledge to determine what is and is not acceptable for the environment. There must be a good monitoring programme to identify any changes inflicted on the environment over time. There must be an effective and efficient programme in place to penalise those who transgress the limits established by the law. The rules generated by such a command and control approach must be both technically possible and viable in terms of company competitiveness. It is no easy task to have all these musts in place, let alone convincing the industry, which often means to arouse a reactive response from them.
However, the command and control approach is still widely used for the following reasons. It is fair that the same standards are applied to multiple stakeholders. It is particularly effective when applied to narrowly defined environmental problem, which occurs in many places. Its results are relatively certain and consistent. The main problem with this approach is that it is difficult to design and enforce standards. The cost of enforcement and compliance may be prohibitively expensive. This approach lacks flexibility in terms of responding to the dynamic environment and the occurrence of major disasters. Sometimes, such an approach also exposes competitors to grossly different compliance costs. The major and final problem with this approach is the adversarial response, which demands excessive time and energy. The companies are likely to be unconvinced that the national environmental standards are based on hard scientific evidence, which leads them to think that such demands are either unjust or unnecessary for them and for the society as a whole. The companies also feel that the compliance costs are a waste of money, which makes their products more expensive and eventually less competitive. Privately, many companies will also hope the environment movement is only a fad, which will fade away with time. All in all, companies are likely to see environmental policy makers and environmental management agencies as ‘enemies’.(Szekely et al., 1996, pp.9-15).
Therefore, over the recent past, there is a trend for countries (particularly those in the West) to move away from the total reliance on the command and control approach to seek approaches which would generate better environmental performances more effectively and efficiently. Our review below should reveal to us what alternative approaches countries have identified and adopted and the current role of the command and control approach.
Australia: One unique feature of the recent Australia environmental management is its shift in 1992 from the command-and-control approach to an approach, which targets to establish a national culture of environmental best practice and environmental innovation throughout business and government. Such a shift was made possible with an recognition of the potential for such international programs as environmental management systems through ISO 14001, cleaner production and eco-design and so on. This was expressed in the Prime Minister’s 1992 Statement on the Environment.
The Australian Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) adapted the programme, which was carried out in the Netherlands. It was a programme aiming to assist the Australian industry in meeting both increasingly demanding regulations and community concerns about the potential environmental impacts of industrial activities. The real target, however, was to stimulate the development of an industry culture committed to achieving an environmental performance beyond minimum environmental regulatory requirements. This programme was called a cleaner production programme, which was to increase awareness of the benefits of cleaner production and to encourage the uptake of cleaner production techniques and practices by Australian industries (O’Neill, 1997, p.117).
The Australian programme consisted of the following methods:
• a Cleaner Production Information Kit: This was issued to raise awareness of the advantages of cleaner production;
• three series of Cleaner Production workshops: the first two workshops were conducted by industry representatives and the last one by an expert on Cleaner Production. One result out of these workshops was the publication of an Australian booklet ‘Cleaner Production Case Studies’, which was done along the lines of the popular United Nations booklet, ‘Cleaner Production World-wide’. Another outcome was a database containing these case studies available on the Internet;
• an Environmental Management Handbook: this was funded by the EPA and produced by a leading business association, with a focus on facilitating the availability of information especially for small and medium-sized enterprises;
• a trade union guide: this was funded by the government to guide the trade union members on identifying and implementing environmental improvements in the workplace. The union also ran corresponding seminars and conducted pilot projects to assist the workforce to look critically at their work areas from an environmental perspective;
• an EcoReDesign project: this was also funded by the EPA in collaboration with industry and research institutions. The aim was to promote to industry the potential of life cycle assessment and the advantages of incorporating environmental considerations at the design stages of products;
• a Cleaner Production demonstration programme: this was administrated by the EPA based on the successful Dutch – Prisma – project. Selected companies were assisted to undertake a review of their production processes and changes, with results from these reviews to be used across Australia to demonstrate the potential benefits of cleaner production. Such demonstrations were also aimed to encourage industry (especially small to medium-seized ones) to adopt cleaner production practices;
• a National Environment Industries Database (NEID): this was developed by the EPA to demonstrate the Australian environmental management capabilities in a range of sectors. This Database has been available on the Internet since November 1995;
• AusIndustry programme: this was a governmental funding programme to assist the SMEs in implementing environmental management systems, with particular emphasis on cleaner production and waste management.
Besides these major programmes, there are also various regional programmes and educational programmes run by educational institutions, which were also supported by the national government (ibid., pp.118-119). The Australian government also worked together with the New Zealand government on establishing a joint Standards Australia/Standards New Zealand Committee to consider the need for an Australia/New Zealand EMS standard, following the ISO 14000 series of international environmental management standards (ibid., p.120).
Germany: In Germany, the move away from the command and control national environmental regulatory regime is expressed in encouraging specific industry sectors to improve their environmental performance voluntarily. These include a voluntary recycling scheme for electronic manufacturers and the recycling of used cars for car manufacturers. One very successful covenant in Germany has been made by the paper industry. The industry has committed itself to producing and distributing only paper-based products with at least 60 percent recycled content. In return, the German Environment Ministry has agreed to drop plans to enact a used paper recycling ordinance, which would have mandated participation in a prescribed programme (Szekely et al., 1996, p.95).
Currently, the German national green policy is implemented on the basis of three principles: the ‘polluter pays’ principle, the ‘co-operation’ principle (tying in the polluters’ technical know-how with a coherent environmental policy), and the ‘preventive’ principle (instilling an integrated approach). There is also a wide range of eco-regulation affecting the business world. The classical concept of direct intervention operates alongside regulatory measures and changes in the factors which influence decision making (Hopfenbeck, 1993, p.12).
India: It may be surprising to find that some of the national environmental management measures are actually more advanced in India than in some more developed countries. For example, in terms of curbing pollution, India has increased its measures and even introduced some novel techniques so as to endorse the preventive approach. It is a specific feature of environmental management in India that environment is a Federal and State matter and much depends on how the States implement the various measures being taken and proposed by the Central Government (‘the Centre’). In addition, an individual State may have introduced standards that are higher than those suggested by the Centre’s policy. However, there is a national institution for formulating environmental strategies, which is the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF). Environmental management in India has been taken very seriously, especially because of the expanding Indian population, which is set to reach one billion in the next 30-odd years. There have been some initiatives towards increased environmental awareness and improved environmental performance that are exemplary, even considering some of the European Union and US concepts. In June 1992, the Minister of State for Environment and Forests presented a policy which signalled Indian commitment to the global programme of sustainable development (ibid., p.30).
Japan: Japan has been noted for its national approach to prioritise economic achievement while often ignoring the environmental issues. There was a major shift of focus away from purely industrial concerns after four cases of toxic wastes were exposed in the late 1950s and early 1960s. This shift of focus on environmental issues per se has been further reinforced by the hideous pollution in the 1970s. Furthermore, the Japanese attitude towards environmental protection was influenced by its participation in international conventions including the recent Rio Earth Summit. Overall, the Japanese seem to have set a good example in terms of pollution control, while it is lagging behind in terms of natural conservation and public participation. However, it is interesting to note that the motive behind the efforts on improving environmental management by the Japanese government could be said to be both political and economical. It seems that the Japanese government has decided that environmental issues offer an opportunity for Japan to play a bigger role on the world stage. It also considers that Japan may be able to profit from green technologies (ibid., pp.55-56). The Japanese national environmental management was enacted by the national government through agencies, ministries and the Prime Minister’s Office. The national government only sets up guidelines while the actual guidelines to be followed by local and foreign companies are set by the Prefecture or Municipal Authorities in an agreement with the company involved. Like many other countries in the world, Japan has suffered from the lack of co-ordination among the amount of ministries involved in the environmental management process. The picture in Japan is that tougher regulations have been offset by steadily increasing pollution levels (ibid., p.59 & p.73).
New Zealand: The New Zealand economy underwent substantial reform during the 1980s. New Zealand’s business environment is now a highly competitive, unprotected and export-oriented market. It is also an environment with a very high proportion of small to medium-sized companies. It is in the challenge to meet the increasing demands of the customers that the enterprises come to see that they need to deliver sound environmental performance. Furthermore, the New Zealand environmental management builds upon the basis of its quality management (following the ISO 9000 series of international quality standards), which has been the main contributor to the recent New Zealand business successes. It is this awareness of customer demands on sound environmental performance and an appreciation of a disciplined approach to quality, which forms the foundation for New Zealand environmental management.
One of the unique New Zealand features in environmental management is to reinterpret the international call for ‘sustainable development’ in terms of ‘sustainable management’, which is the basic principle in the Resource Management Act 1991. ‘Sustainable management’ is defined in the Act as
…managing natural and physical resources so that people can provide for their social, economic and culture well being, health and safety, while sustaining the potential of resources to meet future needs, safeguarding the life supporting capacity of air, water, soil and ecosystem, and avoiding, remedying or mitigating adverse effects on the environment. (Russ, 1997, p.107)
This demonstrates a fundamental shift from activity management towards effects management, in others words, according to this Act, it is the environmental effects of activities that are controlled rather than the activities themselves. This effects-based approach means that the regulators’ policies, plans and rules focus on environmental outcomes rather than prescribing how activities should be carried out. The activities are regulated and managed by the enterprises, so long as they meet the environmental outcomes specified in policies, plans or individual resource consent (Russ, 1997, pp.107-108).
New Zealand’s environmental management follows the same steps of its quality management based on the ISO 9000 series quality standards. The success of quality management means that there is already a solid foundation for a systematic and disciplined approach to environmental management. Its environmental management has followed or benchmarked closely on the recent international development, such as BS 7750, ISO 14001 and the Canadian Responsible Care programme.
Sweden: In Sweden, the current national environmental management practice is dominated by the tendency to integrate a number of general principles and give preventive strategies a more advanced position in environmental policies. This can be seen in the example of the recent formulation of the so-called Environmental Code, based on existing environmental laws. The Swedish government has tried to build up a dynamic approach towards continuous improvement for the environment, incorporating a number of international agreements.
The fundamental shift in the recent years is to move away from ‘regulating in details’ to provide general recommendations, environmental fees and taxes, as well as other general instruments. The shift towards ‘regulating in the general’ has a great potential to stimulate innovation and inject continuous dynamism into the area of environmental protection. This can be demonstrated in the example of extended producer responsibility. The government imposes a general physical and economic responsibility on the producers, which means that there is an incentive to develop more environmentally friendly products as well as market-based solutions concerning the waste management. Through the combination of voluntary agreements and/or legally binding regulations, the Swedish government has successfully introduced producer responsibility for packaging, tyres, cars, electronic devices, construction materials etc. (Backman, 1997, pp.78-80).
Thailand: Thailand’s first serious governmental attention on the environmental issue was expressed in the 4th Five-Year Plan (1977-1981). It was in this national plan that the Thai government introduced resource protection and rehabilitation strategies. In particular, the government began to gather data on various natural resource and environmental concerns, in order to develop the background information for natural resource planning and management. However, at this stage, activities relating to protection and conservation of natural resources appeared to be more investigative than functional. It was under the Fifth Plan (1982-1986) that natural resource development strategies focused on an integrated approach to planning, based on activities that were implemented simultaneously in selected areas across the country. It was aimed to co-ordinate planning strategies with local social-economic development, and thereby increased the efficiency of natural resources utilisation and restoration. The Sixth Plan (1987-1991) marked a turning point in the government’s environmental strategies. It emphasised the development of alternative, non-agricultural sources of income to reduce dependency on increasingly unreliable productivity levels in natural resource areas. It had also focused on decentralising natural resources management to the local and provincial levels, with an effort to promote a sense of ownership, participation, and awareness among local residents. Active environmental management will figure prominently in the Seventh Plan, with which the Thai government intends to transform Thailand from an agrarian to an industrial society.
The Thai national environmental programme was also assisted with international aids, which had been primarily used to support the development of extensive country environmental studies, or ‘master plans’ as tools for environmental and natural resources planning. The problem there was that such studies tended to be more descriptive and analytical in nature, cataloguing data and information, while lacking the element of financial feasibility, linking recommendations with scarce resources at the disposal of the government. This had led to, in many cases, failure in implementing the formulated plans. The traditional approach in Thailand was for the government to take an all-encompassing role, with environmental agencies acted as planners, implementers, monitors, and enforcers of environmental policies and regulations. However, this role could not be performed effectively with regard to institutional constraints, overlapping authorities, ambiguous policy directives, and inadequate facilities, training and manpower. There was a need for the Thai government to move towards a multi-sectoral approach to environmental management. This meant to increase participation of the private sector, non-governmental organisations and independent policy research institutes (Phantumvanit and Lamont, 1991, pp.301-307).
The Netherlands: The Dutch government started to shift from a predominant command and control approach towards environmental management in the mid-1980s, when they started to pioneer voluntary agreements on environmental management. The approach started with a conversational process between the Dutch government and business sectors, with a view to formulate voluntary agreements on compounds or products, which are considered as environmental threats. Altogether, the Dutch government and the business enterprises have formulated and implemented 36 covenants, and the Economic Affairs Ministry has reached 23 long-term agreements on energy efficiency improvements since May 1992. The benefits of developing covenants on the environment include:
• the support to legislation;
• bridging the period between formulation and enforcement of regulations;
• avoiding the problems of the command and control approach by governmental agencies;
• providing the most efficient instrument in circumstances where regulations are lacking.
Under this approach, it is those Dutch firms with the most proactive stance that have the greatest opportunity to achieve competitive advantage based on environmental variables (Szekely et al., 1996, p.95).
UK: The British government’s move away from the reliance upon the command and control approach to environmental management was perhaps helped by the achievement of the British Standards Institute. This Institute was successful in formulating the first national voluntary quality standards in the form of BS 5750, which later became the foundation for the international voluntary quality standards in the form of the ISO 9000 series of quality management standards. Based on its success in quality management, it drafted the standard on environmental management in the form BS 7750 in March 1992 and published the final version in February 1994. The BS 7750 later made significant contribution to the formulation of the international environmental management standards in the form of ISO 14000 series of environmental management standards. The BS 7750 outlines a generic environmental management system, which is designed to suit all business and industry sectors. The standard is mainly concerned with defining clear roles and responsibilities, targets and objectives (Szekely et al., 1996, pp.95-96).
USA: In the pre-Clinton Administration period, the US national approach to environmental management could be said to be in the command-and-control mode. It was dominated by the neo-classical economic thinking that improving environmental performance can only come at a cost. The American national environmental policies had been formulated accordingly. Such a restrictive command-and-control system had worked to discourage innovation, freeze technology in place and focus on capital investment on the single media end-of-pipe solution. It encouraged an incremental approach rather than a systemic approach. The notion of environment as a cost-effective business strategy was simply beyond that control paradigm (Atcheson, 1997, p.65). For its regulatory controls since the late nineteenth century, the U.S. government has mainly achieved in trying to take the cost of pollution control out of competition by setting common standards for all firms (Post, et al., 1996, p.325).
There had been a recent surge of public opinion in the US that there was a need to try a new approach, other than the rigid command-and-control system, which did not work to serve its purpose. In particular, the Clinton Administration had been committed to reinventing environmental policy in terms of increasing flexibility, emphasising performance not design, while ensuring accountability and better environmental results at lower costs. It has set up several programmes designed to test and pilot new ways of accomplishing environmental objectives. These include the Common Sense Initiative, Project XL, Permits Improvement Team, Statutory Integration Project, and One Stop Reporting. The aim of these programs is to encourage companies to adopt environmental management systems, which often result in lean and clean corporations. The current mood in the American national environmental management is to encourage companies to get lean and green at the same time to deal with the challenges of 21st century (ibid., pp.71-72). This clearly demonstrates a move away from the command and control regulations to more market-based and voluntary approaches towards the U.S. national environmental management (Post, et al., p.332).
In reflection upon the U.S. experience of national environmental management, there have been several different approaches that the U.S. government has adopted. There was the command and control approach in the form of environmental standards on specific environmental issues, e.g., environmental quality standard and emission standard. This was so called the command and control approach because it meant that the government commands business firms to comply with certain standards and often directly controls their choice of technology.
The government also used market-based mechanisms, such as the concept of tradable allowances, emission charges or fees, and government incentives. Another approach to reduce pollution was known as regulation by publicity or regulation by embarrassment through information disclosure by companies. The government also used the power of criminal enforcement rather than civil enforcement to prosecute companies and their executives, who break environmental laws (Post et al., 1996, pp. 323-337).
Conclusion: In this section, we have briefly reviewed some of the national environmental management approaches in the world. It is interesting to note that different nations have different approaches according to their own unique social, economic and cultural background. However, increasingly, we notice that there is a general trend at the national level of environmental management to move away from the command-and-control approach (which does not seem to work as it used to in today’s world). The characteristics of their new approaches vary from country to country. It is also worth noting that there is increasing awareness of international standards such as the ISO 14000 series and demands of the international communities (e.g., global customers) on a high standard of environmental performance. Hence, there is an increasing move towards more voluntary collaborative measures to companies so that they can be encouraged (or facilitated) rather than told to behave more responsibly in their management of the environmental issues.
There seem to be four alternative strategies that countries may adopt in their national response to the national commons problem. These are the command and control approach, the approach of market-based incentives, the industrial self-regulation approach and the sustainable development approach. The first one is said to attract reactive responses from the business world, the second the productive response, the third the proactive response, and the last the visionary response. There seems to be strength and weakness for all the four approaches.
The command and control approach has been introduced already at the start of this section. It is still widely used, but seems to be gradually replaced by other approaches, including the market-based incentives approach, which uses the market force to protect and conserve the environment. This approach includes the introduction of economic schemes, particularly market mechanisms, which will optimise the allocation of society’s resources. It also includes the development of new environmentally friendly products and services, as well as the development of environmental management standards by using governments, consumer groups and other citizen associations. With this approach, some companies may be able to generate more business by producing highly desirable environmentally friendly products and services if they are the first to address the environmental issues in their respective sectors. This is why this approach is called the productive approach, which means that companies are allowed by the national governments to generate extra economic benefits by their environmental management activities. The strength of this approach is as follows. It is flexible and cost effective. It allows those with particular environmental capabilities to use them fully. It promotes technological development. It tends to be especially effective when the pollutants are widely dispersed. The weakness of this approach is as follows. It is difficult to determine the cost/benefit relationships, making determination of incentives difficult. It is difficult to police. The distribution of pollution permits may favour dirty industries over clean ones. It is more difficult to understand, and does not ensure a minimum level of improvement (ibid., pp.10-16).
The so-called proactive approach of industry self-regulation is an extension of the approach of market-based incentives. It is for the industrial groups to assess their own environmental situations and come up with more stringent environmental goals than those set by the government, which is applied across whole sectors. The assumption that underpins this approach is that the industries know best what is possible, what can be achieved at a reasonable cost, and the optimum way to focus technological efforts on environmental issues. The strength of this approach is that it is the most flexible approach based on the inside knowledge of industrial groups. It is cost effective by design. It allows for an even playing field for all the players in the same sectors. It supports innovative solutions and continuous improvement. The weakness of this approach is that there may be environmental problems beyond the capacity of individual industrial sectors. It is also difficult to reach consensus within a sector (ibid., pp.11-16).
The sustainable development approach (the visionary approach) aims to understand the effect of increasing resource consumption by all nations and to introduce new technologies that will support and sustain a quality lifestyle without incurring severe environmental costs. The strength of this approach (which is still in its developmental stage) might be that it provides a means for organisations to communicate about the perceived economic and social needs with their respective environmental costs across industrial demarcations. The weakness at this stage lies in its lack of more concrete and practical system of measurement for its ambitious objectives (ibid., pp.13-17)
We can see that these strategies are based on four quite different worldviews. The command and control approach is based on the worldview that the world would be a better place, had it been tightly and well controlled, based on correct criteria (as defined by a benevolent ruler). The market-based incentive approach has the worldview that the world would be a better place, had everyone been given a choice to make by themselves with regard to the prices attached to such choices, in terms of commercial successes and legislative penalties and punishment. The proactive approach indicates a worldview that the world would be a better place, had we been allowed to predict the future and act proactively, based on our predictions of disasters, in this case of environmental problems. The sustainable approach is based on the worldview that the world would be a better place, had we made decisions on the balance of here and there, short, medium and long-term considerations.
We thus have identified a problem which SSM tries to solve, that is, how to deal with these vastly different worldviews. Do we try to enable their co-existence, or try to help one to gain dominance against others through the so-called compromise or consensus? For Checkland (Underwood, 1996), it seems that sometimes it is sufficient to simply stay with the learning process, with little regard for any outcome. People learn to see each other’s blind-spots and differences, so they may come to terms with their own long-held convictions and their own narrow-mindedness. Hopefully, they will become more tolerant of others’ criticisms and suggestions. It becomes easier to reach compromises or consensus, although in some circumstances, this approach may only constitute wishful thinking, particularly in organisations where there is a strong or dominant actor (or actors), like an autocratic and coercive leader. Having identified blind-spots in their worldviews, the latter’s response could easily be, ‘So what? I am the boss here!’ We will study the worldview behind the Chinese environmental management in more detail in the next chapter.
3.4 Conclusion
In this chapter, we have reviewed some of the main trends in the literature on what is happening to the environmental issue and its management at global, regional, and national level. The importance in observing the common features of the environmental situations confronting individual nations across the globe is to enable us to understand this class of human problems called the environmental problems. We also notice that for a long time different nations had been responding to the environmental challenge in a similar way, which is the reliance on the command and control to national environmental management. While this approach may have produced similar results around the globe, it is interesting to note that different results are being achieved by the current trend of moving away from the total reliance on this approach, particularly by countries in the West. The interesting question here is whether there are general lessons to be learnt so that a common approach can be derived, which may be proper to this new era of acute environmental awareness (less so, in terms of action), i.e., a common solution to the same class of problems around the globe. Attempt on global environmental management standardisation is an interesting initiative. Standardisation, though voluntarily based as claimed by the ISO 14000 series, seems to be a close-product of the command and control approach. It may suffer similarly from the defects of this traditional approach, as we have reviewed in this Chapter. Its failing may become more apparent in less democratic countries like China, where voluntary actions by individuals (enterprises and people alike) are often a result of implicit commands and control. It may be a step forward for Western countries where voluntary standardisation implies a form of ‘mutual coercion’ as identified by Hardin (1968). Alternative solutions may be required for countries like China, which is our task in the next chapters.
Perhaps it is time to point out the human elements in this rich picture. It is people whose commitment and efforts to sustainable development that will bring about the actual improvement of our natural environment for now and for the future. It is also people who will suffer the most, if there are any environmental disaster or accident such as the Indonesian smog, burning of the Amazon Forest, the Bhopal catastrophe, and the Alaskan oil spill (Welford, 1994, pp113-124). The stake is high for the human society to protect, preserve and nurture our natural environment, which will have immense implications on all the other living systems on the earth. It is a desire for the human society to progress beyond mere survival, which is the real driving force for the green movement and environmental management programmes. This reminds us that there are still many people on the earth whose mere survival is still in a day-to-day struggle. In the next chapter, we are going to highlight what China can learn from the global environmental theories, practices as reviewed in this chapter, which can form the basis for a way forward to improve its environmental performance.
Chapter 4
An Insight into The Chinese Environmental Management
4.1 Introduction
In the previous chapters, we have briefly reviewed the Chinese environmental situation and the existing management systems as well as what has been happening in the global environmental scene. Following the steps as indicated by SSM, we have already unearthed four major worldviews around the world today. In this chapter, we are going to expose the Chinese worldview in environmental management. We will argue that any national way of management will be embedded in its culture, politics and economy. China, as one of the last self-claimed socialist countries in the world, does seem to have unique features in these aspects, which may have contributed to the worldview that it has chosen to manage its national environmental affairs. In the following sections, we are going to explore these cultural, political, and economical characteristics.
4.2 The Unique Characteristics of Chinese Politics Today
One of the unique features of Chinese politics since 1949 was the unitary rule by the Chinese Communist Party. The reason that the Communist Party is still unshaken and unchallenged in its leadership of the country seems largely due to the fact that it ‘had led a popular uprising against a corrupt and oppressive regime’ (Wilson, 1996, p.4). Just how far the Communist Party can ride on its past laurels remains to be seen as increasingly it is confronted with demands for more radical political reforms, as more and more Chinese become aware of or influenced by Western electoral multi-party politics. In contrast, the dominant philosophy in Chinese politics, as summarised by Mao Zedong, who demanded that the ‘individual must submit to the state’s interest’ (Wilson, 1996, p.4), is very similar to that of the feudal emperors like Shi Huangdi (the first Qin dynasty emperor in the third century BC). If the environmental issue is not on the current political agenda, then it is difficult to see how the Chinese public can raise issues and hold debates. If it is on the political agenda as of today, the Party would be one who would see fit to use the environmental issue as part of its political propaganda campaign. In a way, any environmental effort has to also fit in the Party’s political interests and agenda.
Another feature of Chinese politics which seems to owe much to historical inheritance, as noted by Voltaire and Montesquieu. ‘While Voltaire promoted China as a model of wise administration, because it was theoretically entrusted to the most learned and virtuous men, Montesquieu saw the Chinese as in practice crouched under a brutal despotism, driven by the whims of an arbitrary emperor. There is a popular saying about the Communist Party in China that it tends to use Leninism (the strictest form of Communist) on the people while applying liberalism (the most lenient and the most freedom) on themselves. These are the two faces of China – plausible theory but errant practice –even today (Wilson, 1996, p.8).
So it is easy to see the divergence between the all very plausible Chinese environmental policies and the worsening and deteriorating Chinese environment as of today. Whether the much-publicised national environmental policies are actually practical enough in today’s Chinese economic and social conditions is an interesting question, which few have bothered to search for an answer. To look at the reality of Chinese national environmental management, it is best to look at the reality rather than following and examining the policies, as we would have done by following the conventional Western environmental auditing practice. Here simply vouching the books (of policies) would be a big mistake indeed. That is perhaps why some SOEs do not find the ISO14000 series too demanding, as it emphasises much on a documented approach to management. During the researcher’s field trip to China, an environmental manager of a SOE told him that it was just too much paper work, otherwise the ISO14000 standards were not too difficult to follow, at least in procedures (just don’t look at the reality in too much details). So an emphasis on documentation and certification (which are usually useful and reflected in practice as in the West) may not be that useful in China.
Another feature of Chinese politics is the so-called socialist democracy, as explained by the prosecutors of Wei Jingsheng who was jailed for wanting to add a fifth modernisation (that of democracy) to the Party’s four modernisation programme:
Our constitution clearly stipulates extensive democratic rights. However, our democracy should be a democracy protected by law. It does not mean absolute freedom for one to do as one likes… Freedom of speech of the individual citizen must be on the basic principle of insisting on the socialist road, the dictatorship of the proletariat, the leadership of the Party and Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought. The citizen has only the freedom to support these principles and not the freedom to oppose them (Wilson, 1996, p.38).
It is clear that this type of democracy is far different from the Western democracy in many developed countries in the world today. One may suspect that it is difficult to envisage the emergence of voluntary and non-governmental green groups in China, without the Party’s endorsement in one way or another. But, voluntary and non-governmental groups and indeed green political parties have been the driving force in the Western green movement, which lays a good foundation for these nations’ national environmental management policies and practices. It is also to be noted that the Chinese media are still used by the Party to promote its policies, though increasingly there are signs of freedom of expression in the recent years (Wilson, 1996, p. 40). The extent of how much freedom there is under this kind of political system was summed by the rather open-minded China Youth magazine in 1993:
The socialist countries adopting the Soviet model, however, pursue a highly centralised system in which the Party Leader holds ultimate power, and … has the final say in deciding everything or changing policies haphazardly. In this sort of system, when leaders exert absolute power, which is not restricted by any control, socialist democracy becomes an empty slogan (Wilson, 1996, p.57).
Such a political system also leads to the submission of the judiciary to the Party, which was expressed by Ren Jianxin, President of the Supreme People’s Court, that
the People’s Courts must self-consciously accept Party leadership. It is a mistake to think, because there is the law, that justice can be executed without the guidance of the policies of the Communist Party. Separation of powers is bourgeois (Wilson, 1996, p.57).
With much demanded in its political reform, which has lagged far behind the recent economic reforms, it is interesting to note that some, both in the West and in China, have argued that the Western democracy is neither needed nor feasible in China. For example, some conservative Chinese intellectuals argue that
if the Chinese are released from the control of a strong authority, they will go wild and abuse their freedom, acting with extreme selfishness and no patriotism (Wilson, 1996, p.58).
Robert Elegant, a China observer, also concluded that Western democracy is ‘unworkable—technically and psychologically—in China’. An extreme point of Western viewpoint of China is that
China…has no concept of citizenship, no assembly, no Senate, no Magna Carta, no social contract, no immemorial rights of the freeborn subject, no constitution, and nothing requiring any of the people to take part in the legislative process. It is basically contrary to the social values of the Chinese to put their political future to the hazard of an election (ibid.).
Thus, it seems that this political dictatorship based on traditional political submission will remain as the dominant feature in the Chinese politics in the foreseeable future.
In one of the latest books on the Chinese politics, Lam (1999) has noted the following characteristics which seem to be dominant in the era of Jiang Zeming, who had succeeded Deng Xiaoping as the supreme leader of both the Chinese Communist Party, the Chinese army, and the Chinese government
1. After the death of Deng Xiaoping, there seems to be a renewed tendency of re-centralisation of political power by Jiang and his so-called Shanghaibang (group of officials from Shanghai). This can be seen clearly in the example of the Central Committee General Office (CCGO), which became a chief operating centre for the entire country under the leadership of Zeng Qinghong (one of Jiang’s Shanghaibang). The CCGO was expanded from less than 100 people to nearly 300 people, and took over the functions of the Central Committee Secretariat. Its duties included making policy and issuing top-level party documents and controlling the paper flow between headquarters and other CCP organs (Lam, 1999, p.34). This trend of re-centralisation of political power was seen by Lam (1999) as a return to the Song Dynasty style of governance: a strong tree trunk and weak branches. With the swelling of the central bureaucracy, it became difficult for orders to be carried out in the regions and the effectiveness of overall administration was dubious (Lam, 1999, p.214). This perhaps partly explains why Chinese environmental policies may look sound on paper while far from satisfactory in implementation in the recent years;
2. Coupled with re-centralisation of power, there is an increasing dependence on inspections, checks and surveys from the top on the regional governments and cadres. In the example of CCGO, in the early 1995, Jiang established a top-level Security and Investigation Group (SIG) within the CCGO to check on the loyalty of senior cadres (Lam, 1999, p.35). Another manifestation of this is the so-called government by work teams method by Jiang’s administration.
Since the early 1995, Beijing had commissioned hundreds of squads to bust graft cases; to crack down on price fixers; to sniff out ‘piggy banks’ maintained by regional administrations; and to prevent localities from raising loans overseas or over-spending on investment projects. Bureaucratic fire-fighters were also sent to seize smugglers, fight smut dealers and to ensure the fire-safety standards of entertainment centres....Sometimes, these so-called ‘imperial emissaries’ could be concerned with apparently trivial matters such as stopping localities from setting up roadblocks to collect illegal fees (Lam, 1999, pp.104-105).
The obvious question here, as Lam posed, is that ‘if the normal system of administration was working well, why the urgency to send inspectors to hotspots? (Lam, 1999, p.105)’ The need for better local management seemed to have been ignored deliberately by Jiang’s administration. It appears to have been interested mainly in centralising power to Zhongyang (the Central Government or his personal office or himself and his Shanghaibang), for the perhaps lofty purpose of striving for political stability at all costs:
3. Another noticeable feature of Jiang’s administration is that of the inter-departmental approach (Lam, 1999, p.105). With regard to the lack of systematic solutions, the leadership had been setting up teams of experts from different party and government departments in the form of a lianxihuiyi (convening a joint committee) to tackle new or difficult issues. Such an approach was used in China with astounding frequency to deal with issues such as crime, SOE reforms, ensuring wheat and cotton production; fighting smuggling; hitting out at intellectual property rights violations; and plugging leaks of state secrets, as well as small issues such as fire prevention (Lam, 1999, pp.105-106);
4. A fourth significant feature of Chinese politics under Jiang’s leadership is an emphasis on spiritual civilisation. Unlike the more pragmatic Deng Xiaoping, Jiang repeatedly emphasised the importance of spiritual civilisation, which was ‘to bring to new heights the superior moral tradition of ancient times as well as revolutionary tradition. We must diligently create an advanced spiritual civilisation through imbibing all the superior moral achievements of mankind (Lam, 1999, p.8)’.
This spiritual civilisation was often built upon nationalism, patriotism, as well as traditional Marxism and Confucian values (Lam, 1999, p.276). Jiang often warned the Chinese people from becoming a ‘vassal of foreign, particularly Western Culture’ if the Chinese people forget the fact that ‘the Chinese race is one that has 5,000-year tradition of splendid history and culture as well as tremendous life force and creativity (Lam, 1999, p.277)’;
5. The last important feature of Jiang’s era of Chinese politics is the emergence and strengthening of legalism (‘everybody being equal before the law’), which can be attributed more to the rising power of the National People’s Congress (NPC). The empowerment of the NPC was mainly due to the perception of Dengist reformers that economic reforms could not succeed without legal reform: business activities, particularly those involving foreigners, had to be based on statues. Strong leaderships from Peng Zhen and Wan Li in the 1980s and Qiao Shi in the 1990s had made this possible. The leap forward came when Peng started by establishing the NPC as a possible counter-balance to the party and government, which was continued by Wan Li. For Lam, the NPC seemed to be the only means in the Chinese context where cadres or citizens outside the party elite could exercise influence, the empowerment of which must signal some degree of progress towards a more democratic rule of government (Lam, 1999, pp.109-110). In contrast to the party-centric approach by Jiang, Qiao Shi was the first to advocate the ideal of ‘using the law to rule the country’. In 1996, he insisted that all party units and members ‘self-consciously obey and safeguard the constitution and the law. and all cadres must operate within the parameters of the constitution and the law (Lam, 1999, p.111).’
For Qiao and his deputies, the NPC systems are the most effective organs for ‘arousing masses’ enthusiasm’ to take part in government. Congresses of all levels were a manifestation of the will and the enthusiasm of the people, and ‘the congresses safeguard and develop the democracy of the people, according to Qiao in 1995 (Lam, 1999, p.112). Qiao also asserted that it was the duty of the NPC ‘to safeguard citizens’ rights to sue government departments for violating their rights and to get compensation from the government (Lam, 1999, p.112).’ With Qiao’s retirement in 1998, on the face of it, the NPC faction did not seem to have achieved much beyond the Chinese parliament and had not been able to stage a successful full frontal challenge to Jiang. However, it is important to note that laying down the theoretical or ideological foundation is often the prerequisite for pushing new policies in the Chinese context. By the end of mid-1990s, the signs were that the Qiao clique was able to win wider sympathies and build up a loose coalition of liberals and moderates. One successful example of this coalition was that it managed to prevent Jiang from reviving the party chairmanship (Lam, 1999, p.288-289).
Thus, we conclude our brief analysis of the current characteristics of Chinese politics. It is clear that a successful national environmental management model will have to work along the line of re-centralisation of power, which indicates a command and control characteristic. A reliance on auditing is plausible because of the current reliance on government by work teams. It is possible to adopt a model of pluralism where different spheres of expertise can be pooled together into environmental management. More importantly, the model must indicate its bias towards spiritual civilisation, which can be seen in the forms environmental education for individuals and collectives. Lastly, there is a possibility that some degree of dependence upon law and constitution may be possible in the current Chinese situation.
4.3 The Unique Characteristics of the Chinese Economy Today
The Chinese economy has been shifting from a centrally planned socialist economy (for a long time mostly based on the Soviet model) to a more market-oriented socialist economy as of today. The economic achievement since the economic reforms started by Deng Xiaoping in 1978 have been unexpectedly impressive with annual GDP growth rate averaging 9 per cent in the 1990s. All this has been well documented in the Western literature (e.g., Wilson, 1996). With the emergence of latest study on China, it is possible to conclude some of the contemporary characteristics of the Chinese economy today as follows.
• gradualism or incrementalism: it is to be noted that the Chinese economic reforms were of a different nature to that in the former Soviet Union, which was described as of a shock-therapy nature. The Chinese economic reforms particularly under Deng were often described as incremental or gradualist. There was no overall grand plan for the reforms, but different ideas and programs were first experimented in some places and then expanded all over the country if successful. This follows Deng’s idea of ‘crossing the river by feeling the stones’, which was probably due to his caution of avoiding Mao’s Great Leap Forward like mistakes and also due to resistance from the conservatives in the Party (Wilson, 1996). Jiang’s gradualism was more due to the fact that he ‘frequently re-oriented the country to a concern with ideology whenever there was a danger of market forces getting out of hand’. For Jiang and his advisers, they often saw economic development through the prism of politics. That probably explained why Jiang could never produce a clear vision for economic reforms in China, particularly those concerning SOE reforms, as he often saw the SOEs as strongholds for party leaderships (Lam, 1999). That is probably why under both Deng and Jiang, the Chinese economic reforms often took two steps forward and one step back;
• Deng’s overall drive was for decentralisation of economic powers or responsibilities from the central government to the local governments and finally to the enterprises, their managers and the workers to a small extent. This was achieved through decentralisation programmes such as Contract Responsibility System (CRS), enterprise profit detainment programme, and the programme to establish modern enterprises. However, the decentralisation programme had also encountered serious problems.
Relinquishing control of industrial development to provincial or municipal authorities did not always mean more market freedom for those factories, because some local governments, being physically closer on the ground, could stifle them with more planning regulations than the centre had ever decreed. It also meant a lamentable waste of investment funds and industrial resources....the result of newly de-centralised state factories having a field day of over-consuming, over-investing and over-paying their workers. There was nothing to hold them back (Wilson, 1996, p.163).
• Under Jiang’s leadership, the main drive of SOE reforms was to Zhuada fangxiao (taking a firm grip on major SOEs and letting the minors ones go free) and to form jituangongsi (conglomerates). This seemed to follow the early successful example of Chaebol-style enterprise groupings like the South Korean ones through mergers and acquisitions aided by extra government subsidies (Lam, 1999, p.379). This probably reflects Jiang’s conflicting views concerning the liberation of SOEs and strengthening the Party’s grip on SOEs. It is through these 500 to 800 big SOEs, with which he may be able to keep the Party’s grip on the whole Chinese economy while maintaining the socialist nature of the economy. However, the bursting of the South Korean bubble in late 1997 did come as a shock to the Chinese reformers such as Premier Zhong Rongji. At the same, the Zhuada policy was also criticised by some senior economists such as Wu Jinglian. He warned that under the Zhuada goal, many bureaucrats were forming conglomerates via executive fiats and not market mechanisms. He pointed out that there had been cases of mismatches among the components of conglomerates and most conglomerates borne out of government directives did not do well. Yin Wenquan, State Development Planning Commission economist also decried the following faults in jituangongsi that were cobbled together due to executive fiats. He criticised them as of ‘poor internal management; lack of a rational relationship between headquarters and the units; and failure to achieve economy of scale (Lam, 1999, p.379).’
The Asian crisis has probably given the Chinese reformers much to think about on their strategies towards the economic reforms and particularly the head-aching SOE reforms. It may be fair to say that the Chinese economy has made significant progress over the recent decades with private and foreign enterprises taking more and more percentage of the GDP. However, the main area of concern and the main challenge to the future of the Communist Party in China may be the reforms of the SOEs, many of them making heavy losses and draining away a main part of the state resources. Yet, it is to be remembered that the SOEs are also perhaps the largest employers in the country providing many secondary benefits, such as housing, medical treatment, and even education, childcare and so on. Without a proper social security system, a sound financial system and a mature capital market, the challenge is a serious one indeed, given the dogmatic insistence by Jiang and the Communist Party on the socialist nature of the Chinese economy. With the ownership question being often the taboo, the economic reforms had suffered from the lack of vision as a whole, and shakes of over-control to over-liberation (or vacuum of control) (Zhao and Jin, 1997).
According to Zhuang (1995), by moving away from the centrally planned economy to that of a more market oriented economy, the Chinese economy has sometimes suffered the worst of both world with the deficiency of both systems exaggerated to the extremes through a mal-combination of the two. Given the status of the economic reforms so far, there is clearly a need for a clear vision for the future and better management systems for better planning, better controls, as well as for establishing a sound market economy system. Thus, it is easy to see why management models produced under mature market economy systems as of the West may not work effectively and efficiently in China. We need a management model which will work under this imperfect or immature transitional period, where the Chinese economy is. It is difficult to proclaim a clear vision for the future of the Chinese economy, and it is more difficult to establish sophisticated management systems, which are based on the historical development of a sophisticated economy. It may be possible to introduce a model, which will point to or bring forth the future possibilities.
4.4 The Unique Characteristics of Chinese Culture Today
The study of Chinese culture today is perhaps the most difficult of all the three studies undertaken to complete our framework of analysis. It is perhaps the fastest changing feature of the Chinese society, flooded by foreigners, foreign goods, entertainment and media, as well as the latest fad of the Internet (though in somewhat restricted way by the Communist Party). It is to be noted that there are two sets of cultural characteristics at work. One is the traditional, which has been carried in the Chinese blood for thousands of years; another is the contemporary one, which changes and shapes as new environment and fads come to existence with the fast changing pace of science, technology and the economy. It is easy to see that in most Chinese, we can notice a combination of the two at work. It is difficult for the modern Chinese to get rid of his/her traditional cultural breeding (e.g., common senses). It is equally difficult for the conservative Chinese to avoid the frustration and bafflement by being constantly subjected to the unthinkable through the influx of the modern world particularly from the West. For a management model to work in China, it must aim at bringing forth the best from this unique combination of the traditional and the modern Chinese cultural characteristics, which are briefly analysed as follows.
1. Servility coupled with authoritarian rulers: The culture of compliance coupled with authoritarian rulers has been status quo in the Chinese society over many centuries. This even extended to every other East Asian states with the historical influence of Chinese civilisation. Servility was taught by Confucius and his successors for thousands of years. As a matter of fact, Chinese children are expected to grow up obedient, unassertive, dependent and non-aggressive, which would suit any authoritarian regimes throughout the dynasties. Thus, the Chinese normally take up being passive beings both in the families and in the society. This traditional type of servility goes as far as regarding taking advantage of individual rights as selfish, so that the Chinese cannot separate natural self-interest from selfishness. However, this seems to be the distinction which has enabled ‘Western societies to carry out a large amount of communal work while still allowing the individuals concerned to monitor their behaviour themselves through their own individual conscience (Wilson, 1996, pp.46-49).’
The side-effect of this servility is that it is hard for the traditional Chinese to internalise the commands of the high authority in order to become autonomous and independent, acting on their own judgement and moral sense (Wilson, 1996, p.51). Thus, the traditional Chinese expect little control over their own destiny, which makes them less effective as democrats or rebels. They are perpetually hoping that those better informed and with higher authorities will lead the nation or enterprise in the right direction (Wilson, 1996, p.53). Another by-product of this servility is the seniority system often implemented in at least most Chinese SOEs as well as in the Chinese political systems, which are often ruled by ‘immortals’ (Wilson, 1996, p.58-59);
2. On the other hand, the modern Chinese seem to respect film stars and world statesmen more than their own parents. This came as an indirect result of Mao’s politicisation process (e.g., Cultural Revolution), which literally destroyed old values and lessened respect for authority, and Deng’s economic reforms which has put money first before authority. This is also compounded by Western influence in the cities, by legal reforms, by the mushrooming of corruption, by unemployment and internal migration, as well as greater freedom in literature and the cinema. However, individuality has not been widely practised in reality, as often who you are determines what can individualistically get away with (Wilson, 1996, pp.50-51);
3. Face (preserving someone’s self-respect in the eyes of others): Face is why a traditional Chinese very rarely criticises another person in public, or draw attention to that person’s mistakes and deficiencies when other people are present (Wilson, 1996, p.53);
4. Guanxi (a complex network of reciprocal obligations, fulfilled often through material gifts or substantial actions): Chinese people use guanxi as a means of manipulating other people (often better positioned or with higher authorities) in order to advance their own desires and rights. Guanxi is often used to get a better surgeon, to escape a fine, to obtain a better education or job for their children, etc. In fact, it covers every facet of the Chinese social life, without guanxi a Chinese simply cannot survive, sometimes literally. To use gifts in order to extract reciprocal obligations from the receivers is very rare in the Western societies, which probably explains why it is hard to overcome corruption and briberies in the country, where the boundary lines are often mingled in a tangle of human webs. Thus, it is easy to see why independence in order to perform one’s professional duties (e.g., auditing) is something very hard to achieve in China;
5. weak conception of law: it is easy to see from the above why the concept of law is very weak in the Chinese society, since most appeals are directed not to the ‘lifeless pages of old law tomes or new statute books but to the persons in authority, with whom, if you are lucky, you may have some connection, or with whom you may be able to set up at least some form of guanxi. Without the rule of law and with much dependence on the persons in authority, that is why the so-called socialist democracy is quite empty with no real equality and freedom of speech among the people and no constraints on the paramount leader of the country with absolute power (Wilson, 1996, pp.56-57)’;
6. the emergence of the civil society: One significant development in recent decades for the modern Chinese is the fast emergence of the civil society (Lam, 1999). The weight of the civil society comes from non-party intellectuals, private businessmen, Christians and members of non-official trade unions. From the mid-1990s, there was some liberalisation towards denizens of the civil society at the social and cultural level. It was also becoming more difficult to regulate information owing to the fast expansion of the Internet in China. Through the consistent policy of the open-door policy, the civil society has become more vigorous, clamouring for a voice in politics (Lam, 1999, p.304). Often the ones with the most political clout are the growing class of private entrepreneurs including the middle class, professionals and gumin (shareholders) (Lam, 1999, p.305). Influential professional groupings had emerged in the cities by the mid-1990s, with firstly lawyers setting up their own private practices (doctors and accountants could be the next professions to follow). From late 1997, businessmen were able to lobby for policy changes through informal channels. They also gained influential positions through the backdoor, with 5,401 of them had by 1994 become People’s Congress deputies at the level of county or above (Lam, 1999, p.306). The expansion of the Internet had encouraged more freedom of expression through the Internet versions of dazibao (big character posters, often used in the Cultural Revolution, and since banned by Deng Xiaoping), started by university students in 1996 (Lam, 1999, p.308). Signs of the civil society in action can be seen in many aspects of the Chinese society. In lawsuits, courts of all levels had handled 141,949 cases in the five years since the promulgation of the 1991 Law on Administrative Litigation.
These were mostly citizens, companies or groups that took government departments to court over dereliction of duty or other alleged lapses. According to official statistics, the government lost 36.2 per cent of these cases. This percentage was considered high compared with the results of similar lawsuits in other countries (Lam, 1999, p.309).
These cases (e.g., some peasants suing a polluting factory for damages) demonstrated that citizens had become more enthusiastic in asserting themselves. At the same time, consumers became more aggressive in suing unscrupulous manufacturers—there had been nearly 7,000 cases of complaints and court cases in Guangdong in the first half of 1996 alone (ibid.).
From the above, we see that the ordinary Chinese is really a combination of two major influences. One is the thousand years of Confucius teachings and feudal traditions, another is the sign of changes through opening their eyes and minds to the influx of Western ideas, conceptions, and ways of doing things through scientific and technological developments. It is said that often it is the compromise between the traditional and the modern Chinese, which is at work in every contemporary Chinese. This can also be seen in the behaviours of Chinese leaders such as Jiang Zeming. On the one hand, he seemed to have gone back to the Maoist party-centric tradition in many of his policies and programmes. On the other hand, after visiting America and the West and witnessing the Asian crisis (mostly built upon the influence of Chinese civilisation of the past), he lamented the lack of good zhidu (appropriate management systems) and ideal democracy in China today (Lam, 1999). There seems to be some hope (by the likes of President Clinton) that even Jiang had proclaimed a need for further progress, as he claimed in Massachusetts in November 1999,
We are conducting comprehensive reform. We will realise the socialisation, marketisation and modernisation of the economy. Politically we will develop socialist democracy and govern the country according to law (Lam, 1999, p.388).
The words surely sound encouraging, more difficult however is to put them into practice. Without a clear vision for the future of China by the likes of Jiang, the challenge ahead may be more difficult than those for Mao and Deng.
4.5 An Insight of Chinese National Environmental Management
It will be a surprise to see that Chinese national environmental management is not underpinned by the unique Chinese political, cultural and economical characteristics. Its so-called command and control approach can be seen aligned with the so-called socialist politics. Its origin can be sought in the thousands of years of Chinese feudalism, where the emperors ruled from top down. Bearing in mind the above political, cultural and economic analysis, the problems of the current Chinese national environmental management approach can be explained the following ways:
The viewpoint: Environmental issues, like all the other social issues in China, are treated as governmental responsibilities. This can be seen in the example of the SOEs running as national factories in the old days, so it is the government who would do the thinking, planning, as well as running of the show. This naturally resulted in a top-down approach, whereby laws, legislation and rules of practices are formulated and passed at the top, and often imposed on the enterprises. This requires the government to try to understand the environmental issues to the best they can and formulate best rules and practices, which can be followed up by the business enterprises, particularly the SOEs. However, as we know, the environmental issues are naturally complicated and often present themselves as dilemmas of different choices between them and us, now and future. It becomes more of a problem if such difficult choices are made at the top and imposed on the people. Without much understanding of and involvement of why certain choices are made in this way rather than other ways, the business enterprises and the people in them are bound to have misunderstandings and misconceptions. Thus, environmental laws and legislation are often nicely worded and formally presented, without being effectively and efficiently implemented or enforced. This has often been the case in the thousand years of Chinese history where decisions were made at the top without involvement of the mass. This is quite a different viewpoint from the one commonly adopted in the West. This will be explored in the next chapter.
The national environmental management system: The main body of the national environmental management system is staffed by public sector workers. They are often lowly paid and suffer from low morale. It is often difficult to maintain good quality staff in such agencies, as we can see from the problem of the Chinese state auditing system, which reflect similar symptoms (Zhuang, 1995). Insufficient staff, low morale, and low quality staffing together with other bureaucratic problems (rifle in the public sector) means inefficient and ineffective monitoring and implementing the nicely formulated national environmental policies, legislation and practices. A question of corruption can also be raised, as in the Chinese circumstances, human relations and briberies can get one through all sorts of red lights. This is quite different from the West as a large number of private environmental management service companies have emerged and blossomed in the last few decades. Such a private monitoring, auditing, and management sector is supposed to be more independent and far more efficient and effective. This will be explored in the next chapter as well.
We have chosen to highlight the above-mentioned two particular weaknesses in the Chinese national environmental management, since we believe that improvement can be made in these two specific areas with good immediate effects. As often, we cannot ignore that China does have its unique problems. These include historical problems concerning its socialist industrialisation process, its huge population, its inadequate natural resources, its status as a developing country concerning issues of poverty in its vastly underdeveloped areas and its lack of financial resources and technology with regard to environmental management. Because of the scope of this project, we will concentrate on the two areas above and try to suggest ways for improvement in these particular areas.
4.6 The Commons Viewpoint
In this section, we are going to explore the Chinese problematic situation as reviewed above, using the Commons viewpoint. This means to view the environmental problems as the Commons problems. We will firstly explore why the Chinese command and control approach has been ineffective in dealing with its environmental problems, particularly seen from the Commons viewpoint.
To be able to discuss the Chinese situation in a flexible way, we re-interpret the Commons problems as a playing field, which is used by a number of sports. To co-ordinate use of the field, the Command and Control approach presumably would have the strongest and dominant user group (e.g., the football team) take full responsibility, e.g., for maintenance, development, security, etc., all the time. As we know, this usually will lead to (undercover) resistance. There are many ways to do so. These include bribing the guards while the football team is not playing, or trying to destroy or cause damages to the field as much as possible, without being caught, or trying to prevent the football team from using the playing field to play football by causing disruptions or other nuisance. Furthermore, it would be difficult for the football team to justify its own use in the eyes of the public, who may consist of the supporting fans for all the sports events. This becomes particularly problematic in an open and democratic society where the public’s opinion counts. In China’s case, it has proved possible to implement a command and control approach to all spheres of the Chinese society since 1949, through a support of socialist politics, economy and culture which has been more alien to democracy than to feudal top-down rules. Yet increasingly, with the advance of communication technologies and the opening up of the Chinese market and culture, China has found that the old trick of the command and control rule getting less efficient and effective without the ruling party taking an ostrich stance. This is why China has been opening up its market to the world and is trying to find a way to implement a socialist market economy integrated with the world economy. With such integration, it will become increasingly more difficult for China to apply the old command and control approach to any sphere of Chinese society.
There has to be a change of approach to the management of a number of national issues, such as the environmental issues. It is difficult to foresee that China will change overnight to the usual practices in the West, although it is possible for China to learn from the West and try to transform its command and control approach so that the commands are based neither on ideological biases such as Mao’s or personal whims (both Mao’s and Deng’s). This can result in controls being better understood and better implemented. Given the poor quality of the existing environmental monitoring and management agencies, the need for change is greater than ever. In the next section, we will explore what can be learnt from the West as we have reviewed in Chapter 3 and what sort of resources China can take advantage of as we have reviewed China’s current situation with regard to its political, economical and cultural characteristics.
4.7 Lessons To Be Learnt
In this section, we are going to list a number of things that China may want to learn from the West, in their efforts to move away from the traditional command and control approach. Before that, we have to bear in mind that the so-called Western democracy is very much different from the Chinese socialist democracy, and there is fundamental difference in culture, economy and politics. However, China always has the scope to adopt the best environmental management practices, all or in part, in future. They are listed as follows:
• communication: there seems to be a general emphasis on better communications on environmental issues. This noticeable feature can be found at all levels, ranging from the global, regional, national levels as we have reviewed in Chapter 3. Better communication could mean better conversation in the Dutch example where business and government talk things through to formulate covenants. It also means better communications between national leaders in the form of global earth summits. The sort of formal conversation is more familiar to the Chinese leaders with regard to their conception of communications. But as we have witnessed in the recent years, there is a growing interest for voluntary groups and NGOs to make their presence felt at such formal and often less fruitful meetings. It could also come in the form of talking to other stakeholders and communities affected as we see in Responsibility Care. Standardisation of environmental practices and management systems also helps to improve communication as parties involved will be clear of what they are talking about and what to expect from their counterparts. Communication is also better improved when environmental concerns can have an equal voice as against other major concerns. This is mainly achieved by the politicisation of environmentalism and the emergence of the green parties in the national governments in the West. This is still unimaginable in China today. In terms of communication, China has to make great progress. When people are used to take commands as given, it is more likely that communication means being talked to rather than conversing;
• politicisation: as mentioned above, one noticeable feature of the Western environmental management is the emergence of environmentalism as a political ideology and with it green groups or parties taking up powerful political positions in the governments, such as in Germany. Politicisation certainly enables the environment to be represented in the political decision making process as an important player. This is most relevant when we view the environmental problems as the Commons problems in the form of the playing field, whereby no dominant strong user group is desired, as we have discussed in the previous chapters. This is certainly an aspect that is lacking in China. In recent years, there has been an emergence of small groups consisted of mainly middle class well-off young people in the more advanced cities of China. But they are still in their early days and further development into a political party is certainly not allowed at the present China;
• standardisation: there is a growing trend for global environmental standardisation in terms of products, management systems, environmental audit, and other environmental practices. This, as mentioned above, may enable better communication and better understanding between different trading partners around the globe. But as of today, there has been strong resistance from the developing countries as some of them may view such green standardisation and with it green certifications as another trade barrier set up by the more advanced countries. In China, there has been some interest to embrace such international standardisation as of the ISO 14000 series. This is still early days and the Chinese people often pay more attention to the certificates than to the actual performance required. With a weak national environmental audit agency and certain weaknesses in the Chinese culture, it is hard to see such certifications will bring about significant improvements, without the independent environmental certifiers and auditors as is the norm for the West;
• effects management: there is a shift from production management towards effects management, as exemplified by the New Zealand national environmental management. This is interesting for China where real improvement is required to improve the environment as soon as possible. Whatever the policies or certificates, it is the effects of the enterprises on the environment that should come to the full front of all stakeholders’ minds
• transparency: there is a tendency to move towards more transparent environmental management and practices particularly at the national and enterprise levels as reviewed in Chapter 3. Transparency can come in the forms of publicised environmental policies and stakeholder communications. Transparency can come in the form of national environmental database, which we have seen in the case of Australia so that conversations on environmental matters between all major stakeholders can be based on solid facts. This may be insightful for China, where most of the environmental data, as all other sorts of data, are still treated as if they are top secrets and only accessible often by the top managers concerned. The environmental agents who collect such data often treat them as treasures and use them as barters for trading for favours, promotions and power struggle. This came to light when the researcher visited a number of Chinese SOEs in Shanghai during his field trips. When it was suggested that the value of data and information increases through increased access, rather than secrecy, the environmental agents were really shocked and puzzled;
• Co-operation: there is a real need for inter-departmental, inter-sector, inter-group co-operations so that environmental policies can be implemented effectively and efficiently. An example for the lack of co-operation is the case of Japan, where environmental performance has suffered from the lack of co-operation among governmental ministries and among other relevant stakeholders. This could easily be the case with China, as from above we have seen the hint from the lack of transparency.
There are certainly many other areas which China may wish to learn from experiences obtained by other countries. It is important to implement such learning, while taking advantage of the existing Chinese strengths in the current Chinese society. In the next section, we will explore a number of possible moves that China may wish to take to move away from its current command and control approach to environmental management.
4.8 Moving Forward
In the present chapter we have reviewed some of the major approaches to national environmental management around the world in Chapter 3 and the Chinese approach. It seems that the Chinese worldview sides with that of the command and control approach, which states that the world would be a better place, had it been tightly and well controlled. We have also observed that the Chinese command and control worldview is deeply rooted in its economic, cultural and particularly political characteristics, which can be regarded as unique in the world. With regard to the rule by the Chinese Communist Party, such a worldview will be prevailing in all spheres of Chinese society as long as it remains in power by virtue of its Communist past. As for the way forward, bearing in mind the analysis we have undertaken concerning the current Chinese cultural, political and economic characteristics, it is more than likely that China will be inclined to take after the American, whose main characteristics are repeated here.
In reflection upon the U.S. experience of national environmental management, the approaches adopted by the U.S. government can be distinguished in the following ways. There was the command and control approach in the form of environmental standards on specific environmental issues, e.g., environmental quality standard and emission standard. This was so called the command and control approach because it meant that the government commands business firms to comply with certain standards and often directly controls their choice of technology. The government also used market-based mechanisms, such as the concept of tradable allowances, emission charges or fees, and government incentives. Another approach was to reduce pollution known as regulation by publicity or regulation by embarrassment through information disclosure by companies. The government also used the power of criminal enforcement rather than civil enforcement to prosecute companies and their executives who break environmental laws (Post et al., 1996, pp. 323-337).
By taking after the Americans, China would still be able to exert its preference for the command and control approach to a certain extent so that some kind of stability of administration is continued while new ways of thinking and management approaches may emerge in the future. Stability or least disruption is always high on the Chinese government’s agenda in its handling of all spheres of the Chinese society. The American model might also allow China to develop and adopt more market based methods, which is always gradually coming into force in China today as we learn from the creation of the new five environmental management systems which have been reviewed in Chapter 2. Here we have to remember that the market environments are considerably different between China and America. It is somewhat doubtful whether similar measures or measures with same names will work to the same effects. In China, while the market economy is coming into force, without a proper legal system to support it, there are always shady areas where the rules of market economy are not obliged. For example, there will always be the work of guanxi (human relations through the back door) or political influences and bargaining. But these will be left to develop with the further progress of the Chinese market economy. It may be interesting to see the American’s adoption of ‘regulation by publicity or regulation by embarrassment through information disclosure by companies’. Based on this American feature, a communications system may be derived which can be adopted in China to strengthen its existing environmental management systems and improve the environmental performances of the SOEs. This will be discussed in detail in Chapter 5.
4.9 Conclusion
In this chapter, we analysed the current Chinese cultural, economical and political characteristics, in which we believe its worldview for use in its management systems is represented (whether it is for environmental issues or else). China is operating in a way very different from the West. It is still one of the remaining self-proclaimed socialist country, though increasingly it tends to integrate its economy with the rest of the world market. Most countries in the world today have been trying to move away from the command and control to environmental management. This is because such an approach is highly expensive while offering low quality of performance and low level of guarantee. In a big country like China where there has always been the case of the Centre issuing policies while the locals adapting such policies to their own advantages. It has been a major problem that nicely formulated national environmental policies are not implemented effectively and efficiently all over the country. There has always been a question of ‘policing’ with low morale among the environmental agents. The question of who ‘police the police’ remains unanswered as bribery, corruption and guanxi remains the rule of the game in a society where law and order are obeyed to the convenience of individuals’ status.
After careful consideration, it may be concluded that it is highly likely that China would prefer to learn more from the American approach, which will appeal to their sense of stability and order while making progresses. Other national approaches may require a higher level of Western style democracy and market sophistication such as the Dutch conversation model and the UK’s systems approaches. We have now built up a rich picture of the global national environmental management approaches, exposing four major worldviews behind them (and some variants). Interestingly, the sustainable worldview is still very much in its infancy, hence there seems to be a need to identify a practical approach which can realise its lofty ambitions. In the next chapter, we will be able to use the Commons Framework to enlighten us further and to indicate what this practical approach involves and how it is put into action.
Chapter 5
Exploring A Way Forward For Chinese Environmental Management
5.1 Introduction
Our journey so far has followed the steps of a particular systems methodology (Checkland's SSM) as a way to organise material and identify what may solve a particular class of Commons problems. The main task in this chapter is to identify a way forward for Chinese national environmental management—and on what level this will constitute a justifiable solution to the Commons problems.
To explore the nature of China's environmental problems, as well as what is behind them, we have presented, first, a detailed description of China as a human activity system, and second, some of the worldviews that constitute the main impediments to a desirable change of that system. The next step is to identify what changes would allow China a way forward. Again in the terminology of Checkland's SSM, we need to formulate a likely root definition and delineate a system to be transformed—to increase its ability to change as a collective of actors.
Following the work in the previous chapters, a likely root definition is similar to that of the American environmental management system. It says that it will be a system to manage the environmental situation with an integrated approach between the command and control approach in some aspects and market-based measures in some other aspects, as well as using publicity to whip up the enterprises' environmental performances. We have to bear in mind the difference between China and America in terms of culture, economics and politics.
The model to be explored here should function in the present, under the many constraints imposed by the Chinese past, but it should also help bring forth a desirable future. We must be aware, therefore, that what is proposed is not simply a way to learn. It should represent knowledge, the result of research. It should therefore indicate what is to be set up and provide a criterion as to the direction in which improvements should be made. In other words, it should be possible to indicate how the model is to be tested while being implemented such that a system develops what is resistant to misuse. In this sense it is part of 3rd-phase science—as well as the result of efforts to indicate a sustainable collective with preferred properties.
We will first explore the details of this conceptual model for use, then explore theoretically why such a model will help China to solve this typical Commons problem in terms of Chinese environmental problems.
5.2 The Tragedy of the Commons Framework
The name Tragedy of the Commons was coined by Hardin in 1968 in his paper in Science (Hardin, 1968). It introduced a framework he used to summarise a class of problems, which were called the ‘no technical solutions problems’. This indicated that it was hypothesised that science and technology alone could not solve this particular class of problems. While this class has many members such as the arms race between the super powers at that time, Hardin was particularly interested in finding solutions to one such member in the form of the population problem. He found his Framework particularly useful in shedding insights and allowing for the evaluation and formulation of possible solutions to this problem.
One typical Tragedy of the Commons Hardin used in his paper was the story about how common pastures are often overgrazed, despite the best intentions of the herdsmen to preserve this resource for their use. Humans almost always act to maximise their own individual benefit and profit. This attitude can have grim consequences, when benefit is gained from the use of a finite commonsly-shared resource. In line with our interest, in the paper, Hardin actually used his framework to look at the pollution problem.
In a reverse way, the tragedy of the commons reappears in problems of pollution. Here it is not a question of taking something out of the commons, but of putting something in—sewage, or chemical, radioactive, and heat wastes into water; noxious and dangerous fumes into the air; and distracting and unpleasant advertising signs into the line of sight. The calculations of utility are much the same as before. The rational man finds that his share of the cost of the wastes he discharges into the commons is less than the cost of purifying his wastes before releasing them. Since this is true for everyone, we are locked into a system of "fouling our own nest," so long as we behave only as independent, rational, free enterprisers.
The tragedy of the commons as a food basket is averted by private property, or something formally like it. But the air and waters surrounding us cannot readily be fenced, and so the tragedy of the commons as a cesspool must be prevented by various means, by coercive laws or taxing devices that make it cheaper for the polluter to treat his pollutants than to discharge them untreated. We have not progressed as far with the solution of this problem as we have with the first. Indeed, our particular concept of private property, which deters us from exhausting the positive resources of the earth, favours pollution. The owner of a factory on the bank of a stream—whose property extends to the middle of the stream—often has difficulty seeing why it is not his natural right to muddy the waters flowing past his door. The law, always behind the times, requires elaborate stitching and fitting to adapt it to this newly perceived aspect of the commons (Hardin, 1968, http://www.aloha.net/%7Ejhanson/page95.htm).
Hardin clearly suggests that the command and control approach (through law and enforcement) alone will not be sufficient to solve the pollution problem. According to him, education will certainly help to enlighten people, but it cannot solve the problems completely. Appealing to individuals’ conscience will only work to a limited extent. The only solution for him is through an approach of ‘mutual coercion,’ which is mutually agreed upon (http://www.free-eco.org/free/FP/FREE.perspectives.html). While in the Western democratic countries, standardisation of environmental management through voluntary agreement may serve as Hardin’s ‘mutual coercion’, alternatives must be sought in countries like China, where there is no prevailing democracy for personal freedom and freedom of expressions. This becomes our task in the next sections.
5.3 The Sustainable Worldview
Our proposal for an ideal system or model for Chinese national environmental management will be based on the worldview of sustainability. The Tragedy of the Commons Framework prescribes that this model should enable a form of mutual coercion so that each Commons owner or stakeholder will be able to take responsible actions either by their own wishes or by mutual coercion. Thus, this ideal system should allow individuals to make informed choices both as a private individual and as a member of a collective. This system should facilitate better communications, allow more transparency, and enable better co-operations, at the same time provide measures for effects management (in cases of punishment and penalties), standardisation (wherever necessary for practical reasons), and the emergency of politicisation of environmentalism. As you may notice, these are all the areas China may wish to learn (as of Chapter 3).
5.4 The Model for Use in China
We have to remember that we are trying to design a model of pollution management, while viewing the pollution problems through Hardin’s Tragedy of the Commons Framework as underlined above. We will start by exploring what it consists of and then explain how it will work functionally.
5.4.1 The Origin and the Name of the Model
The problem with the command and control approach in dealing with Commons type problems like pollution centres on the traditional question of unilateral coercion. This, according to Hardin (1968) ‘is rightly feared for an ancient reason—Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? —Who shall watch the watchers themselves? John Adams said that we must have a ‘government of laws and not men. Bureau administrators, trying to evaluate the morality of acts in the total system, are singularly liable to corruption, producing a government by men, not laws.’ This, as we have argued in previous chapters, has been the main problem for China, where the rule of law is marginal to the personal rule of whims, and where corruption is encouraged by a culture of guanxi and face. We will extrapolate Hardin’s solution to such problems in the form of mutual coercion, which calls for individual responsibility in recognising the necessity—‘not of doing the right things but of doing things right’. It is possible that mutual coercion can be established through better communication among all, so that policies and practices become more transparent. This makes irresponsible behaviours such as pollution by individuals or individual enterprises less feasible and more costly in accordance with the Chinese culture of face. Better communication in the form of publicising major, serious and regular pollution offenders will bring forth some form of mutual coercion because the Chinese cultural characteristic of the so-called face (the respect of publicity as a double-edged sword). Mutual coercion will also come about in the form of coercion by better knowledge. For example, individuals and enterprises will find coerced not to increase pollution through their new projects, if they get to know alternatives and better ways, which produce less pollution while cost them less. It has to be stressed that the following model is a supplement to the current Chinese environmental management systems. With this model in place, the Chinese national environmental management will be similar to the American approach, which combines the command and control approach with other alternatives (not completely abandoning the command and control, as it is still useful in some aspects, as we discussed before). It is based on these assumptions that the model is designed.
We call this model the Commons Communications System (CCS). The term ‘Commons’ derives from the theoretical underpinning in Hardin’s Tragedy of the Commons Framework. The ‘Communications’ part stems from having the system to provide ‘mutual coercion’ in the form of better communication among all its members, in this case, including all the Chinese people. It is called a system because it is only when all the components are working together, and recognise each other as members of the same collective through proper information transfer, that the total desired effects can be achieved. So it will be a system of interactive components together with overall systems links, which will enable the system to tell itself how well or badly it is working and which components are working satisfactorily and which parts are not. Furthermore, the system will evolve with changes in the environment, such as changes in Chinese cultural, political, economical and environmental characteristics. The CCS is aimed to help the Commons users or user groups with communications channels and knowledge bases. So that they are able to communicate with each other in a meaningful way (e.g., they know how to talk about things and know what they are talking about when they talk to each other). China is such a vast country with dramatically differentiating levels of literacy and education, so the CCS needs to start from the simplest form, e.g., using colour and diagram as interpretative indicators for complex environmental data. These colouring and diagram indices are widely in use in China today in areas such as economic management and enterprise production management. We have to bear in mind that the CCS is aimed to assist the command and control measures such as compulsory compliance to environmental laws and legislation and standards as well as the market-based measures such as tradable pollution permits. These three systems should work together as in the American model explored previously. Initially, the CCS will be aimed at air and water pollution rather than any other types of environmental problems. In the next section, we will discuss the composition of the CCS in more detail.
5.4.2 The Composition of the CCS
A CCS consists of four parts: the data-monitors, the databases, the communications channels, and the brain.
1. the data-monitors: These could include a range of monitors, from human beings, to sensors, to black boxes, and so on. China now has a comprehensive monitoring system for collecting all sorts of environmental data (CCICED, 1997). The inclusion of non-environmental workers as self-motivated monitors would be a new concept under the CCS;
2. the databases: in order to enable people to understand the issues at stake, their rights and possible actions to take, they need to have access to a range of databases. The following are a number of examples, which is not exhaustive, for database on I) the national, regional and local environmental laws, legislation, standards, and other compulsory measures against air and water pollution; II) on the best practices in the world, China, the region and the local city; III) environmental rights and responsibilities for enterprises and individuals as well as procedures and forms for complaints, legal help and law suits; IV) the global, national, regional, and local environmental agendas including important dates and events; V) the environmental records on local enterprises in terms of environmental statistics and other relevant quantitative measures; VI) the qualitative measures such as standardisation, certification and auditing reports; VII) the latest development in the environmental field in the globe, in China, in the region as well as in the city. These could be theoretical developments as well as material developments such as new product designs, new production technology, etc.. VIII) what assistance individual enterprises and individuals or consumer groups and communities can get from the globe, the Chinese central and local authority, as well as other private but also legitimate channels. These could relate to funding for new product designs or environmental events and so on. The point about all the above-mentioned and perhaps other databases is to have them work together in the simplest way possible. This will be dealt with by the communication channels;
3. the communication channels: it is through communications channels that people will be able to access, understand, and make full use of the above databases. There are still many Chinese people who are almost illiterate or merely educated. The central communication channel may be giant screens in the most populous areas in a city, such as the central city squares where there are already numerous screens for advertisements in cities like Shanghai. In terms of water and air pollution, the Big Screens will show the colours of the city’s water and air, e.g., black for highly polluted, blue for standard. The daily colouring will be compared with the standard colouring according to the environmental standards. This will make it obvious to the people how the city as a whole is faring in any given day against the compulsory environmental standards. The colouring is made up of statistical feeds from major water and air polluters in the city. It is possible to demonstrate that certain big polluters have broken the rules, e.g., by naming the culprits of the day. This is supposed to be based on the principle of publicity and the Chinese cultural characteristics of ‘face’. The Big Screens can also show environmental events and other interesting facts and stories. Another communications channel is the TV, which is perhaps still the most dominant media in China. Newspaper and the radio can also be utilised for this purpose. More interestingly as China gets closer to the Internet age, a dedicated web site would be ideal for such purposes. It is on this web site that the databases should be based so that anybody can access to them anywhere and anytime (through PC, phones, etc.). This Web Site can take advantage of the latest developments in the Western internet age, whereby bulletin boards hosting information discussions and information dissemination. It is also possible to have ‘mouth pieces’ located in areas where there are potential environmental disasters. These electronic devices can be used to announce warnings and help people in emergency with instructions;
4. the Brain: the Brain of the CCS is made of a powerful mainframe computer and web server as well as a virtual centre whereby experts and other relevant stakeholders can work together to transform some qualitative data into information. Ideally, all quantitative data should be transformed into useful information by the computers. The Brain obviously is what links all the databases with the communications channels. An important function of the Brain is to monitor and maintain the work of the whole system through a feedback loop and an ideally automatic analytical process, through some knowledge management systems/software. Altogether, the Brain will be an integration of computer power and human ingenuity.
5.4.3 The Functions of the CCS
There are several major differences between the Chinese environmental management system and that of Western countries, according to a Chinese official source (CCICED, 1997), as follows:
• There are lots of data, but they are not effectively used. This is due to the lack of information exchange and connectivity among various departments. Thus, relevant information is not fully utilised by the society, which results in these monitoring data being narrowly used by a limited number of parties;
• There is a need to make the exchange and transmission of data more prompt, more systematic, and more accurate. There is a lack of efficiency and effectiveness in the transmission and exchange of data generated by the monitoring institutions and outsiders;
• There is a need to improve the hardware and software for computer analysis of data;
• There is a lack of integrated monitoring reports on environmental quality, pollution, economy development, energy consumption, effectiveness of policies and so on. Thus, progress is needed for the monitoring data to be used for supporting governmental decisions (CCIECD, 1997, p.38).
It is with regard to the above deficiencies within the current system that the functions of the CCS have been designed, so that some of these current problems may be re-/dissolved with the help of the CCS. These are listed as follows.
• transparency: The CCS will bring about transparency to the whole subject of environmental issues and environmental management in China. During the researcher’s fieldwork in China a number of events pointed out the lack of transparency in the Chinese environmental field. Firstly, it was very difficult to get hold of environmental related books and magazines, as they were generally not available in the bookstores (being squeezed out by more popular and perhaps higher margin books such as those on business management, computers and Internet, etc.). In the end, the researcher had to go to the NEPA (National Environmental Protection Agency) and the environmental journals’ head office to get some books and magazines. These places are not really open to the general public, so access is rather limited. Secondly, there is a need for NEPAs at all levels to publicise all the environmental law, legislation, and other related information, so that people know what their (meaning NEPA) responsibilities are and how well they are performing in their jobs;
• knowledge: The researcher’s field work inquiries were made whenever there was an opportunity. When asked what their environmental rights and responsibilities were, most of the people said they did not know. When the researcher interviewed a Professor in environmental management at Tsinghua University, she agreed that it would be a good idea to produce a leaflet for citizens’ environmental rights, responsibilities and procedures for complaints and lawsuits. It is easy to see why most of the people would just endure the environmental problems such as pollution until they can no longer live in the Chinese way—we have to remember the Chinese tolerance and endurance of sufferings is really a feature of the Chinese culture. According to Lu Xun, a famous Chinese writer, the Chinese race tends to endure in silence until they had to burst out when they reach their limits;
• information: China is developing into an information sensitive society with the development of the market economy, such as the stock market. However, as far as the researcher is concerned, he had found that environmental information is often taboo and none of anyone else’s business except for those in environmental jobs. From interviews with the environmental managers of some SOEs in Shanghai, it became obvious that they would welcome the opportunity to know about what is going on in the global environmental scene as well as what is available as support to their particular tasks;
• integration: China is famous for its bureaucratic set-up with the usual departmental segregation concerning power struggles. Putting a number of databases together will demand different groups and departments to work together on a big project over a long period of time. It will also mean that they will have to work together to keep the databases updated;
• access: With the CCS, it will be possible for people to access the information and knowledge which is currently not publicly available to all stakeholders;
• communication: With the CCS, people can exchange views, information and knowledge. The CCS will also be able to warn people of potential environmental disasters and help people in terms of needs and emergency
This list of functions is not exhaustive, but it provides a glimpse of what is possible with the CCS and much more uses will come to light when the system is up and running. People will be able to make ethical investments upon the information available on the enterprises. They will also be able to find suitable employment with regards to quality of environment within an enterprise or a local area. In China, it is often two in one, meaning an enterprise is also a town itself with its large number of employees and their families living nearby the enterprise. Property can also be priced accordingly. One may think of many other uses for CCS.
5.5 Desirability of the CCS
We have discussed the goal of the CCS, its composition, as well as some of its possible and preferred functions. In this section, we are going to discuss the desirability of the CCS. It refers mainly to political and cultural desirability.
• political desirability: the pros are that the CCS will help China’s current efforts in integrating with the rest of the world. With the CCS, it is possible for global communities who are concerned with the state of the Chinese environment monitor the Chinese situation, as well as offer helps and advice accordingly. It will also help China make its case in the global community that it is making good efforts in environmental management. Thus, it will be easier for China to obtain global funds and technologies for its environmental projects. It will improve the effects of China’s command and control approach, which will still be very dominant in certain aspects with compulsory measures and standards for enterprises to comply with. The government will be able to tell instantly where the fall-guys are and where more efforts are needed to improve the performance of the whole nation. It will also enable the government to monitor the environmental situation closely through information and formal source available on the CCS so that prompt actions and remedies can be undertaken. It will certainly contribute to the notion of stability if the environmental situation is significantly improved, as currently unemployment, crime, corruption, and the environmental problems together with social unrest can all contribute to the instability of the Chinese society. Stability is the key, and the CCS can certainly make significant contribution there, for everyone’s benefits, as environmental issues should ideally be apolitical and concern everybody in the country.
On the other hand, there are also a number of aspects on which the Chinese government may think the CCS politically undesirable. One is the politicisation of environmentalism in China. It would be difficult to foresee in the immediate future that the Chinese government would want to welcome the emergence of a green party as a political force to be reckoned with in China. It is equally difficult to see the government welcome the emergence of powerful voluntary environmental groups. Another is that the government would be worried that the so-called environmental data will be exploited by China watchers outside China or opposition Chinese groups for purposes other than environmental concerns. The switch from secrecy to transparency is no easy task. There will also be political opposition to the integration of different departments and different groups. Another concern will be the emergence of powerful consumer groups making informed choices. On the whole, however, as stability is still very much the political key word, the CCS might be politically desirable in terms of a balance of improving environmental performance and close monitoring of enterprises according to the compulsory measures and standards.
• cultural desirability: There are a number of pros for cultural desirability for the CCS. The main problem in China is the lack of independence of people who are supposed to be able to formulate their independent judgements, such as environmental agents and auditors and so on. Another problem is the thing called ‘face’, i.e., nobody wants to lose face, so that everything can be somehow sorted out behind close doors and under the table, irrespective of the law and legislation concerned. The use of computers, sensors, black boxes can certainly provide more accurate facts and data. The use of the CCS can also remedy the lack of whistle blowers in the Chinese SOEs, where such people will not be properly protected by the law. Whistle blowing is apparently healthy for all organisations if it is encouraged and protected, because potentially fatal problems can be identified early. On the minus side, the issue of ‘face’ also swings both ways. It would be quite a leap for the fall guys (the big polluters who have broken their legal requirements) to be publicised on the Big Screen all over the places. They would rather keep it quiet and sort things out with the NEPA one way or the other, without public knowledge. While the researcher was in Shanghai, there was an electricity plant near where he stayed. The plant had a peculiar behaviour of polluting (with loud noise and heavy smoke) outside the working hours of the NEPAs while keeping a clean and quiet profile during the day. The problem was that nobody knew whether they were sticking to their permitted levels or whether they could complain about it, as everyone was afraid of getting their electricity cut off if they cared to retaliate, which is not rare at all in China.
5.6 Feasibility of the CCS
Having discussed whether the CCS will be politically and culturally desirable in China, we are going to explore whether it is feasible to implement such a system in China. There are a number of relevant issues to be discussed.
• technical feasibility: China is not yet known as an advanced information society, i.e., a society using many computers, but it is still possible to put this CCS at least in places with a more advanced economy such as Shanghai and other coastal cities. Not many families have computers, but most have one or more television sets and telephones. With the Internet now accessible by TV and phones as in the West, such technology can come very handy for the installation of the CCS. Black boxes have been used on aeroplanes for a long time. They are used increasingly more in things as cars. The researcher has also found a company in China, which is able to produce such environmental black boxes. Web-based cameras are now widely available in the West. China already has a large number of big screens around the populous squares in the cities for advertisement purposes. Chinese families have recently gained access to cable TV and other communication media. As we have reviewed in Chapter 4, a growing number of Chinese people are logging onto the net. Hence, technologically, it should be feasible to install the CCS in China, though funding and timing will still have to be resolved;
• funding feasibility: With the global emphasis on the environmental issues over the recent years, it may be possible for China to get substantial global funding for the CCS project, given that the international community will be able to monitor the Chinese situation more closely and perhaps help improve its contribution to the global environment by offering timely recommendation, research, advice, technology and funding. Many types of projects will become possible with the installation of the CCS;
• operator competence: with the CCS, it will be possible for the Chinese staff running the Brain to work closely with their Western counterparts, particularly if the system is heavily supported by global funding. Through the virtual room in the Brain, experts and other groups around the globe can be directly involved in the interpretation of data and information transformation process;
• audience competence: the CCS aims for the public, enterprises and organisations from all walks of life. By using simple colouring indicators for important key indices of pollution, it will be easier for everyone interested to keep an eye on their local environment and hence their quality of life in that respect. The colouring indicator system to simplify complex data was used in an experiment by Stafford Beer (Beer, 1989) in his Chilean economical reform projects. At that time in Chile, the workers had taken up the leadership at all key enterprises in Chile. Concerned with their lack of competence in reading the complex economical data, Beer had used the colouring system to indicate the health and the state of the economy for the whole country. It was a great pity that Beer’s experiment was cut short by the death of the then president, Allende. Otherwise, we might have seen more use of such simple and useful communications systems all over the world today. Other symbolism can also be adopted on the CCS, which should be easy to do with the help from computer animation and simulations.
It would be difficult for China to install a national CCS without help from the international community, but it can still experiment with it in cities like Shanghai and other coastal cities. The project can also be franchised to private ventures and later floated on the stock market in China. There will be many obstacles to overcome before the CCS can be adopted in China. We will undertake a cost and benefit analysis for the CCS project in the following section.
5.7 Cost and Benefit Analysis For the CCS
The initial outlay for the CCS may be quite significant with the large amount of capital investment required—in software (e.g., statistic software, knowledge management software, etc.) and hardware (e.g., computers, big screens, cable links, sensors, cameras, and black boxes, etc.). There will also be costs for staff recruitment and training, setting up organisations for maintenance and support. Over time, the system has to be kept updated and software updated as well. Additionally, there will be running costs involving staff pays, equipment upgrading, maintenance and repairs, utility bills and many other expenses, which are payable all the time while the system is up and running. It is interesting to note that it is sometimes the case that some SOEs tend to shut down environmental equipment just to save the costs, as the equipment and installation are normally paid for by the government, but not the running costs. There will also be losses to current employment for the NEPA staff and environmental staff in the enterprises, but it is hoped that some of them can be retrained to run the new system. There may be also costs occurred in preventing the network from virus and malicious hacker attacks as any computer system is vulnerable in these aspects. There may also be costs of crashing down and the need for computer and manual backup systems in emergence. The initial cost will not be insignificant, which is why it is important to apply for international funding and global supports from the Western business community.
However, the benefits of the CCS could also be enormous and the potential forit to be used for some other purposes is also unlimited. The initial benefits for the CCS is to try to improve the environmental performance of all the areas and enterprises, which are covered by the system. This could result in monetary benefits as well as (partly unquantifiable) environmental benefits both for the present and for generations to come. The political benefits for the Chinese government will be significant as environmental problems are becoming a significant factor hindering the long-term sustainable or stable development of China as a peaceful and reasonably comfortable (relative to the sheer size of its population) nation. It will also enable China to move forward quickly toward international integration with the global market economy and gain access to the latest development in environmental methods and technology. It may also help China’s case to join the WTO and become more accepted as a legitimate trading partner for many Western economies, who usually demand stringent environmental standards. Transparency through the CCS will certainly help the global community to understand the Chinese situation and problems better, which may result in more understanding and ultimately more help.
5.8 Conclusion
In this chapter, we have proposed a conceptual model, which emphasises the worldview of sustainability. We used the Commons Framework to enlighten ourselves as to what this ideal system should aim to achieve. We described the origin, the composition, the functions of the Commons Communications System, which we hope to help China in improving its environmental performance once installed and up and running. We have also discussed its costs and benefits, together with its cultural and political desirability as well as technical and other related feasibility issues. We have already witnessed the emergence of similar systems in the more advanced information societies such as the UK. For example, there is now an active web-based investment system, whereby even the smallest private investors can play their parts. In this case, the sensors and black boxes are the people who air their views, speculations, information and rumours on the bulletin boards which are increasingly being closely watched by market makers and companies themselves, as well as investment media. Thus, the traditional dominance of the market makers, ‘insiders’, and the big investment institutions are eroded in small investors’ active participation while the companies are being watched ever more closely from more angles than ever.
Such activist interactive networking has contributed to the recent bull run of the technology share in the global market, where small investors tend to have more influence. Whether this is to the benefit of all investors and the companies involved is to be debated. The fact that it has created more billionaires and millionaires than ever before is not sufficient. The use of the CCS in China will be a brave step forward to embrace the global community. It will be a leap into the future with significance as such web-based systems can be used for many more purposes, to the benefits of the Chinese people. With the ongoing open-door policy, there is no way back to the old closed-door approach. So maybe it is better to find ways to communicate with the rest of the world in an open and more mutually beneficial way. In the next chapter, we are going to explore a detailed plan for the installation of the CCS in China with measures to take account of potential conflicts of interests and other types of resistance.
Chapter 6
Setting Up the CCS
6.1 Introduction
In this chapter, we are going to explore how the CCS can be implemented in China. There are many possibilities. One is to recommend the CCS to the Chinese government and leave it with them. This may lead to the misuse of the CCS, which is originally intended to provide a communications infrastructure to deal with the environmental problems as indicated by Hardin’s Tragedy of the Commons Framework. It is possible that the Chinese government would use it just to strengthen its command and control approach. The CCS may also be set up as a private enterprise, but this is a highly impractical approach as there will be immense political and cultural resistance to it. A plausible approach is to set it up as a joint venture among three parties: the Chinese government, the private entrepreneurs, and an international funding organisation/or organisations, such as the World Bank. We will further this exploration adopting this last option, from the angle of a private entrepreneur, to see how he would approach this project to get the CCS up and running.
6.2 Where to Start
A good starting point for the private entrepreneur is to register the CCS on the net. It is already impossible to have the likes of www.ccs.com, but still possible with www.commonssystem.com. The name should not be too long and too complicated. Once the name is registered, the private entrepreneur should recruit a small number of key personnel. There should be experienced web designers (possibly two or three), one experienced fundraiser, and one environmental expert who is well connected with the global green community. Initially, some venture capital may be required to fund the initial stage of setting up the business, together with the original investment from the private entrepreneur. This could be obtained in the West where such funding appears readily available. So we start with a cogent argument that the CCS will be a viable Internet business.
6.2.1 The CCS as A Viable Internet Business
When the private entrepreneur addresses venture capitalists, he may be able to argue that the CCS will be a viable Internet business as follows:
• the potential of the Chinese ABC market: the CCS will aim at so-called ABC types of customers in China, that is to an emerging middle class of white-collar young people who are professionals earning good salaries. These are the people most likely to have Internet access on their home computers. Furthermore, Internet access will also be provided through cable TV and phones (voice access), as these are becoming technologically feasible and becoming more affordable at the moment. Most Chinese families have more than one television and many have phones, so it makes it an attractive market with regard to the large Chinese population;
• Income sources: there will be many ways to generate income. The first step is to grab a fair share of the Chinese Internet market by offering a free access service. This depends on the quality of the service provided and the contents on the www.commonssystem.com. A range of contents can be offered. The first is environmental information for local areas, which will be of interest particularly to the ABC people who may be concerned with quality of air, water, green products and services. Also, such information will be useful in employment services and property searches. Under the green banner, a range of services can be offered. There can also be an internet game show or TV game show similar to that of ‘Who wants to be millionaire?’, which is solely based on environmental questions, e.g., on the development of environmentalism, global environmental field, global environmental efforts and events and so on. Being so narrow and specialised, it may only allow those who regular browse the site to have a fair chance of knowing the answers. Another environmental related service is to provide academic knowledge for students specialising in environmental science and research links for environmental projects. It is also feasible to provide specialist environmental services for governmental agencies and researcher organisations, which may want to look more closely at the details and use the databases. It can also offer service to help the enterprise environmental managers to deal with their environmental problems. Such services will not be free. They will be charged as per case solved, maybe through a commission on the environmental consultants employed or equipment purchased through the Site. It will be possible to design environmental related entertainment programmes and games for children, which are both fun and educational. Another service is to provide a regular market monitoring service for environmentally friendly products and services, e.g., CCS-verified green products and services, because the environmental effects of such organisations are constantly being monitored by the CCS. Obviously, an increasing number of business organisations would want their products and services being verified as green products and services, so the CCS can charge a suitable fee for interested companies to be verified. If the CCS can grab a fair share of the ABC Internet market in China, then advertising revenues will follow. Western companies can advertise for their green technologies, research, databases, knowledge, products, services, and so on. Global environmental groups and organisations can advertise to recruit members and expand their networks. The CCS can also help Chinese students studying abroad in the subject area of environmental science and management, linking them to Western universities (studying abroad still remains the hottest pursuit among the young Chinese people). The CCS would need to portray an image of being helpful for people to identify with quality of environment and quality of life, through providing access, communications channels, monitoring services, and various databases. The public can use it to help them with finding suitable jobs, houses, doing their homework, entertaining and educating their children and so on. The specialists can gather together to exchange views, services and products or doing research together. It will be of a multiple purposes, with a range of charges (from zero to commissions, fees, and so on) and services based on different contents with specifically targeted audience.
Hopefully, some of the specialist venture capitalists will be willing to provide some seed capital. Obviously, there should be a detailed business plan with breakeven analysis, business strategies and action plans. It may be helpful to clarify the actions needed to set up and run the CCS.
6.2.2 The Funding Composition of the CCS
As we have mentioned before, the CCS will have to be a partnership among the private (including the entrepreneur and his team, and the venture capitalists), the Chinese government, and some global environmental funding organisations, such as the special environmental branch at the World Bank. The possible breakdown may be 50% private and 25% each for the Chinese government or NEPA and the global funding organisations. This is aimed to retain certain degree of private sector independence. Among the 50% private ownership, 30% can be floated onto the stock exchange, which should attract substantial institutional and private investors.
After the initial funding by the entrepreneur and his team and the venture capitalists, the first step is to get the Chinese NEPA on board as a major partner. The NEPA can use the site to store their data so that their agents around the country will be able to discuss problems and co-ordinate actions and research efforts. Only with the partnership of the NEPA, it will be legitimate and possible to link with or install the various sensors, cameras, and black boxes at key polluters’ sites of effects points. It may be possible to persuade the NEPA to take a 25% stake in the CCS with the following arguments:
• The CCS can help the NEPA in many ways to improve the environmental performance of the Chinese enterprises. One is that live data will be collected and analysed on line all the time, so that enterprises will have to obey the law and legislation by sticking to the legal permissions or facing fines or other punishment. With sufficient data available, it will be easier to prosecute and collect fines and impose other penalties;
• The CCS can be used to co-ordinate the actions and researches by NEPAs all around China. It can be used to store data on the web site so that it can be accessed anywhere in the country. The NEPAs and environmental managers and personnel can use the NEPA to gain access to Western environmental development, search for solutions and assistance to problems. This should keep the NEPA more updated than ever before. The CCS can also be used by the NEPA to run environmental promotion and educational programmes;
• The CCS should try to obtain global environmental funding for Chinese environmental projects. This could involve technical assistance, technological transfer and funding through the CCS’ global partners with the likes of the World Bank. Only with the CCS, it becomes more feasible to get such funding and assistance as the Western partners will be able to monitor the effects of their help, which is often a major case for concern with regards to all developing countries;
• The CCS may help China to portray an opener image as far as its environmental situation is concerned. With more inter-governmental exchanges, the Westerners may have a better understanding of the Chinese dilemmas. It may help China to gain a foot in WTO or gain further footing into the global market if an increasing proportion of its exporting enterprises are monitored by the CCS, whereby the Western trading partners can call up data on environmental effects;
• The CCS may also be expanded to be used to monitor public health and security issues, which should be useful to the Chinese government in reducing some of the complexity of its many tasks;
• The CCS should be floated in the stock markets, for example Nasdaq, which could provide extra incentives for the NEPA, who can thus use attractive share options pay packages to recruit high quality staff, which is really one of the key problems confronting the Chinese public sector.
If, the CCS can get the Chinese government or the Chinese NEPA on board, then the next step is to go to organisations such as the World Bank and OECD. There is a need to make a cogent argument to get one or more of these on board, perhaps to take a 25% share as well, which is as follows:
• With the Chinese NEPA as a major partner, the CCS may become China’s No.1 designated green Internet web site and environmental service provider;
• The CCS will be able to help the international sponsors to channel their funds to the right uses with on-line monitoring of its effects;
• The CCS will help the international sponsors to promote their environmental calls to the Chinese people directly;
• The CCS will provide major trading partners with substantial effects data of their Chinese counterparts;
• The CCS will provide possibilities for exchanges and communications between China and the rest of the world on environmental issues, concerns, problems, solutions, technological development and so on;
• The CCS may be able to provide the international sponsors with a clear picture of the Chinese air and water pollution situation;
• The CCS may be able to help China to improve its environmental performance, which should contribute to the further improvement of the global environment;
• The CCS may also be expanded into other countries so that the global sponsors can use the CCS to monitor the environmental effects management around the globe;
• The CCS can issue warnings to potential environmental disasters and co-ordinate rescue efforts among the international community, should such disasters strike;
• There are also many potential uses for the CCS as it grows and expands. It can also be used to gather or monitor issues like poverty, social unrest, human rights, etc. It may be able to encourage the exchange of culture and make the global village a more interactive one (in order to avoid Commons problems). If the NEPA becomes a major partner to the CCS and agrees with the basic plan of the CCS, it will be a major breakthrough for any global environmental funding organisation. At present, most of the Chinese environmental data are officially gathered only by the NEPA itself, so the validity and clarity is beyond inspection. It would be beneficial to have a partly private enterprise to undertake an independent stance in the gathering and analysis of these vital data on Chinese environmental effects-management, starting with water and air pollution.
If such funding attempts are successful, then the CCS can be born. It may be necessary to offer those enterprises that are going to be monitored a stake in the CCS. However, it might just be able to use the NEPA ‘muscles’ initially. It is ready for the real actions, which are discussed in the following sections.
6.2.3 Business Actions
Once the funding issues are being solved as discussed above, there will be a need for business actions, which may include the following:
setting up the system: Once the conditions for the CCS have been realised, there is an urgent need to recruit all the people required for all types of work. The CCS can follow the examples of successful stories like Amazon.com and others, with regard to organisational structure, operational system, communication and control system, strategic management and so on. The name of the game here may be to encourage flexible working and encourage innovation and contribution, while trying to create a corporate image where everyone can feel inclined to be proud of being a member. It should be a system of individuals, so the individuals exist while they can work together in unity. Internet companies are normally different from traditional companies, anyway. It may be possible to have certain staff working from all over the world, from their homes, for example. As usually is the case with Internet companies, the staff will be offered share option incentives, which perhaps contribute to the creation of the collective or the company;
www.commonssystem.com: After registration, there is a need to design the web site in such a way that it is as good as any commercial site, such as III and Freeserve in the UK, AOL and Amazon in the US, etc.. There are plenty of good examples out there, so a basic framework should not be too difficult to come by. It should allow search engines to search for general and special knowledge and data. A bulletin board should be there for people to discuss and exchange views and information. It may also be possible to encourage ethical investment whereby private investors can discuss where to invest ethically (e.g., in green companies). There should be the usual services covered by most of the Internet sites, such as daily news on economy, environment, sports, entertainment, etc. The first step is to make a working site whereby potential contents can be added on. The aim here is to be as good as any other general Internet service provider in China. Then, the next step is to be different.
purchase and installation of hardware and software: It will be important to purchase and install the right hardware and software for the CCS. There needs to be a special purchasing team, headed by an entrepreneur. Mistakes made here can be fatal in this young age of the new business, so extra care is required in the selection process. Except for the working equipment for the web site and back office equipment, others like sensors will be purchased using the just-in-time system.
partnerships and contents: Many databases need to be purchased or obtained from all sorts of organisations around the world, such as the ones on environmental science, events, technological innovations and development, environmental research, environmental facts, etc.. These could be quite easy by subscribing to certain journals or becoming members of certain environmental groups and institutions. Mutually supportive or beneficial partnerships are important in this aspect. In China, there are already environmental newspapers, mostly belonging to the NEPA and its affiliates. So it may be useful to create a web green newspaper, copies of which can be freely distributed in paper as part of the advertising campaign. There are many partnerships to be established both with Chinese organisations and Western organisations. To start with a few, then float the CCS on the stock market, so that future partnership deals can be driving up share prices. This could be useful in acquiring other companies to form part of the CCS group. With such strong backings as discussed above, it should not be a handicap to float the business even without starting trading, as long as the web site is up and running, and providing the basic useful information to start with.
advertising: There should be a major advertising campaign for the CCS and its web site. There are a number of useful adverts, for example,
• the CCS can help to warn and prevent environmental disasters;
• the CCS can help enterprises solving environmental problems by offering technical assistance and consultancy or technological equipment and so on;
• the CCS can help exporters to gain market access in Western countries where environmental standards are stringent;
• the CCS can help environmental students, scholars and researchers to link with their international counterparts;
• the CCS can help people identify better quality air and water and hence better quality of life using people’s residence or work place as examples;
• the CCS provides entertainment and education for people of all ages through quizzes, games, puzzles, cartoons, etc.;
• the CCS can help people contribute to save the environment by buying green products and services;
• the CCS help young people going abroad to study environmental science and management with live application to the Western universities; etc..
Obviously other actions need to be taken, but skipping the details, we will concentrate on the conditions in China that one (e.g., a Westerner, as this may be the case with the entrepreneur) needs to understand in order to do business in a legitimate and also Chinese way.
6.3 How to Manage a Business in China?
With its unique history of thousands of years of continuous cultural development and civilisation, managing a business in China may be significantly different from that in the West. What should a Western manager be aware of and what are the resources within the Chinese culture that s/he can utilise to his/her advantage from a manager’s point of view? These are the questions to be answered here.
First, we will refer to some examples of the Chinese employees’ mentalities, which may surprise a few Western managers.
1. If a manager arrives a little early, then the staff would think ‘he does it deliberately in order to catch us out.’
2. If a manager arrives a little late, then the staff would think ‘he himself can do whatever he wants.’
3. If a manager inquires about the well-being of a staff’s family, then he would think that the manager is nosy;
4. If a manager does not inquire about a staff’s family, then he would think that the manager does not have interest in fellow human beings;
5. If a manager proposes something new, then the staff would think ‘he always regards his ideas as the best’;
6. If a manager asks for opinions and ideas, then the staff would think ‘this person has no ideas of his own’;
7. If a manager takes prompt actions, the staff would think ‘he is more haste, less consideration’;
8. If a manager does things gradually, then the staff would think ‘he is lack of guts and determination’;
9. If a manager wants to add a new member of staff, then the staff would think ‘he is obviously expanding his personal influence’;
10. If a manager says that the company is sufficiently staffed, then the staff would think ‘obviously, he is going to load us with all sorts of chores’;
11. If a manager makes a joke, the staff will think ‘he is deliberately making a fool of himself’;
12. If a manager does not joke, then they would think ‘have you ever seen him smiling?’
13. If a manager is kind to the staff, then they would think ‘he makes a deliberate effort to please you’;
14. If a manager is not kind to the staff, they would think ‘he is too proud of himself to see the others’;
15. If a manager’s department is efficient and effective, they would think ‘we have done all the hard work’;
16. If a manager’s department is inefficient and ineffective, they would think ‘he is too incompetent to be a manager’ (Zhang, 1996, p.440).
Obviously, these are extreme examples listed together, which makes one wonder whether being a manager in China is at all appealing. Maybe, it helps to understand some of the characteristics of the Chinese culture. We have already covered a few in the previous chapters such as
1. Servility coupled with authoritarian rulers;
2. On the other hand, the modern Chinese seems to respect film stars and world statesmen more than their own parents;
3. Face (preserving someone’s self-respect in the eyes of others);
4. Guanxi (a complex network of reciprocal obligations, fulfilled often through material gifts or substantial actions);
5. a weak conception of law (Wilson, 1996).
All these characteristics can work either ways, both negatively and positively. For example, with regard to ‘face’, it could mean publicity—which to Chinese personnel is the severest punishment for any wrong doings. However, it often also means that Chinese people would do anything to save ‘face’ or avoid causing others to lose their ‘faces’. This could be tremendous difficult when independence is required for certain type of jobs, such as auditing and evaluation. Another example is guanxi. It seems almost impossible to get around smoothly in China without getting on through the web of human relations with presents, gifts, etc., as part and parcel of the game. And yet, if you do not know how to play the game, you could end up in jails for bribery. It is often a thin line to cross, all depending on the way you play the guanxi game. Altogether, it is better for a Western entrepreneur to be prepared for the cultural shocks and be willing to learn about it. Then, s/he can use its many facets to his or her own advantages rather than trying to ignore the cultural differences and then get burnt with its many ugly sides, like the ones we quoted above.
6.4 Conclusion
In this chapter, we have dealt with some practical actions that need undertaking to set up the CCS in China. As we have explored above, ideally it should be a joint venture between a global funding organisation, the Chinese NEPA or government, and the private sector (the entrepreneur and venture capitalists). With the Chinese government on board, the CCS would gain credibility and authority almost instantly. It would also help to open the many closed doors and gain access to databases, as well as legitimately linking with or installing sensors, cameras, and black boxes at the enterprises’ effects points as well as the Big Screens in public squares and access to Chinese homes.
With a global funding organisation on board, the CCS will be popular with Chinese Internet surfers, as young Chinese people tend to look up to Western images. The CCS will be able to gain access to the many global resources on environmental issues and management. By aiming to be China’s No.1 green site, the CCS will offer more than the standard services. It would create a green theme of contents, ranging from studying green science and management abroad (a major attraction to be), ethical investment, education and entertainment, as well as a range of specialist services. Some of these services will be free to gain market shares. Others will be charged to gain revenues.
Potentially, this could become an interesting Internet venture, but one has to be aware of the difference between China and the West and be prepared to work one’s way through the maze of Chinese human relations. What has to be borne in mind, at all times, is that the CCS is meant as a solution to a general problem, which has all the characteristics of a Commons problem. Any change in the implementation should be judged in terms of these characteristics. It should also be judged in terms of gaining knowledge, that is something that helps to act without restricting the initiative and development of specific users.
Chapter 7
Final Conclusion and Reflections
7.1 Introduction
We start this chapter with a discussion on the goals of this research. Then we examine what has been achieved, or rather how one may recognise that something has been achieved from the project, in terms of logical coherence and external validity. We will also explore what was not achieved, but would merit future research work.
7.2 The Validity of this Research Project
Many criteria have been proposed to determine the value or 'validity' of the results of a research project. Two will be considered here, as the basis for an evaluation of this project. They take the form of two questions. One is whether or how far this research project has achieved its goal. The other is whether the project is sufficiently coherent, both logically and practically.
7.2.1 The Goals of the Project
As we have stated at the outset, the goal of this research is double edged. Firstly, it intends to seek a practical solution to the Chinese pollution problem; secondly, to argue in favour of this solution by comparing advantages and disadvantages—on the basis of an interpretation as a Commons Problem. What needs to be done now is to identify to what extent these goals have been achieved. Hopefully, this will allow us to delineate some progress also in how to study environmental problems in general. The method employed in this study made use of two ideas. One is that it is possible to contribute to the solution of 'messy' organisational problems (as envisaged, for example, by SSM and other ‘methodologies’), and another is that this is the case even when the necessary 'debates' take place using a variety of sources rather than only one (i.e. participants). Bearing these in mind, the following points are expected to summarise what have been achieved in this project.
A practical solution to a specific problem situation (i.e., that of the Chinese environmental problem situation): We have proposed a solution to the Chinese pollution problem in the form of the Commons-Communication System or CCS, which is used to complement the existing Chinese environmental management systems. The main work has been covered in Chapter 5, in which we have examined the CCSs’ desirability and feasibility in terms of culture, politics and economics as well as its possible implementation. We have provided a cost and benefit analysis for CCSs to be set up in China. The CCS appears to be a practical solution to the Chinese environmental problems (pollution has been used as an example in this case), when it is used in combination of the existing Chinese environmental systems. It follows the American example of combining the command and control approach with market-based mechanisms and publicity as a management tool. The CCS has not been tested in real life, so its quality as a solution has been argued only in terms of circumstantial evidence.
Solutions to Hardin’s Commons problems: A side-effect of developing this approach may have been the exploration of a practical solution to Hardin’s Tragedy of the Commons, which is not a ‘technical solution’ in Hardin’s sense, either. For Hardin, the only and the best solution for his Commons’ problem is through mutual agreement. This solution has many advantages, for example as defined in the recent movement towards global environmental management standardisation advocated by the ISO. However, this may be effective in the Western countries where it can be based on mutually-respected voluntary agreements. It can easily be used as another tool of the command and control approach common in countries like China, where individual freedom and freedom of expression have a different meaning. Thus, we propose the CCS as a form of mutual interaction specifically for countries like China.
Hardin (1968) initiated the discussion on the Commons problems by using an agricultural example of the Commons to raise herds of animals. It has proved useful in this study to use the example of a Commons playing field, whereby different teams and the community ‘compete’ for the use of a commonly-shared playing field. The origin of the CCS is based on the search for better solutions to the Commons problems involving what is called “the Commons playing field syndrome”. Let us imagine that there is a commons playing field shared by different user groups. There are several possible scenarios.
One is that one user group is particularly strong and dominates over the other user groups. So it will try to maximise the use of the commons playing field for its own benefit. This is only possible when the dominance is total and complete. This was the case for China under Mao’s ideologically defined leadership. Everything for Mao was part and parcel for politicisation and tools for perpetual class war. The natural environment was often sacrificed for whatever personal whims he came up to push forward his politicisation process. This resulted in nature’s retribution in the form of natural disasters after his Great Leap Forward movement in the 1950’s. The consequences of many of Mao’s politicisation programmes at the expenses of the Chinese natural environment have been disastrous. They are still with China today. Furthermore, similar events developed in the initial period of Deng’s economical reforms since 1978, when the economical agenda dominated everything. The idea was for some individuals to get rich as quickly as possible, followed by others, and eventually by the whole nation. But this approach backfired badly in terms of environmental damages because many of the Chinese environmental problems actually arose from the ill-equipped and highly polluted township and village enterprises which mushroomed in Deng’s period of economic reforms. There also emerged many private individuals and enterprises that tried to make money out of natural resources such as forests and minerals. The result was that China suffered many annual floodings in the 1990’s. This scenario with a strong and dominant user group must be considered very undesirable for the benefit of the whole community concerned. We now need to look for alternatives.
The obvious one is to have total equality among all user groups so that conversation can take place and better communication and better co-ordination of the use of the playing field will result naturally. This scenario seems to be followed by Dutch and Australian environmental management forms whereby governments and enterprises and the people talk together and decide democratically on how to make better use of their nations’ natural resources. Voluntary industry standardisation for the UK and other Western countries may also come into this category, to a lesser degree, often with a strong guarding hand, which is the government.
Another scenario, which was used as a model for the formulation of the CCS, is where there is a strong leading user group, i.e., the government, but it does not choose to dominate over the other user groups by overuse of force. It chooses to use its dominance to create an environment for the other user groups to have equal says and also encourage them to co-operate with each other so that better uses of the playing field become possible. That is typical of the American model of environmental management, which we reviewed in the previous chapter. It is a combination of the command and control approach in some areas and market-based schemes in others. It uses publicity as a harnessing tool. The CCS is created in terms of this sort of scenario. It may be used to make clear what compulsory measures there are so all user groups know the consequence for non-compliance in these areas of the command and control approach. This shapes and protects the general environment, in which all players can become accountable not only to themselves, but also to the community (in this case, the nation). The CCS is also used to encourage the formulation of more market-based schemes so that the user groups can somehow work out better ways for co-operation and co-ordinated use of the commons playing field at relatively low economical costs and benefits. Let us see how this works out in the Commons playing field problem.
Suppose, for example, that the football team is the strongest user group in the commons community. But it does not choose to abuse its position as the most popular sports on the commons. It declares its schedule of playing times after consultations with all the other user groups and the community at large. It also encourages other user groups to work out schedules whereby the playing field could be used in the best way possible. It is argued that for this to happen, one needs transparency, knowledge, information, integration, access, and above all, better communication. These are exactly what the CCS will provide for the commons community – by way of its web-based databases, its web-based sensory tools, its displaying tools such as Big Public Screens. So at the end of season, there can be web polls on the demand for each sport, though we know that traditionally there are many more fans of football on the commons than of any other sport. It is the other sports where demands may change with fashion over time. Having said that, over a longer run, the dominance of the football team is not guaranteed. We may have already witnessed a development in this sense in that there are countries which are more international than national, such as the Netherlands who claim to be more European than just Dutch. After the polls of demands, the statistics can be published for all to see and the computer together with a team of experts can work out the schedules for all to see. In events of conflicts or violation, it would be easy to find out what has gone wrong so that everyone will know who is to blame, e.g., if the football team has used the time reserved for ice hockey. Some kind of compensation, either material or notional, can be paid, and so on. The point is that with the CCS, everybody is clear concerning the whole picture over a long period of time so that any variation can be easily identified and corrected or remedied. This makes it more possible to have a harmonious commons while the playing field is used to the optimal advantages to all the user groups.
To sum up, in a commons situation where certain resources are shared by a number of different user groups, it may be possible to reduce the chance of the Commons tragedies occurring by improving the communications among all users through the use of a communications system, that is, the CCS. Firstly, there is mutual constraint or coercion through shared knowledge; secondly, there is mutual constraint through publicity. This is especially useful when there is a prevailing culture of face-saving such as that in China. Finally, there is mutual coercion in the form of interaction, communication, mutual support and inter-dependence. Some interesting insight has since come out of the change of viewpoint from Hardin’s Commons problem with very similar user groups (e.g., the herdsmen) to our Commons problem, where user groups and the community use of the Commons for different purposes. The latter viewpoint may be more relevant in terms of solving our environmental problems as different enterprises and individuals seem to make different demands from our natural environment.
The difficulties of social research: Research is an activity that seems to have a clear intuitive meaning to many, but is difficult to formalise and channel. One relatively effective approach to formalisation aims to develop new formalisations whenever previous ones run into insurmountable difficulties. The formalisation that seems directly relevant to our project has been referred to as third-phase science. It emphasises the need to justify results on the level of collectives (including collectives such as those defined in the commons problem), rather than on the level of individual elements. It can be characterised as requiring the researcher to seek for a modernist solution while taking account of post-modernist challenges in the solution itself – thereby successfully addressing many of the problems of social research. Additionally, this research has made use of Soft Systems Methodology (SSM), not as an instance of third-phase science, but rather as a method to identify collectives that may be relevant to third-phase science. It does so in a number of steps, which seemed useful to follow in our project (and hence partly suggested the sequence of chapter headings). The steps are: seeking a rich picture, identifying conflicting worldviews, learning, proposing conceptual models, undertaking comparisons and debates on the desirability and feasibility of the models, including considerations for its implementation. The steps facilitated in demonstrating the notion of a collective and identifying ‘commons’ collectives as the basis for CCSs. Finding such collectives does not preclude the need for justification, however. This is where implementation and practical application of CCSs becomes important. One cannot maintain that ‘having a point of view’ is sufficient as knowledge; one has to demonstrate that being able to develop individuals’ responsibilities—and points of views—as part of certain collectives is effective. It may be noticed that if such collectives can be justified as ways to solving problems, punishments and penalties as well as encouragement, facilitation and co-ordination are in-built to maintain CCSs.
As developed by de Zeeuw (1986), the core emphasis of third-phase science is to get to know how individuals may contribute to the development and continued existence of collectives with preferred properties, in our case, properties such as avoiding collective pollution. The main difficulty in achieving such collectives would be to identify how individual activities are in constraining each other. Thus, changes in individual activities could be prevented from damaging activities on the collective level. De Zeeuw’s notion of a social system is an interesting one:
In general, I think of a social system as any system whose existence is dependent on use by actors: it supports the competence with which some activity is implemented by various actors, and it will cease to exist when such activities no longer need that support.... It is not only people that form social systems: they may also be composed of the activities of people, or of the tools necessary for such activities (de Zeeuw, 1986, p.133).
What makes this definition interesting is the emphasis on the collective as a ‘hard’ referent to research and to knowledge acquisition, while individual contributions at the same time are kept in view as ‘soft’ referents that help to maintain the collective. This seems to put De Zeeuw outside the more traditional run of systems researchers, who appear to use collectives as the only referent to research (and their members as informants only). Checkland’s methodology provides an example of the latter approach. The steps he indicates precisely follow the traditional empirical cycle, apparently in order to allow members to function uniformly as researchers – all eager to reach the same conclusion in the end (some preferred and justifiable plan of action). There is, it appears, no interest in having respondents maintain the collective that applies SSM (and tries to achieve some action). Its results do not appear to mean anything to the members’ personal advantage. This raises serious questions for the possibility of consultancy on the basis of such methodology. How often do consultants break all the china so that the shop can survive or prosper? How often do consultants think of the usefulness and purposefulness of the china without the shop?
There is another advantage to the notion of CCS that can be justified. Suppose it has proved possible to justify research on the level of a CCS. Then CCS must be stable (in the sense that present and future observers alike can identify as being the same), but not only that. A CCS will reduce the costs of achieving as compared to any other system in achieving the same thing. It will possibly manage to waste less time and effort in communication – or rather, it will minimise those costs (for example, by only requiring discussion rather than punishing). This will make any particular CCS competitive and worthy of imitation. If we look at the phenomenal development of the Internet in the 1990s, we realise that once the infrastructure was in place, it simply grew exponentially, withstanding the owners of the infrastructure, the governments concerned, and even the users themselves. What is different here is that many methodologies seem to emphasise learning only, not minimising costs – which may, but will not necessarily, support transfer of that learning, unlike the results of research on CCSs. Justification implies testing for the possibility of transfer.
To conclude, we have proposed a solution to a practical problem situation. The research process to justify the solution helps to make this solution adaptive en seductive to others. This process is based on the notion that one should justify only on the level of stability. In the case studied this implied justification on the level of collectives that aim to achieve the elimination and avoidance of pollution – not on the level of the individuals achieving such a collective. The process of research thus has led to two interesting results: not only a possible solution to the pollution problem in China, but also an additional set of solutions to Hardin’s Commons Problem.
7.2.2 Logical Coherence
Every research project asks questions, the answers to which need to be at least logically coherent (otherwise there would be no reduction of variety through testability). The same holds of course for sub-questions, the answers to which have to cohere moreover with more general answers (to fulfil their role as sub-questions). Questions as well as sub-questions have been answered through literature review, fieldwork, the framework or theory in use, the procedures, and the guiding philosophy of the whole research project.
In terms of the literature review, the researcher has covered literature in both English and Chinese, from books, to journals, to newspapers, and to the Internet. The literature also covers the environmental field, systems research and management. In the case of environmental management, the researcher has comprehensively reviewed practices ranging from companies, to national environmental management, to regional environmental management and to that of global environmental management. As the boundaries to his units of analysis proved to be strongly context dependent, the researcher also reviewed various systems approaches, and eventually decided to use SSM as the most effective way to organise his material and to search for collectives. In the end no conflict was discovered between the literature, the approach using the framework of the Commons’ problem, and the need to find collectives that minimise the effort needed for their maintenance. What seems to be still missing is only an appraisal of the results in terms of such minimisation.
The fieldwork in China took about six months. This included conferencing, visiting Chinese NEPA in Shanghai, visiting Chinese SOEs, visiting Chinese environmental professionals, interviewing and having discussions and seminars with Chinese SOE managers. There were also visits to companies in Britain, for example the Body Shop in the UK, which is one of the leading green-conscious companies. Given the fact that the environmental issue is a politically sensitive and practically often ignored issue in China, it was difficult to conduct formal field research work. It is also with these aspects in mind that the recommendation of the CCSs seems to be practical and in line with the current situation. The notion of a CCS will allow the Chinese government to go into the future without having to dwell too much on their past and current mal-practices. Any approach that would emphasise the latter should be expected to be a total non-starter.
The choice of the Commons Framework has been a deliberate one, therefore – as the Chinese situation could have been analysed from a number of different frameworks. In the field of systems management, it is not uncommon to try and deal with problematic situations through the use of various metaphors (Jackson, 1991). The problem with this is that although the choice of metaphors may help to discuss problems, it usually does not help to clarify the possible transfer of any solution. Moreover, the nature of metaphors to be chosen seems pre-determined anyway by the prevailing democratic political and social environment. Alternatively, one might think of looking at the situation as a complex giant system where approaches such as Critical Systems Thinking (Flood and Jackson, 1991a; 1991b), Management Cybernetics (Espejo and Harnden, 1989) and Critical Heuristics (Ulrich, 1997) might be useful. Unfortunately, such approaches seem to depend too much on the debating culture that exists in Western countries. The opposite problem holds for the WSR systems approach adapted specifically for China (emphasising wu-li, shi-li and ren-li and their interactions; Gu et al., 1992). By emphasising the need for operational solutions, it avoids the normative questions involved. Hardin’s Commons Framework has been argued to avoid all such problems: it allows for justification and transfer, and it helps to know what normative values may contribute to maintain collectives of the desired kind.
As to the procedures that the researcher used to implement the guidelines of third-phase science, it is felt that SSM has proved useful in delineating a series of steps to explore issues that may become the ‘glue’ for future collectives with preferable properties—although it wasn’t designed for this purpose. It proved to provide an important operational tool, in particular to make explicit what values or points of view will help in maintaining a collective. Unfortunately, it does not help to identify when collectives become sustainable.
The guiding philosophy of this project, that is the set of ideas constituting what has been called the 3rd-phase science, certainly has proved important. It emphasised that what is needed to solve environmental problems are collectives that are socially stable and can demonstrate preferable properties, in particular the ability or competence to avoid and reduce pollution. By stressing the need for outside referents, while supporting inside referents, it avoids the traps set by either modernism or post-modernism. It is in the final recommendations (and the arguments to support these) that the researcher has embodied most of 3rd-phase thinking. The recommendations detail a solution, which is both specific (in terms of what it is) and general (in terms of the possibility of generating many similar solutions when it is in place).
7.2.3 External Validity
Every research project needs to be logically coherent as explained above and externally valid, that is acceptable to all its users, and stable under change of users. We need to explore, therefore, whether the end result of this project, the proposed CCS, is as externally valid as can be expected given the available resources. This exploration will make use of the summaries in section 7.2.1. Two achievements were mentioned. One is whether CCSs can be implemented as a practical solution to the problem of the Chinese national environmental management. The other is whether it does constitute an acceptable answer to the Commons problem as formulated by Hardin.
Is there evidence that CCSs will contribute to Chinese Environmental Performance? We may consider analogical evidence. A notion very similar to the notion of a CCS is implemented on the Internet, in particular the United Nation’s site for sustainable development: http://www.sdnp.undp.org/, which intends to provide national decision-makers and society members with relevant information. This site also incorporates the idea of video cameras and live feed of data. There are many sites with similar intentions but targeting different audiences .
CCSs appear technologically feasible, the more so given the latest breakthroughs in broad band Internet and data collection and streaming development. No similar Internet projects exist for China, however, at least to the researcher’s knowledge after extensive search. People in China do appear increasingly aware of the power of the Internet in the field of environmental management. They realise that the Internet may provide the much-needed communications infrastructure to present and exchange data, discuss and debate on analysis and judgements, share resources, collaborate in researches, enable governments, companies and people to make better environmental decisions. Functions that are less well-known were discussed in previous chapters.
Should CCSs get the backing from the World Bank or United Nation and the Chinese government, a possible flotation in China is a distinctive possibility. More shareholders lead to more stakeholders and perhaps more users. In fact, there are already Web sites, which are giving away their ownership in shares to their users. The CCS could adopt similar approaches to secure a large number of private following.
One major advantage of the CCS is that it attempts to be a profit-making business rather than a governmental representation. It may be unique in making its profits from the environmental area, ranging from recruitment of environmental students, to developing environmental games and other entertainment, to facilitating the exchange of data, knowledge and technology, to enabling the collaboration of projects and research, and so on. It may look complex on the outset, but its complexity can be greatly reduced by making use of the Web sites already live on the Internet and by transferring many of the activities which are happening in daily life onto the Internet. Its provision of access, facilitation, exchanges, transparency and publicity will push Chinese national environmental management onto the global highway of sustainable development. This will in turn contribute significantly to the improvement of the Chinese environmental performance, particularly in terms of pollution and resources management. The following are examples of potential improvements brought about by the CCS:
• it will help shape a system in fully co-ordinated operation, rather than the current system with many segregated and almost isolated parts (through secrecy and lack of interest, etc.). The new system will empower but also constrain the parts to make them work together and achieve emergent and desirable properties;
• it will help achieve a high standard of working and living. Some new features are that people would be able to carry out research, conversation, and rational thinking in order to make more informed choices in what they do in business and in life. Carving wheels behind closed doors (in our case, polluting in the dark) will be a thing of the past;
• it will help many Chinese to develop individual competence in the context of an increasing number of competent collectives to shape their life and work, which will further contribute to an efficient and sustainable whole system;
• it will introduce a social experiment for China. If turned out successful, it can be expanded to other parts of the world, which would allow for further solutions to the global Commons system.
Do CCSs help solve Commons Problems? Hardin and others have explored many of the possible solutions to the class of Commons problems (e.g, Turner, 1993), as we learnt in the previous chapters. The most efficient and ethically acceptable solution for Hardin is that of ‘mutual coercion, agreed upon through mutual agreement’.
CCSs are intended to attempt to put this stipulation into action through the use of the Internet, which was not widely available at the time Hardin was writing. CCSs will strengthen the force of coercion through the live data feed, which may be interpreted and presented into many formats (e.g., plain language, or colour-graph), to be understood by all people. This publicity will make all those in a position to make environmental decision more competent and make those who implement these decisions more effective. For example, a waste recycling colour graph for a city may point out where people have been able to do the most for the environment, possibly with support from the local governments or other agencies.
The kind of coercion intended may come in the forms of law, legislation, rules, fines and other punishment. Such forms will not require much policing, as long as they are based on mutual agreement, in the sense that they appeal to people’s conscience, their sense of responsibility, of belonging to peer groups, their citizenship, neighbour-ship, and so on. This type of agreement will be facilitated by easy and wide access to data and various forms of knowledge (such as practical tips on how to do one’s bit for the environment in daily life). Easy access makes it more difficult for people not to be conscientious or sensitive about how they are contributing individually or organisationally to the protection of the environment. Therefore, the CCS may indeed be said to fit Hardin’s requirement, and hence to be an acceptable candidate for solving Hardin’s type of Commons problems.
7.3 Further Work
A number of contributions have been mentioned. Their consequences may need some further thought. It may be noted, for example, that one should not expect Western-originated methodologies like SSM to be very useful in a country like China—at least for the time being. With caution, the researcher tested the use of SSM in one of the SOEs, where he held discussions with a group of environmental managers. The results were devastating. A number of old and (in the Chinese culture) wise scholars came to the same conclusion. In China, people still bear scars from Mao’s politicisation process, where people were encouraged to express their individual viewpoints but always got severely punished afterwards. Still, there is a possibility that SSM will be used by the Chinese management, though mainly for irrelevant or formal reasons such as trying to emulate Western style management. However, it is highly likely that SSM will be misused in the same way as Mao’s politicisation programmes. Western researchers should give some thought to this possibility.
Another area to be explored further is the way in which Commons problems as identified by Hardin have been solved. Such problems can appear in many spheres of our life. The search for a solution in this project could stimulate further explorations. The solution in the form of the CCS is relatively unique. It makes use of the latest developments in global history, in particular the popular spread of the Internet and other related technology throughout the world.
A third area is the exploration of the Chinese environmental problems in terms of its cultural, economic and political characteristics. This may help to understand the depth of the Chinese problem, as well as the need for various forms of support (in terms of infrastructure, data, knowledge, technology and know-how, and so on). It should be clear especially that it will be impossible to solve the Chinese environmental problems only by improving the environment. With the use of CCSs, the potential side-effects of a common-shared communications infrastructure may be managed to contribute to more effective solutions to the pollution problem.
Another area that should provide food for thought is the way methods of 3rd-phase science have been used to design this research project. It has enabled the researcher to search for a practical solution to a concrete problem while avoiding the traps of modernism and post-modernism. The CCS is not modernist in the sense that it does not provide a singular or absolute answer to a question, based on a singular set of absolute values or criteria. The CCS is not post-modernist, either, in that it does not suggest to enter into an endless internally oriented cycle in search for answers. It states that the answer lies in the design and justification of specific communications infrastructures, to initiate and maintain supportive collectives.
Finally, it should be mentioned that the design developed in this project suggests a useful way of doing social research. Currently, in the systems field, there is a tendency for people to be more loyal to their methodologies than to their problems. This project emphasises the need to solve a specific problem in the best way possible, making use of the experiences of research in the past. It does not spend most of its efforts in debunking previous approaches as often happens to defend particular methodologies. When it uses the systems approach (e.g. in the form of SSM) it does so only as far as it is appropriate and useful.
CCSs supposedly will be implemented as web-based e-commerce companies. There are two distinctive paths that it can take to become a viable company. The less ambitious one is to go it alone and become a green site, generating revenues mainly by charging for introduction to green consultancy, membership, green products and services, as well as helping young Chinese people go abroad to study environmental science and management, etc. The more ambitious one, which was discussed previously, was to create a partnership with the Chinese government (e.g., the NEPA), some global green funding organisation, and the entrepreneur together with venture capitalist. This will give the CCS a powerful start and presence in the Chinese green market. The CCS could be used for the following:
• Helping the SOE managers deal better with their tasks by providing them with on-line comparative information and analyses, search of international databases and knowledge base, accessing to international community of environmental experts and activists, as well as obtaining environmental findings as technological transfers;
• Enabling the NEPA to work more closely with other department and among its own many agencies around the China through web-based data storage and communication channels;
• Providing information for people to make better decisions in purchasing products and services, hunting for jobs and houses;
• Offering guidance and warnings on environmental quality and potential disasters;
• Disseminating environmental information;
• Organising student recruitment for studying green issues and management abroad;
• Exchanging data;
• Undertaking projects;
• Providing consultancy.
Among the main difficulties of implementing and using CCSs is to get the Chinese government and international funding organisations involved and committed. Some possibilities were briefly explored in Chapter 6. At the moment it appears highly unlikely that access to SOEs as well as to vital statistical databases may be allowed by the Chinese government. Still, in the long run people may not be able to avoid becoming educated concerning their environmental rights and procedures.
7.4 Conclusion
Events such as the recent flooding in Britain provide a timely reminder that in the global commons there are no free riders nor anybody who will be free from suffering when the consequences of our irresponsible behaviours strike in the form of natural disasters. The environmental issue will not go away if we ignore it or take no action. There is an urgent need to protect and preserve our natural environment by exploring what it entails to be environmentally responsible.
Several tasks can be taken forward from this project. One is to explore the feasibility of the CCS project in more detail. It should also be attempted to formalise the approach that may be most effective and efficient in dealing with the commons problems. It is advised also, therefore, to consider further work on the lines of third-phase science as it did prove useful as a way of justifying certain solutions.
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One experience that has been most enlightening is getting acquainted with the formalisation that in the literature is referred to as the Commons Problem. Most problems facing our present world either seem to exemplify this problem or to be related to it. It is about the dilemma of doing well for oneself but not for others versus the other way round. As yet, there is no ideal or best solution to this dilemma. Our exploration suggests one (approximate) solution for such problems that might be practical enough to be applicable to the situation in China.
Another interesting experience I had was having to develop research to deal with complex social situations—especially as there was the added challenge of both working in a Western research environment, and being able to understand the background linking to the Chinese literature. Many people have emphasised that the two are not easily combined, such as the leading Chinese researcher Professor Jifa Gu. This proved to be the case, for example, when exploring Checkland's Soft Systems Methodology. One might ask therefore why I did not choose to use a Chinese systems methodology. One of the reasons is that to my mind Chinese methodologies tend to concentrate on the operational level of problems, leaving the normative and strategic issues to the bosses, the powers that be. Another reason is that both the Western and Chinese methodologies tend to function as methods. I wanted to explore the difficulties China is facing as a problem in research—I wanted to search with an open mind and with the aim of finding something that can stand on its own feet, rather than something that is situated, and hence dependent on local conditions. This is satisfying but risky, as one may be re-inventing the wheel. A third reason is that as a Western researcher there seem to be few areas one should not probe into. Lastly, it was interesting to experience the variety one meets in research, in social research and in Western social research. Many aspects of research, any kind of research, are being questioned at present. One of the divides one has to cross is between modern and post-modern interpretations. It is easy to drift too far into either of these. This research project tries to adopt a third way, which is to maintain a modernist awareness of what it means to solve a specific problem and let the solution stand on its own, while embedding awareness of post-modern perspectives into the solution itself. The intention is not to claim a panacea, but to identify a resource for many local solutions. Or in another metaphor, one should keep in mind that although the trees may be different, the soil is needed everywhere.
Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 Introduction
This first chapter aims to explore the goal of this study and to explain how this goal can be achieved through the research undertaken in this project. This will help the researcher to organise the relevant data and make sense of them according to the central theme (the research goal), as well as helping the readers to follow the story as easily and clearly as possible.
1.2 The Goal of the Project
The goal of this project is to identify a way to improve the Chinese environmental situation (water and air pollution in particular, to start with, as a restriction on this study). The way I intend to find solutions to such problems in this project is to view them as the Commons problems, as classified by Hardin (Hardin, 1968). Below is a brief description of Hardin's notion of the Tragedy of the Commons in his own words.
The tragedy of the commons develops in this way. Picture a pasture open to all. It is to be expected that each herdsman will try to keep as many cattle as possible on the commons. Such an arrangement may work reasonably satisfactorily for centuries because tribal wars, poaching, and disease keep the numbers of both man and beast well below the carrying capacity of the land. Finally, however, comes the day of reckoning, that is, the day when the long-desired goal of social stability becomes a reality. At this point, the inherent logic of the commons remorselessly generates tragedy.
As a rational being, each herdsman seeks to maximise his gain. Explicitly or implicitly, more or less consciously, he asks, "What is the utility to me of adding one more animal to my herd?" This utility has one negative and one positive component.
1. The positive component is a function of the increment of one animal. Since the herdsman receives all the proceeds from the sale of the additional animal, the positive utility is nearly +1.
2. The negative component is a function of the additional overgrazing created by one more animal. Since, however, the effect of overgrazing is shared by all the herdsmen, while the negative utility for any particular decision-making herdsman is only a fraction of 1.
Adding together the component partial utilities, the rational herdsman concludes that the only sensible course for him to pursue is to add another animal to his herd. And another.... But this is the conclusion reached by each and every rational herdsman sharing a commons. Therein is the tragedy. Each man is locked into a system that compels him to increase his herd without limit—in a world that is limited. Ruin is the destination toward which all men rush, each pursuing his own best interest in a society that believes in the freedom of the commons. Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all (Hardin, 1968).
The lessons of the Tragedy of the Commons have been learnt many times over the millennia, but apparently have been forgotten as often. According to Hardin (1968), such tragedies have been repeated over the course of the human history. This is because human beings had suffered from a natural tendency of psychological denial as individuals continued to try to gain the maximum individual benefits at the cost to the society, whose sufferings extended to the individuals concerned. One of the solutions for Hardin is through education whereby such awareness and knowledge about the Tragedy of the Commons gets refreshed by generation after generation so that such wrong doings are to be avoided (Hardin, 1968). In conclusion, Hardin stresses that freedom in the commons brings ruin to all and the only solution is "mutual coercion, mutually agreed upon."(Hardin, 1968; 1992).
Interestingly (from a research point of view), for Hardin, the notion of the Tragedy of the Commons can be generalised and applied in a wide range of spheres in our life. Where he has suggested that such a notion may be used to enlighten a class of human problems which can be called "no technical solution problems"(Hardin, 1968). One member of this class of problems is the pollution problem. As Hardin puts it:
In a reverse way, the Tragedy of the Commons reappears in problems of pollution. Here it is not a question of taking something out of the commons, but of putting something in—sewage, or chemical, radioactive, and heat wastes into water; noxious and dangerous fumes into the air; and distracting and unpleasant advertising signs into the line of sight. The calculations of utility are much the same as before. The rational man finds that his share of the cost of the wastes he discharges into the commons is less than the cost of purifying his wastes before releasing them. Since this is true for everyone, we are locked into a system of "fouling our own nest," so long as we behave only as independent, rational, free-enterprisers.
The Tragedy of the Commons as a food basket is averted by private property, or something formally like it. But the air and waters surrounding us cannot readily be fenced, and so the Tragedy of the Commons as a cesspool must be prevented by different means, by coercive laws or taxing devices that make it cheaper for the polluter to treat his pollutants than to discharge them untreated. We have not progressed as far with the solution of this problem as we have with the first. Indeed, our particular concept of private property, which deters us from exhausting the positive resources of the earth, favours pollution. The owner of a factory on the bank of a stream—whose property extends to the middle of the stream—often has difficulty seeing why it is not his natural right to muddy the waters flowing past his door. The law, always behind the times, requires elaborate stitching and fitting to adapt it to this newly perceived aspect of the commons (Hardin, 1968).
We intend to study the Chinese environmental problem in the framework of the Tragedy of the Commons, and try to identify ways forward, which may contribute to the improvement of the Chinese environmental situation.
1.3 On Studying the Chinese Environmental Problem
Most undertakings are meant to realise more than one goal, usually in the form of sub-goals. Sometimes however, as in the present study, there are goals at different levels, and in different spheres of life. This study reports on an undertaking, where there were two such goals. First there was my deep-felt concern about the environmental situation in China, especially its pollution problems both at present and in the future. Second there was my intention to help explore and deal with this problem in a scientific context. While the first goal will be familiar to many people and even shared, the second is not. It deserves some extra explanation, which this section is meant to provide. It will do so at a relatively general level. Additional comments and justifications will follow where appropriate.
Research and study appear to heave an obvious intuitive meaning—satisfying one’s curiosity, and making the results stand on their own feet, without solipsistic overtones, but their formal notion has remained ambiguous. This is not for lack of trying. Two types of development may be mentioned. The first refers to a loss of centralised direction as compared to the generally favoured understanding of research at the height of its success in the physical sciences. This kind of understanding nowadays is called modern, as opposed to the more recent forms of post-modern understanding. The aim of the modern understanding was to make precise what is confused, and to give unique meanings to concepts and words. In this tradition one is not happy with a statement such as the sun rises everyday. One wants to define what is meant by the sun, by everyday, by rising? There have been many situations where projects in this tradition turned out fine. We do have unique answers to such questions, and we are able to distinguish these answers from others, for example, poetic ones, the attractiveness of which is in suggesting many meanings and in addressing us in differentiating ways.
What is successful may become too successful, however in the same sense that it has been said that power corrupts, and that extreme power corrupts extremely. It has been tried, for example, to follow the same uniqueness tradition when studying what it is that makes for interesting conversations, or what we mean by values such as honesty and fairness, or even poems. Most results have indeed been disastrous and have been shown to turn into extreme attempts to impose meanings on others. This has led people to reconsider the tradition and the project of science in it. The new tradition is called post-modern. It emphasises the possibility that there may be situations where there are no unique answers, at least on the level of the individual. A typical example is the situation of the commons which turns into the Tragedy of the Commons with more and more people share the rules of profit maximisation.
This brings us to the second type of development. It has been argued, for example, that if it is better not to share, then there is no use in searching for what is similar or satisfies as a general criterion. Or in other words, one can not assume any uniqueness anymore, or search for it, not even in science at the peril of imposing on others. This has led to what from the modern point of view may be called a devaluation or deflation of science and to an increasing lack of direction and discipline, and to an increasing ambiguity of what are called science and scientific knowledge, and of course from the post-modern point of view to liberation from the other tradition, to being allowed to bring in whatever one fancies, or even to poeticise science.
The Tragedy of the Commons shows that this swing to liberation and non-imposition may go too far. There may be good reasons to avoid over-grazing, and more generally to avoid destroying the Space-ship Earth. There may be a unique answer to the question how this may be done. In other words, there may be a criterion that has to be satisfied, in a disciplined way, if one is to study what may help to avoid the commons disaster, be it in terms of pollution or of over-use. One may think of the notion of property rights, as proposed by Hardin (1968). If we distribute the commons, and make each person responsible for his or her own piece of land, then the limits to profit maximisation become clear quite quickly. The drawback to this approach is of course that it may be expensive to maintain. As soon as one piece of land is destroyed, people may try to take over what is still green on their neighbours' side. There have been other suggestions, therefore, such as to allow for better communication among all those who have a stake in the commons. One may discuss principles and thereby change activities at the individual level. This suggests another criterion: that people may try to avoid over-grazing, but should try to identify an approach that is least costly to maintain and effective, which does not lead to destruction of what in a sense is outside the commons problem, that is, other people. War might indeed be considered the extreme form of imposition. It may be argued, therefore, that the way of science does not need to be either modern or post-modern. It may still search to satisfy a criterion, for example, that of least effort to maintain one’s resources, while at the same time avoiding a sameness that is too local, that does not allow individuals their own position and their own point of view.
This kind of combination belongs to the class that De Zeeuw argues extends science in its traditional and mainly modern form, but does not turn it into something that seems to appear as non-science to most people’s intuition (e.g. politics). He speaks of third-phase science (de Zeeuw, 1985; 1986a; 1986b; 1992; 1995;1996 in particular; 1997). It is this combination that is the basis of this study that I am reporting here. It implies that I may use approaches that appear to be in the post-modern tradition but that I have to evaluate these in terms of whether or not they help to prevent the commons problems, and hence sustain the situation of the commons. One such approach is the so-called Soft Systems Methodology(SSM), as developed by Checkland (Checkland and Scholes, 1990). It does take the commons situation into account in that it provides a form of communication among the members of an organisation, or more generally, among those who together have made a mess of things, and have created their problem. It is not part of the combination of modern and post-modern that I have in mind, however, in that it does not indicate any general criterion against which it is to be studied. It is only able to suggest a re-cycling, that is to repeat: if it does not help to achieve the desired result, one should try again and maybe learn.
Although this suggestion is useful as a general advice, it does not help to clarify what one should judge such learning by. In other words, one may stay trapped in the form of communication that SSM proposes in the same way that the moderns do appear trapped in following an approach, the results of which impose too much. This criticism will not prevent me from using either type of approach, and of combining them. My main task seems to be, indeed, that of getting out of the traps as well as to know that I have done so.
Applying SSM in the sense in which it is usually applied has not been possible for me, of course. China is too big to consider all its stakeholders, or even only single representatives of its many parts. In my field trips to China I also discovered that it is difficult to bring together a number of people, and get them to talk in the way of SSM. Authority is ingrained in the Chinese culture, and does not appear to allow for the free-flowing discussion that SSM suggests. I have used this approach in another way, therefore, which will be recognisable in the pages that follow. First I try to paint the rich picture that SSM requires, on the basis of reports from a large number of authors. Then I analyse this picture, to identify basic systems, or root definitions, to eventually develop a conceptual model, that is what I consider a suitable approach to improve the environmental situation in China. It is this model that I present to the readers for further debate—some of which I anticipate in my discussion of the model against the available literature. To avoid being trapped in this approach, that is to avoid being hooked too much to the form of communication that SSM introduces, which is heavily dependent on the notion of a problem and of a problem situation, I will also apply the modern approach, however. This suggests additional questions, for example, whether my problem formulation is sufficient in capturing the situation in China such that solutions do not lead to side-effects that are expensive to control, and whether the form of communication that I propose does indeed allow for a sustainable development. In other words, I will use the modern form of communication (emphasising the uniqueness of answers to questions) to avoid being trapped in a soft approach that allows for (too) many voices and many points of view and hence does not suggest anything. And I will use the latter to avoid being trapped in thinking that solutions should be the same at all levels of a society, in particular a developing society such as China.
1.4 On Method
We have indicated that we are to study the Chinese environmental situation as an example of the Commons Problems identified by Hardin. This still leaves open how we are going to organise the labour involved. There are many ways one may do this. We will follow the sequence identified in Checkland's Soft Systems Methodology (SSM). A summary follows of what this means. It may help to clarify why we chose this approach—in the light of the fact that SSM was not developed as a research design, but rather as a way for people to communicate on, discuss and negotiate how to act. SSM was designed by Checkland in the 1960s to deal with 'messy and ill-defined problems', for which at the time there were no solutions, neither as the result of practical experience, nor as the product of research (Checkland, 1981). One of the basic problems this posed was what unit of analysis to consider, or more generally what aspects of behaviour to include. Checkland defined as his units human beings, who undertake purposeful actions based on their individual worldviews, and who work together to act and to solve the problems that arise in the course of their acting. Sometimes, more general, deeper, or more complex problems arise than the individuals are prepared for—which therefore are considered messy and ill-defined. The help they need follows from this assumption. It should allow people to redesign the way they have been working together, and enable them to take on the challenge of solving problems when these have become messy and tangled. This re-design is cut up into a number of steps or stages. Their main purpose is to identify and change what people tend to see, given their worldviews, on the basis of which they have created their mess. This involves tending to what is seen, what the worldviews are, how they may be changed, and how debate may be organised to choose those worldviews that may be preferred, or improved. Technically, these activities are structured into drawing up rich pictures, searching for root definitions, making conceptual models, comparing them with reality and developing what are labelled culturally desirable and systemically feasible plans for actions (Checkland and Scholes, 1990).
The goal of this process is to change how people interact, and thereby help them see and act so that their 'messes' are turned into well-defined problems again, that is, into problems that they can handle themselves. Later on Checkland realised that this type of systematically supported change is very much like any process of empowerment or enabling in business organisations as well as in research organisations. Alternatively, it suggests that there are many more such processes, each different from others in terms of the steps identified, and of the forms of communication used. It is easy to see that the change SSM supports is most easy to implement when the organisation that has entangled itself in its own mess is already structured on the same lines as SSM. It will be difficult when that organisation is not interested in change, and hence may not even recognise when it needs help. Authoritarian power structures may allow some application of SSM, but only in the marginal areas and will adapt its results only when they are deemed supportive to its own maintenance (Jackson,1991). The ideal of both SSM and of where it is to be applied, is a situation of democratic self-exposure or of alter-identification of one's blind-spots or narrow-mindedness or ignorance or whatever deficiency there is in terms of one's individual worldview. One might hesitate therefore to consider following the steps suggested, in particular in countries like China involving autocratic leaders who also happen to be part of a somewhat revengeful culture. An example is Mao who could not take much criticism even when he himself invited intellectuals to make constructive criticisms of the newly-established Communist government in the 1950s. To this day, people remember the dangers of exposing one's inner worldviews to the public. This suggests that the application of ideas such as those of SSM may indeed remain marginal, only to be accepted after having been judged positively on criteria inherent to the social system involved. The alternative the author has chosen is to try and anticipate on this judgement by making his case as strong as possible. It is the researcher's intention, therefore, to follow the steps suggested by SSM when investigating the Chinese environmental situation in terms of the Commons problems. The former happens to be messy and ill-defined. The advantage lies in SSM's systematic way of identifying what combinations of worldviews lead to organisations, the structure of which may hamper finding solutions to such problems or even make finding them impossible.
Alternatively, systematic exposure could be a lethal weapon for management to unearth potential oppositions and take punitive actions accordingly, at least a distinctive possibility if it is used in China. The way to go, therefore, is to try and make it impossible for anyone or any one group of users (actors) to benefit more than others from the implementation of the proposed solution. In a nutshell, the attempt is similar to that of linking a lake to an ocean, so that the lake can no longer be abused.
1.5 Composition of the Thesis
This thesis will be divided into seven chapters, including this chapter. They follow more or less the steps of SSM, as indicated, to explore and expose the worldviews that are at the back of the Chinese environmental problems. At the same time, to check on impartiality, results are evaluated in terms of the Commons problems. Chapter 1 is a brief introduction to this project as we are doing now. Chapter 2 introduces the Chinese environmental problems in line with SSM's suggestion to bring together a wide range of observations and experiences concerning the situation in China (what is called a 'rich picture'). Chapter 3 is a review of environmental management approaches in a number of countries to gain an insight and identify the different worldviews that guide the management of environmental problems. Chapter 4 presents an overview of the Chinese environmental management situation, to expose the worldview or rationality behind the current Chinese environmental management approach, its relation to alternative views and its historical and contextual development. In Chapter 5 we analyse and search for alternative solutions and compare them. It is here that we will propose our own solution and our conceptual model (an ideal system to solve the problems concerned). Chapter 6 is about the implementation of the solution identified in Chapter 5. It presents a comparison between the ideal system and reality, to explore whether the preferred solution is of sufficient quality, in particular whether it is culturally desirable and systemically feasible as suggested by SSM (Checkland and Scholes, 1990). Chapter 7 is a review of this research project as a whole, with some suggestions for future research.
1.6 Conclusion
The aim of the present Chapter has been to introduce and summarise the origin and goals of this thesis and also to present the results of our problem analysis. It identifies two of the fundamental elements, the theoretical framework (or viewpoint) to be adopted (which is to be Hardin's Tragedy of the Commons) and the approach chosen to do the necessary research and justify its results. The importance in the latter is not only the choice of a research question (which reflects the personal interest of the researcher), but especially also the way in which results are communicated to users (as a guide to action) as well as to outsiders (as a way to recognise results).
Chapter 2
The Chinese Environmental Situation
2.1 Introduction
A good starting point for a project is a detailed description of the problem situation (the first step in Checkland's SSM, finding a ‘rich picture’). This relates to the historical development of the problem situation as well as its current status. This will allow the introduction of relevant stakeholders within the problem situation and later on discussions on their worldviews and so on so forth.
In this chapter, we will try to present the readers with a review of the Chinese environmental situation and its management systems, its structure, its main components, and how they work. The aim of this chapter is not to criticise or analyse the Chinese situation just yet, but rather to present a factual description of the Chinese environmental reality at the present. Although some selection cannot be avoided, however 'factual' one tries to be, the description is as 'rich' as seems suitable for any type of argument, including eventually mine.
2.2 The Chinese Environmental Issue
Like the global environmental issue, the Chinese environmental issue is heavily influenced by the interactions among the three critical environmental factors: a huge population, poverty, and industrialisation, the process of which is exerting a tremendous impact on the natural environment. The fact that the Chinese environmental issue is both of national and global concern is perhaps best described by AISU as follows (http://www.pnl.gov/china/aboutcen.htm):
Due to its size and rapid economic growth, China's development path will affect the world's environment more than that of any other nation. Since 1978 when Deng Xiaoping initiated economic reforms and opening to the outside world, China's economy has expanded at an average annual rate of 9.4 percent. In less than twenty years, the country has evolved from a largely self-sufficient, centrally-controlled Marxist economy to one that now relies on market forces and is integrated with the world economy. While the changes have been dramatic, they are incomplete and have not come without costs.
China's rapid economic growth has been fuelled by coal. This dirty, damaging fuel accounts for three-quarters of the country's primary energy supply. Over 1.4 billion tons are burned each year (28 quads), often inefficiently and with little or no pollution control equipment. Of the 7 countries whose annual energy consumption exceeded 10 quads (10.5 EJ) in 1995, only China relied so heavily on coal (South Africa and Poland also use a high proportion of coal in their energy mix, but total energy consumption amounts to a small fraction of China's.)
Environmental dislocations have become increasingly worrisome. Environmental externalities from coal combustion affect human health, agriculture and ecosystems, infrastructure and materials, and quality of life. Sulphur, particulate and carbon emissions from coal use in China have reached alarming levels. Acid rain from coal combustion has become one of China's greatest environmental problems. Average annual sulphur dioxide concentrations are more than 3 times World Health Organisation standards in at least 10 Chinese cities and trans-border migration of sulphur compounds has raised tremendous concern in both Korea and Japan. China will probably become the world's largest greenhouse gas producer by 2020, elevating concerns over China's energy policy beyond the local and regional level. While China currently spends less than 1 percent of it's GDP on environmental protection, both Chinese government officials and foreign experts alike acknowledge that pollution may be costing the country 10 times as much. One promising aspect of China's energy development related to the environment has been in energy efficiency. On average, energy intensity, a measure of energy consumed per unit of economic output, has dropped by over 4 percent each year since 1977. Without this reduction, China would now be consuming twice as much energy as it actually does…energy consumption in 1995 would have been about 2.5 million tons of coal equivalent (Mtce), compared to the actual level of 1.25 Mtce, if intensity remained constant at the 1980 level.
While achieving remarkable success over the past two decades in reducing energy intensity, China still has one of the most wasteful energy sectors in the world. A study by China's Energy Research Institute indicates that China has the potential to cost-effectively achieve a further 30-50 percent reduction in energy consumption by raising its industrial energy efficiency to international levels.
The above reflects a Western point of view on the challenge involved in the Chinese environmental issue, with particular regards to energy consumption and its efficient use. This American point of view has to be re-interpreted in the light of the fact that on average an American consumes energy as much as ten Chinese or twelve Indians. However, there is much to be done in the management of the Chinese environmental issue, which will contribute to the Chinese national policy of sustainable development (Zhang, 1994, pp.4-5). We will examine the Chinese environmental issue in more details in the following sections.
2.2.1 A Society in Constant Dynamic Changes Since 1949
The current Socialist new China was born formally on 1st October, 1949, under Mao’s leadership. In its five decades of history, the Chinese society has gone through many dynamic events, such as the first Five-Year Plan in 1954, the political movement against the Rightists in 1957, the Great Leap Forward in 1958, the economic difficulties in 1960, the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976, the downfall of the Gang of Four in 1976, the rise of Deng Xiaoping and economic reforms since 1978, the Fourth of June Event in 1989, the death of Deng and the new leadership by Jiang Zemin, Zhu Rongji, and others. Accompanying this eventful historical period of the contemporary Chinese society, there have been the collapse of the former communist blocks in Eastern Europe, the collapse of the mighty Soviet Union who was the long-time leader in the socialist pursuit of communism, and the end of the so-called Cold War. Half a century later since 1949, there are not many socialist countries left in the world in the pursuit of the communist Utopia. With the coming of the new century and an unknown future, China has been thinking long and hard about its future as a society of one fifth of the world’s population. Despite the ideological debates in the dominant Chinese political newspapers, the way forward for economic reform is more and more reliance on the market forces. As we have noted from the previous chapter, one major force in the current global market is the so-called green consumerism (a product of environmentalism), whereby sensitivity towards the environment is gaining many companies the green competitive edge, which is as important as other competitive edges such as in technological innovations. It is with this perspective in mind that we will be exploring the Chinese environmental issue and its management.
2.2.2 A Chinese View of the Environmental Issue
In this section, we will explore the Chinese official view about the environmental issue by the Deputy Head of the Chinese National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA). According to Zhang (1994, p.5), the environment has two most significant uses for the human beings. One is that the environment can provide materials, which will support many aspects of human living conditions, such as food, clothing, houses, etc.. This includes direct usage such as coal and oil, and indirect usage such as refined chemical products. Another main use of the environment is its ability to recycle wastes, because of the existence of the various food chains. Hence, the so-called environmental issue or problem is when the human beings cannot make full use of the environment in these two areas, e.g., in the examples of water shortage and high levels of organic substances in the water.
The natural environment has a number of unique features, which determine the nature of the so-called environmental issue. It is owned and used by the whole global community. Its value is very difficult to measure in monetary terms. It has sufficient closure to maintain its independence from outside influences. However, this kind of closure has a limit, which can mean that it may be broken by external forces. The uniqueness of our natural environment means that the so-called environmental problems have resulted from our ignorance or ignoring the basic laws of the nature. It implies that our way of dealing with the environmental issue is part of our progress in human civilisation, which leads to a respect of all natural laws as well as other social laws, such as economic laws. China as a nation must respect the direction of the development of human civilisation, which includes sustainable development of spiritual and material well-being at the balance of speedy economic development and better environmental protection. The challenge of the environmental issue actually offer the Chinese nation another chance to become an active part of the global community, which means that the Chinese people can share the common concern about the environment with people all over the world (Zhang, 1994).
2.2.3 The Chinese Environmental Situation
The environmental situation confronting China is perhaps one of the worst dilemmas in the world. On the one hand, the Chinese economy is making remarkable progress, e.g. a growth rate of GNP at about 10% per annum from 1988. Even so, it is still a great challenge to meet the growing demands of the largest population on the earth and fulfil the nation’s aspiration for modernisation in the 21st century. On the other hand, the process of modernisation itself is having a significant impact upon the natural environment and causing damage which may give concern for the needs of the future generations (Qu and Li , 1994, p.174 & p.213). Worse still, modernisation may not help China carry out the World Conservation Strategy of sustained economic growth while protecting the environment, as we can see in the example of USA.
In the USA, five per cent of the world’s population consumes nearly 30% of total world primary energy, and produces effluents and waste at a level that probably will never be matched at a per capita level anywhere else (Simpson, 1990, p.8).
China itself is fully aware of the serious challenge it faces in the issue of environmental management in the coming century. Urban pollution is getting worse, and expanding into the countryside. The environmental problems facing China today have become a hindrance to further economic development. The challenge to achieve successful environmental management can affect the survival and development of the nation as a whole (Jin, 1997).
The Chinese environmental problems are results from its unique history of social and economic development. According to the Chinese official environmental research, there are five major historical and social economic factors, which have determined the nature of the Chinese environmental problems (Qu and Li, 1992, pp.34-35 & pp.43-47):
Economy: The national economy has made significant progress since 1949, particularly after 1978. However, the level reached for the national economy is not high enough with regard to a poor level at the start and poor economic efficiency. This has resulted in a lack of economic power to deal with environmental issues. We can see this through a comparison between the Chinese investment in environmental protection and that of other countries in the following table.
Country Period Percentage as of GNP (%)
the World 1970-1980 0.5—-2
the Developed Countries 1970-1980 1—-2
the Developing Countries 1970-1980 0.5—-1
Eastern Europe 1980 0.67
Africa 1980 0.2
Oceania 1980 0.7
the U.S. 1970-1979 2
Britain 1970-1979 2.4
Austria; France 1970-1979 1.4
Japan 1972
1975 1.8
2.9
West Germany 1975-1979 2.1
Belgium; Sweden 1974 1.0
China 1981-1988
1990 0.65
0.7
Table 1. Percentage of GNP investing in environmental protection by world major countries and regions (following Qu and Li, 1992, p.45)
Despite the recent efforts by the Chinese government in spending 10 billion Yuan every year on environmental protection, the investment is still insufficient considering the size of the country, its population, and its environmental current status owing to the industrialisation process from 1949.
Population: The population base with its one fifth share of the global population is comparatively large and the population is on the increase all the time. More importantly, there is a large portion of agricultural population in China, which has added tremendous pressure on national economic development and hence the impact on the natural environment. The Chinese population problem, with regard to the Chinese environmental problem, has two characteristics. Firstly, it is a historical problem and is worsening all the time. It can never be solved at once and can be only dealt with through a continuous process with commitment and efforts; secondly, the problem is inter-connected with social and economic development of the Chinese society. The problem of population and the environmental problem cannot be dealt with in an isolated fashion. This means that a policy with a pure population orientation or environmental orientation will never work. However, if China does not deal with the population and environmental problems with serious commitment, then they will in turn hinder the economic and social development of the Chinese society (Qu and Li, 1992, p.XII). The issue of population control is a continuous work in progress by the Chinese government. In the 1997 China Environment Forum, Dr Song Jian, who was State Councillor and Chairman of China’s State Science and Technology Commission, told the Forum that China would achieve zero population growth within thirty years, topping out at around 1.5 billion or 1.6 billion. He emphasised that the first decades of next century would be critical for the country’s further development. According to official estimates, China’s population reached 1.2 billion by the end of 1996. The introduction of the ‘One-Child’ Policy in 1980 had effectively reduced the actual population growth by some 300 million, representing a natural population growth rate to 10.42 per thousand (NEPA, 1998).
Industrialisation: The model for industrialisation adopted in China since 1949 was one that emphasised on progress through higher quantities achieved at higher costs and low efficiency, rather than through improved efficiency. Following this model, it became inevitable that industrialisation was achieved through a heavy waste of resources and energy combined with a low economic efficiency, which in turn resulted in severe damages to the natural environment. Official statistics demonstrated that for generating the same amount of GDP, the Chinese energy consumption was four times more than the Japanese consumption, 3.7 times more than the French, and 2.1 times more than that of West Germany (before German unification). Over the recent years, there has been an emphasis to improve efficiency. But fundamentally, the Chinese problem of low-efficiency industrialisation has not been solved, which means that the industrialisation process has produced a large amount of wastes, causing serious damages to the natural environment. The main cause for adopting this kind of model is the mentality of lack of appreciation of the value of natural resources, particularly in the national economic accounting system. In the economic activities, for a long time, there was a dominating mentality that advocated ‘high price for products, low price for raw materials, nil value for natural resources’, which led to mismanagement of natural resources and careless wasteful behaviours. If we do not change this kind of mentality and social economic system, the Chinese environmental problems can never be solved. Another major factor in the industrialisation process, which has caused the Chinese pollution problems and damages to the ecosystem was the structure of such an industrialisation programme. In the 1950’s, a lot of mistakes were made, whereby there was no systemic planning and management of the industrialisation process, heavily laden with the emphasis on the production of steel. The whole process was chaotic and the industrial wastes were let free without being properly treated and managed, which caused severe damages to the natural environment. For example, there was a policy to place some heavily polluting manufacturing industries into the deep valleys of mountainous areas, which caused severe local pollution to the air and water because of the lack of diluting and spreading geographical conditions. Following that policy, some manufacturing industries were spread out, which meant that industrial pollution and wastes could not be dealt with through a focused approach. There was also a mistaken policy, which commanded to transform cities into manufacturing cities. Worse still, many heavily polluting manufacturing industries were build at the wrong end of wind blows and water sources, which brought about severely damaging polluted air and water to the urban citizens. It requires a lot of efforts in the right direction to deal with these historical legacies of mismanagement of the industrialisation process (Qu and Li, 1992, pp43-44).
Energy: China has abundant natural resources in absolute terms. However, the percentage of natural resources per head is low. The coal-centred energy system implies significant pollution and damages to the natural environment, which means that the Chinese environment takes more pressure from its energy system than other major countries in the world.
World China the U.S. Japan France
Petroleum 38.0% 17.1% 43.2% 55.6% 43.2%
natural gas 20.0% 2.3% 22.4% 10.2% 12.5%
Coal 30.0% 76.0% 23.3% 18.8% 10.0%
Nuclear power 5.0% 0.0% 6.1% 10.3% 32.8%
Hydroelectric
and others 7.0% 4.6% 5.0% 4.9% 1.7%
Table 2. An international comparison of national primary-source energy system (following Qu and Li, 1992, p.46)
This coal-centred energy system mainly affects the cities and industrial areas. The problem situation is worse in the North of China than the South. In the countryside, the main problem is the lack of energy resources, so that many have to burn rice/wheat sticks and tree branches for cooking and keeping warm. This has resulted in damaging the organic resources for farming, caused flooding, the loss of soil, and the desertisation of farmland, which in turn breaks down the normal cycles of the ecosystem.
Science and Technology: China has been an agricultural nation for thousands of years. The Chinese agriculture was mainly based on manpower and God’s blessing rather than technological advance like in the West. The lack of technological progress has led to a lot of problems such as the saltening of the soil, low efficiency in the use of water, a large number of deforestation through forest worm problem and forest fire. These have caused severe damages to the ecosystem and caused many environmental problems like floods. On the whole, China has an imbalance between a few leading-edge science and technology and a mainly backward majority of science and technology. The education level is low with poor environmental consciousness. There is a lack of scientific and technological support for the environmental protection and improvement. Currently, the Chinese industry of environmental protection products has just been developed. It does not have the ability to produce sufficient amount of highly efficient and effective products with high quality at reasonably low prices. There is also a problem that the environmental protection market has been flooded with low quality and low technology products, which can lead to serious problems in environmental protection.
Complexity: China has a large variety of complex ecosystem, which provide many advantages as well as some distinctive disadvantages for economic development. The natural environmental systems in many regions are very vulnerable and have low limits for exploration and development. The Chinese environmental issue is thus complicated by its huge population, various ecosystems, and unbalanced economic development among different regions. The complexity of the Chinese environmental issue can be seen from two angles: environmental pollution and ecosystem damages.
Environmental Pollution: Environmental pollution includes pollution in several aspects: water pollution, air pollution, solid waste pollution, and noise pollution. The Chinese water pollution has been mainly caused by industrial wastewater. According to national statistics, the total discharge of industrial wastewater was 24.9 billion tons in 1990. This had been the case throughout the 1980’s with little variation. Most of the industrial waste water which had not been treated had been discharged directly into rivers and underground water and caused serious water pollution, now affecting the rivers, lakes, underground water. This caused a serious threat to bio-diversity and the hygiene of the drinking water, which in turn threatened people’s living and health (Qu and Li, 1994, pp.35-37).
The Chinese air pollution has been mainly caused by coal smoke. The air pollution in the cities is very bad, with the northern cities worse than the southern ones. With regard to the fact that the Chinese industrialisation is almost at the 1950’s level as in the West, the Chinese urban air pollution is almost as bad as that of the end of 1960’s in the West, when industrial pollution was at its worst. Many cities and regions have experienced acid rain, with the South of the Yangtze River being worse than the North. The worst region for acid rain is in the South West of China, where the average monthly pH value of the rain over a year is below 5 (Qu and Li, 1994, pp.37-39).
In 1990, the national statistics showed that the Chinese industrial solid waste produced amounted to 0.58 billion tons. The total discharge was 0.05 billion tons with 0.01 billion tons into rivers. The total amount of industrial waste in storage was 6.48 billion tons, which occupied 59,170 hectares (among which was 4040 hectares of farmland). Over the recent years, there had been an upward trend in the production, discharge and storage of industrial solid wastes. These, plus the daily-life solid wastes, had not been properly treated, placed, and reused. Only 26 per cent of national industrial solid wastes had been reused after treatment. Less than 6 per cent of urban rubbish and manure had been treated and deemed as harmless. This resulted in most of the untreated and non-reused solid wastes of all types being stored in urban and rural areas or discharged into rivers, lakes and seas, which in turn became secondary pollution sources.
Year Production
(10,000 tons) Discharges
(10,000 tons) Accumulative Storage
(10,000 tons)
1981 37,664 —— 348,332
1982 38,369 —— 364,019
1983 38,545 —— 545,138
1984 42,435 —— 482,897
1985 46,153 —— 506,718
1986 60,364 13,306 741,541
1987 53,541 8678 633,658
1988 56,132 8545 658,646
1989 57,173 5265 674,892
1990 57,797 4767 648,173
1991 58,760 3380 596,250
Table 3. Chinese National Statistics of industrial solid wastes production, discharges, and storage (following Qu and Li, 1992, p.39; Guojia Tongjiju 1992, pp.822-23, quoted in Edmonds, 1994, p.170).
Noise pollution is as important an environmental issue as water, air, and solid waste pollution. Noise pollution mainly occurs in the urban areas, which includes noise pollution from the transport system, daily life, industry and other areas. In 1990, transport noise pollution amounted to 32.7% per cent, daily life noise pollution 40.6%, and other noise pollution 26.7% per cent of the total urban noise pollution. Most of the Chinese cities suffer from high noise pollution. In the recent years, with the condensation of urban roads and fast development of industrial expansion and redevelopment and the increasing number of private businesses, this high level urban noise pollution has been expanding into the towns and other near-city rural areas (Qu and Li, 1992, p.40).
Ecosystem Damages: The damages to the Chinese ecosystem in the recent years can be seen in the following areas: reduction of forest and farmland, degradation of grassland and soil, and extinction of some animal species and plants (Qu and Li, 1992, pp.40-43). The problems there are also very serious, which can be evidenced by the annual floods in the 1990’s (Jin, 1997).
2.3 Chinese National Environmental Management
Besides this dilemma between increasing demands from a growing population and the need for environmental protection, China also faces a dilemma in its efforts to manage the environmental issues. On the one hand, China has enacted four environmental laws, more than twenty environmental regulations and more than 200 environmental standards since 1973. It also has 1363 environmental monitoring organisations with 16,000 staff all over the country (up to 1992). On the other hand, there is a lack of substantial financial investment on environmental issues ( e.g. only 0.7% of GNP) combined with a lack of efficiency in utilising its limited environmental investment (Liu et al., 1994, p.581). The resulting consequence of the above dilemma is that we see China is still facing a huge task in managing its environmental issues, particularly in three aspects: industrial pollution management; urban environmental management and natural environmental management (Zhang, 1994, p.7).
The Chinese dilemma is further complicated by the need for the developed countries to help China in its environmental management. Despite the progress made in the recent economic reform, China is still developing. China is looking to the West for foreign investment and technological transfer to deal with its dilemma. Whilst it is obvious that the environmental issue facing China will have a major impact upon the world environment, it is no easy job to convince the West to support China’s commitment and efforts to manage its environmental issues. Such a reluctance from the West may further hinder progress in China’s efforts to manage its environmental issues with regards to its impact on the world environment as a whole (Ye, 1994, pp.18-19).
China has adopted a unique national approach to the environmental management with regard to its unique national characteristics. There are three main features of this unique approach as follows:
• There is an emphasis and attention on the population and environmental issue in the process of economic development: this indicates that economic development policies should encourage the protection of our natural environment while discouraging a tendency to rely on manpower which leads to increasing population particularly in the countryside;
• It is to further improve the population control system in China through better control, better education, and better development of human potentials;
• The environmental policy is to rely on the human beings through advocating a long-term holistic view of the environmental issue and encourage the participation of the public in environmental management. It is to utilise the abundant human resources for protecting environment, such as planting trees and grass in a large scale (Qu and Li, 1992, ppxii-xiv).
The recent Fourth National Environmental Protection Conference of China pinpointed the following areas for improvement in the environmental management processes:
• consolidate the environmental law system;
• improve environmental monitoring and management processes;
• make technological advance as a key to further progress;
• increase environmental investment;
• develop an environmental education programme.
These appear to be a sound basis in the attempt to carry out the World Conservation Strategy (1980) calling for all countries to aim at sustainable development. It is the implementation of these strategies, which will be crucial to the success of China's environmental management. However, there will be no quick fix due to the fact that the Chinese environmental problems have resulted from its historical development and China is still lacking the economic firepower needed for modern environmental protection. The environmental task will demand a long-term commitment and efforts (Qu and Li, 1992, p.xii).
2.3.1 The Chinese Environmental Regulatory Bodies
China has a comprehensive regulatory system with regulatory bodies at all levels of the administrative hierarchy, which have also been experiencing the ongoing reform process.
National Level: At the top of the hierarchy of the Chinese environmental regulatory bodies is the State Council and the National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA). The State Council is part of the Central Government, which is responsible for the administration of environmental regulation with power to draft legislation and regulations. Besides the control over the NEPA, the State Council has also authority over some specialised organisations. These include the Science and Technology Committee; resource administrations such as the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Forestry, and the Marine Bureau; and industrial ministries such as the Metallurgical Industry, the Ministry of Chemical Industry and the Ministry of Energy Resources. These organisations work autonomously and are supposed to exercise powers in accordance with the Environmental Protection Law and other relevant legislation. Their action however is somehow constrained by other State Council decisions on non-environmental matters (Spedding, 1995, p.22).
The NEPA bears responsibility for the centralised supervision and administration of China’s environmental issues. The agency was established in 1979, and has been the engine room of China’s environmental management system (Spedding, 1995, pp.20-21). Today, according to the NEPA itself, it is mainly responsible for unified supervision and management of nation-wide environmental protection according to laws and regulations. It is also responsible for the prevention and control of pollution and other public hazards, and the protection and improvement of living environment and ecological system in order to achieve a sustainable, integrated and sound development of economy and society. NEPA's major responsibilities are:
1. To Formulate national guidelines, policies, laws and regulations on environmental protection and provide supervision over their implementation;
2. To work out national plans and programmes for environmental protection; to participate in the formulation of medium and long-term programmes and annual plans for national economic and social development;
3. To formulate and issue national standards for environmental protection;
4. To be in charge of environmental protection concerning the atmosphere, water, soil and oceans; to provide supervision and management for the control and prevention of pollution;
5. To supervise and administer the work in nature conservation of the country and to make programmes and plans for the establishment of nature reserves and to put forward proposals for setting up new national nature reserves to the State Council for approval;
6. To organise the implementation of environmental management and enforcement, provide monitoring and perform environmental impact assessments;
7. To formulate and organise the implementation of national policies for environmental protection;
8. To manage and supervise environmental monitoring, nation-wide;
9. To direct and co-ordinate nation-wide education on environmental protection;
10. To assist in the formulation of China's basic principles on global environmental issues and to participate in negotiations dealing with international conventions (ZPM, 1997).
The NEPA consists of the following major Departments: Administrative Office; Department of Policies, Laws and Regulations; Department of Planning and Financial Affairs; Department of Science, Technology and Standards; Department of Supervision and Management; Department of Nature Conservation; Department of International Co-operation; Department of Communication and Education (ZPM, 1997). The far-reaching authority of the NEPA, with regard to legislative drafting powers and regulatory functions, is further supported by various subordinate bodies of the NEPA which exercise regulatory and research functions. These include the following: the China National Environmental Monitoring Station; China Environmental Scientific Research Institute; China Environmental Economics and Policy Research Centre and Training Base. Besides, the NEPA also controls official environmental publications such as China Environment News and China Environmental Science Press (which makes it difficult to obtain impartial and critical evaluation of the effectiveness of environmental regulation at source—a common Western critique) (Spedding, 1995, p.21). Apart from its many regulatory and management activities, the NEPA is currently in charge of organising a series of international seminars, with a view to raise the public's environmental awareness and promote the country's protection of the environment. The NEPA invites relevant government officials, experts, scholars and leaders in the industrial circle of various social organisations to participate in the seminars, which discusses on possible approaches to address environmental problems in the course of development. It also invites internationally eminent persons and representatives in the industrial and financial circles, who have concern for and wish to show support to China's environment and development, to express their views on China's major environmental concerns and put forward constructive recommendations and solutions to problems (Xie, 1998).
Regional Level: There are NEPA agencies in the provinces and municipalities, which, in theory, are there to enforce environmental regulation on a regional basis. These regional agencies operate within local governments, and may exercise their powers to establish local environmental standards in the form of regulations or detailed rules for items not specified in the National Environmental Protection law. Generally the environmental awareness at local government level is good, since the Environmental Protection law specifies that local governments at all levels should be responsible for the environmental quality of areas under their jurisdiction. According to the Chinese official statistics, there are 2,039 monitoring stations and 148 research institutes in the Chinese provinces (Spedding, 1995, pp.21-22).
The economic reforms since 1978 have seen China go through a period of high growth in economy, low efficiency in the utilisation of natural resources and increasing complexity in the management of environmental issues particularly in the manufacturing industry. China has made it a national policy to maintain sustained economic growth while protecting the environment (Qu and Li, 1994). China now can pride itself with a comprehensive ‘pyramid’ system of environmental management systems. It consisted of the ‘old three’ systems. The first is the environmental impact assessment system, which deploys agencies with requisite skill and knowledge (in theory) to critically evaluate the environmental impact of any new construction, re-engineering and expansion projects, which are likely to have pollutant effects. The authorities in charge of the projects will scrutinise the evaluation report and have them examined by the regional environmental authorities for approval. Then, they will pass them on to the NEPA or its subordinate agency (where appropriate) for the required permission. However, there has been question as for the impartiality and quality of evaluation of assessment reports in view of the fact that they are not publicly available and the assessment authority are reluctant to release them (Spedding, 1995, p.23). The second one is the ‘Three Simultaneous System’ (TSS), which was based on the 1973 ‘Three Simultaneous Regulations’ (TSR). TSR established ‘the preventive principle of simultaneously implementing pollution control measures during the three seminal phases of the design, construction, and operation stages of a building project (Spedding, 1995, p.19). The TSS goes further to require that the environmental protection facilities for new expansion and construction projects and re-engineering projects should be set up at the same time as the main construction work. The third one is the ‘polluter-pays’ system, which demands the polluters to pay for their non-compliance. It has also included the ‘new five’ systems. Firstly, there is the target responsibility system, which aims to list environmental quality as one of the most important indicators for evaluating the performance of government at various levels. Secondly, there is the quantitative monitoring system on pollution treatment facilities. Thirdly, there is the pollution-permits system for aggregate control in a given region. Fourthly, there is the centralised pollution control system. Finally, there is the system of the prioritised timetable to treat pollution for some large and seriously polluted industrial enterprises (Liu et al., 1994, pp.65-92).
2.3.2 The Chinese Environmental Management Systems
Before the introduction of the ‘new five’ environmental management systems, although it was easy to put laws and legislation onto paper and set up environmental management systems, the intended results were not always achieved (Lu, 1994). For example, it was often the case for environmental agencies to be marginalised by politically powerful ministries and find it increasingly difficult to enforce laws and regulations. Agency fragmentation and poor co-ordination hinders policy implementation (Boxer, 1991). Perhaps, the main progress brought about by the ‘new five’ systems is the transference of total responsibility from the hands of the environmental management organisations to those in charge of governments of all levels, departments and business organisations. The whole environmental management system seems to present an emphasis on co-ordination between all levels of governmental offices and an effort to involve more and more participation by the public in China’s determination to protect the environment in the modernisation process (Liu et al., 1994, pp.68-69).
Having now assigned the governors and managers the responsibility to manage the environmental issues in co-operation with the environmental protection organisations, there seems to be a general lack of attention on these ‘new environmental managers’ and their environmental management practices. Maybe too much attention is still placed on collecting pollution fines (e.g., in 1992 alone the Chinese government collected the equivalent of almost US 0.4 billion in such fees (Spedding, 1995, p.23)) and monitoring what is happening to the environment. There seems to be a recent awareness that the more attention must be switched onto the way how we can manage the environmental issues with a proactive rather than fire-fighting approach (Lu, 1994). There may arise a new need to assist the ‘new environmental managers’ in learning how to fulfil their new responsibility in addition to their social and economic responsibilities.
The reason for this need is that managing environmental issues is often a dilemma. It is a dilemma, which involves making decisions between conflicting choices such as less pollution and higher abatement costs. It is a dilemma because our judgement of whether particular environmental problems are serious enough to merit corrective action is determined not simply by rational analysis but by our perception of the issue, by our values and beliefs. There is no objective measure of what constitutes an acceptable level of environmental risk (Bennett, 1992, pp.4-8).
It is also a dilemma because the issue of ‘the environment’ is changing all the time, often becoming more problematic as a result of the disastrous consequences of our sometimes ignorant and often irresponsible behaviour. Directing our attention to the Chinese SOEs in the manufacturing industry, traditionally one of the main sources of the industrial pollution, the issue of environmental management can be extremely problematic indeed.
The problem is complicated by the inherent short-termism in the recent economic reforms in the industry. The reforms in the industry include the introduction of a management responsibility system, where the managers are contracted by the government to be responsible for meeting the factory’s targets (Wilson, 1996, p.198). With this contractual responsibility system, a focus on short-term gain characterised the reformer’s approach as they sought to build political support for the reform. Knowing leaders have changed and will change policy overnight; managers, workers, and merchants all use their new autonomy to exhaust state assets rather than to invest for the long term (Harmrin, 1990, pp.212-213).
In order to understand the complexity facing the Chinese environmental managers within the Chinese manufacturing SOEs, there is a need to explore the process of SOE reform since 1984, which is the task to be reported in the next section.
2.3.3 The SOE Reform So far
Since 1978, China has been working hard at carrying out the policies of reforms and opening up to the outside world. From then on, China’s real GNP has grown by around 10% per year except for a brief contraction in the late 1980’s (Bolton,1995). It was in 1984 that China entered the stage of all-embracing structural reforms of economy, which focused on revitalising the State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs). The SOEs represent 46% of current industrial output, most urban employment, half of all exports, and most large-scale activities in the economy (World Bank, 1995).
The reform of the SOEs was carried out in three stages (Chen Qingtai, 1995). At the first stage, in order to encourage liberation of the SOEs from State bureaucratic control and planning, the Chinese authorities empowered the SOEs’ managers to retain a percentage of profits and to make limited strategic planning, with the aim of a drive towards market orientation. This was the beginning of decentralised decision-making for the SOEs. Because there were some governmental departments responsible for operation of the SOEs, it was impossible for insiders to take full control of the enterprises.
At the second stage, a new Enterprise Law was implemented, which prescribed how the enterprises should be managed and operated. During that period, the main theme was to introduce the Contract Responsibility System and Managerial Responsibility System into the SOEs, since they had worked miracles in the countryside. The aim then was to liberate and empower individual managers to make full use of their potential. The running of the SOEs was assigned to the top manager in charge, confirming that the SOEs should be profit-earning units in themselves rather than relying on the State to organise their material sources and product marketing. It, for the first time, partially separated the operational rights from the ownership of the SOEs. This meant that the managers were freed from many former bureaucratic controls, and many of the government departments in charge of the SOEs were gradually abolished. This, on the one hand, gave the managers more freedom to run the enterprises with more creative entrepreneurship. On the other hand, it created managerial reliance on their subordinates so that they could maximise short-term profitability to meet contractual targets. The insecurity with short-term contracts (normally one to three years) had perhaps pushed the managers to fall into a dangerous trap that was later identified as the ‘insider control’ phenomenon. Even though overall profitability was greatly improved during that stage, more profit was shared out among the workers than was re-invested in the business. According to the official statistics, Chinese personal earnings in 1993 accounted for 65.0% of the national GDP, whilst in 1978 it only stood for 50.5% (Statistical Yearbook of China, 1994).
At the third stage, there was a concentrated effort to implement further new legislation concerned with the construction of a market-oriented managerial mechanism for the SOEs. This was intended to make a clear distinction between the responsibilities of the government and those of the enterprise managers, in order to have the SOEs run by professional managers without too much outside intervention. Prior to this initiative, the SOE managers were chiefly concerned with involvement in sorting out the workers’ social welfare, housing, nursery, medical care and so on, while a mayor or a provincial governor was mainly anxious about the running of the SOEs. The abolition of governmental intervention and the empowerment of the enterprise managers occurred almost at the same time, so the SOE managers assumed the functions which previously belonged to the State to make decisions and distribute profits without any kind of restriction.
The main theme here has been a conflict for benefits and rights between enterprise managers and the government. The purpose of the economic reforms had been gradual empowerment to emphasise better managerial incentives, yet Chinese authorities had no experience in how to control the macro-economy after changing their roles. As a result, the SOEs suffered from the violent shakes between ‘hyper-strong external control’ and ‘hyper-weak external control’. ‘Hyper-strong external control’ refers to the situation in which the SOEs have no property rights of their own, not even being allowed to act independently as corporations. They can be seen only as enlarged workshops for the ‘big company’ (the State in China’s case). The government has full control of the fate of the SOEs, including merging loss-making the SOEs with other profitable ones, changing enterprise managers and so on. The managers are actually ‘dummies’ with no real power. ‘Hyper-weak external control’ refers to the situation in which insiders try to expand their power and influence throughout their management process, both mentally and in action. Insiders want to be free from any form of external controls, such as that of government institutions, but they do not have, or only have a small part of, the ownership, the results have been that many have put their individual interests above anything else and tried to ‘transform’ the State or society’s properties into their own by every possible means (Zhao and Jin, 1997).
Despite the fact that the Chinese economy has made amazing progress since 1978, little has been questioned about the real cost to the whole society in the long run. It is argued that the economic gains of China came at a very high cost in terms of investment and labour input (World Bank,1990). Such costs can take the form of low efficiency in utilising materials and capitals, and huge damage to the environment. As Meier (1989) stated, poor productive performance has been the main growth hindrance in many developing economies, and China is no exception. Further growth of the Chinese economy may not be sustained if it occurs without sufficient improvement in efficiency, which in turn has been causing serious damages to the natural environment, as noted in the previous sections on Chinese environmental problems.
2.3.4 Environmental Enforcement
Ideally, environmental issues are managed by the people and organisations themselves, in accordance with environmental laws and legislation, monitored and regulated by the various governmental bodies at all levels. However, often the enforcement by the Court is equally important in the process of guaranteeing environmentally responsible behaviours either by the individuals or the organisations. Chinese courts have jurisdiction to hear both civil and criminal cases. China has one Supreme Court, 30 High Courts, 2,000 Medium Courts, 10,000 Lower Courts, to which 20,000 tribunals are attached. These courts heard 3 million civil cases in 1992. The Chinese legal system has developed quite rapidly over the last fifteen years, most significantly in the areas of economic and civil law. Environmental law was part of this progression resulted from heightened concern over pollution and ecological damage, e.g., the annual rate of reported industrial pollution accidents stands at over 2,000. However, it has to be conceded that environmental interests are often subordinated to economic development. Environmental liability may be civil or criminal depending on the specific offences involved. The Environmental Protection Law (EPL) provides certain grounds for civil liability, which is similar to the treatment to all civil liability with some significant differences in some areas, e.g., Article 42 of the EPL for claims for environmental damages. Article 43 of the EPL imposes criminal liability for certain specified offences, referring most notably to unlawful conduct, which has caused a major accident resulting in significant property damage and/or personal injury. This kind of criminal liability is confined to those who are directly responsible for the accidents. The responsible parties may also have administrative liability imposed upon them in circumstances where procedural offences are judged to have taken place (Spedding, 1995, pp.22-23).
2.4 The Current Status of Chinese Environment
The 1997 China Environment Forum International Conference on ‘Integration of Economic Development, Social Progress and Environmental Protection’ was held in Beijing on 18-21 November 1997 (http://www.peoplesdaily.com). It was the first international environment conference ever held in China under the auspices of a Chinese non-government organisation. There were over 300 participants from more than 20 countries. During the Forum, China’s leaders (Prime Minister Li Peng, Vice Premier Zhu Rongji and Zou Jiahua, and State Councillor Song Jian) endorsed the role of non-government organisations in mobilising public opinion on the environment and supervising environmental protection. Under the general theme of environment and development, the seminar had focused its discussion on the following aspects:
• policies and environment;
• population and environment;
• industrial structure and environment;
• energy and environment;
• trade and environment;
• agriculture and environment;
• science & technology and environment.
• education and environment.
Along with introducing China's priority environmental projects in the period of the 9th Five Year Plan, discussion was also held with regard to the following:
Economy and Environment in the Three Lakes (Tai Lake, Dianchi, Chao Lake);
Economy and Environment in the Three Rivers (Huai, Hailuan and Liao Rivers);
Economy and Environment in the Pearl River Delta;
Economy and Environment in the Yangtze River Economic Zone;
Economy and Environment in the Western Region.
Leaders of the Chinese Government, senior officials of foreign governments and international organisations, and internationally eminent persons had been invited to participate in the opening ceremony which was held at the Great Hall of the People. In addition, as a complement to the seminar, corporate display places had been provided during the meeting for exhibiting products and advanced technologies of environmental enterprises and science and technology institutions. The following were some of the large number of reports on the status of China’s environmental policy and circumstances (XIE, 1998):
Polluters along Huai River: Zang Yuxiang, who was the deputy director of the Pollution Control Department of NEPA, used the occasion of the Forum to issue a new warning to an estimated 1,500 polluters along the Huai River. He warned that they face compulsory shutdowns for non-compliance with national standards by December 31 1997. The Huai river is one of China’s five major rivers, whose basin covers 35 percent of the country and has a population of 150 million. Zang reported that last year’s shutdown of nearly 5,000 small businesses had reduced river pollution by 25 percent. The end of 1997 deadline should reduce pollution levels by another 30 percent. Waste water from small paper mills and breweries were responsible for more than 70 percent of the pollution.
Afforestation: Li Yucai, who was the Vice Minister of Forestry, told the Forum that China would raise its forestation rate from less than 14 to over 20 percent in 13 years. China has already increased its forestry coverage by some six percent from the eight percent coverage level 45 years ago. Li said that China had 134 million hectares of forests, representing a total of 11.8 billion cubic meters of timber. The per capita level of timber was only one-sixth of the worldwide average. However, every year, China planted trees on 8.8 million hectares of land or hills. The Forestry Ministry will introduce six new forestation projects to areas in Yangtze and Yellow River valleys over 12 months. The government also plans to increase the coverage of nature reserves from the current 6.37 percent to 8.33 percent of the nation’s total territory in order to protect wildlife and endangered species.
Qinghai Lake: Qinghai Lake is the largest lake and largest saltwater lake in the north-western province of the same name. According to Liu Guanghe, the Vice Governor of the Province, it was losing 11 cm in water level annually because of dry weather and biological degradation. Drought and serious soil erosion had caused a major decrease in the flow of the Yellow River, a major source of the lake’s water. The lake, lying at 3,200 meters above sea level, is fed by seven rivers. Liu explained that Qinghai’s forest coverage was only 2.59 percent, and that 46 percent of the Province’s total land was affected by soil erosion. The Province has worked out a 15 to 20-year plan to control soil erosion, including tree planting, sowing grass and promoting environmentally friendly agriculture and animal husbandry.
Green Projects by 2000: Xie Zhenhua, who was the Administrator of the National Environment Protection Agency (NEPA), told the Forum that China planned to allocate about US$22 billion for environmental protection projects by the year 2000. Xie officially launched NEPA’s Trans-Century Green Plan. The plan focuses first on controlling water pollution along the Huai, Liao and Hai Rivers and Dianchi, Chao and Tai Lakes, but also tackles air pollution control and ozone layer protection projects. Xie announced that local governments would be responsible for collecting funds for environmental infrastructure projects. The central government will support related projects by offering loans and introducing foreign investment. In addition to this large green project, the NEPA also announced that China would seek foreign co-operation for 70 major environmental projects.
Shanghai: Shanghai, like other Chinese centres and organisations at the Forum, made clear their goals in attracting foreign investment in environmental protection work. In particular, Shanghai announced that it would give priority to the control of sulphur dioxide air pollution and noise pollution, toxic waste disposal, clean production methods and large environmental protection ventures. Lu Shuping, who was the Director of the municipality’s Bureau of Environmental Protection, said Shanghai had established pollution control ventures with Great Britain, Australia, Japan, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and some international organisations.
A Unique Chinese Environmental Situation: In his closing remarks on 21 November, Vice-Premier Zou said that China’s environmental problems were not unique, but were faced by people around the world. He said that China could use a considerable amount of help from outside the country. His remarks were supported by the former Australian Prime Minister, who in a keynote address at the Forum called on the world to match the efforts of the Chinese government in fighting the battle of environmental protection in China.
All the evidence suggests that the environmental difficulties we face in the Asia Pacific over the next 25 years will become more difficult to manage, …, noting that if we can help China resolve its problems, we are also helping to resolve our own.
He concluded that the environmental problems faced by large developing countries like China are different from those faced by industrialised countries like the USA and Japan, or resource producers like Australia and Canada, or small island states of the Pacific. For the developing countries in Asia, problems tend to include water supplies of poor quality and limited quantity, polluted air, waste management, chaotic urban planning, and land degradation. He observed that Asia’s energy demands double every 12 years, with bad consequences for air quality and global warming. By 1997, five of the seven cities in the world with the worst air pollution were in Asia. He noted that around 500 million East Asians lived in towns in the 1990s, but by 2020 this figure will have tripled to 1.5 billion. But, he pointed out that protection of the environment need not be a constraint on economic growth, and it is the only way of ensuring that such growth continues, and it is important to see that the converse is true, that economic growth is essential to solving environmental problems.
For the countries of Asia, and for most of the developing world, the option of limiting growth does not exist…(XIE, 1998, p.67-68).
2.5 Conclusion
In this chapter we have reviewed the current Chinese environmental status together with its historical development and the major factors influencing the Chinese environmental situation. Like most of the human affairs, the Chinese environmental problems are deeply rooted in its history, particularly China's recent past under the Communist regime. As historical problems, they accumulate (in this case, aggravate) with the passing of time. It would be nice to have a cut-off point and be able to deal with the problems as they were, which is, as we know, always impossible. While we are reviewing the literature covering the Chinese environmental situation and its management and problems here in this thesis, the Chinese environment has moved on into its next phase. From what we have read so far, it could only get worse. So urgent attention is required to explore better ways to handle this ever-evolving environmental situation. This is why it makes an interesting research topic for this project. Hopefully, you the readers will agree with that. It is with this genuine concern for this serious situation confronting one fifth of the world population that we shall continue our journey into the next chapter.
The next step in Checkland's SSM (Checkland, 1981; Checkland and Scholes, 1990), is to expose the worldviews in the problem situation, as they usually determin how people see the problem situation together with their actions as Checkland also notes. Before we explore the worldviews in the Chinese problem situation, it may be beneficial to explore the way developments in other countries are determined by dominant and not-so-dominant worldviews existing in countries around the world, so that comparisons and analysis can be undertaken in Chapter 4.
Chapter 3
Review Of Global Environmental Management
3.1 Introduction
In Chapter 2 it was argued that the Chinese environmental situation is a historical situation, which is particularly influenced by its recent past under the Communist regime since 1949. In reviewing the global environmental situation, we seek to find out the similarities and differences in possible causes and solutions (environmental management), together with the embedded worldviews. These will become useful when we undertake a detailed research for a better way forward for the Chinese national environmental management in Chapter 4.
3.2 The Global Environmental Situation
Environmental issues began to be perceived by the general public as seriously problematic in the mid-1960s. Although a range of environmental problems had been identified, people were also questioning whether these problems were real. Was our survival threatened from so many sides, or could the power of science and technology overcome these problems (Murdoch, 1975, p.vii)? In the ensuing decades, people came to the realisation that
…environmental issues are complex and that to understand them one must combine scientific evidence and theory, analysis of social processes, knowledge of technological possibilities and awareness of underlying value positions (Sarre, 1991, p.1).
The environmental issue does not appear to be one of those straightforward management issues, which we can fix with clear-cut solutions. As we will observe from the following literature review, the global environmental management has been undertaking an evolutionary course, as it creates its path behind its own trails. We will explore first the global environmental issues, then the global environmental management.
3.2.1 The Global Environmental Issue
The global environmental issue can come in many different types over many parts of the world. For example, it happened in the Aral Sea, which was once the world’s fourth largest freshwater lake and a thriving ecosystem. However, in the 1960s, central planners in the former Soviet Union decided to divert water from the two major rivers feeding the Aral Sea to irrigate the surrounding plains. Agriculture flourished, but the lake was ruined with loss of 60 per cent of its volume and a treble rise in its saltiness. As a result, the fishing industry, which supported 60,000 jobs in the 1950s was shut down because all fish had disappeared.
Another environmental disaster came from the human burning of the rain forests, for the sake of farming, housing and other development purposes. During the 1980s, Brazil lost on average about 5 million acres of rain forest a year. The destruction of the rain forest had destroyed many species, worse still, the widespread burning contributed significantly to global warming.
Another environmental case came in the early 1990s when hundreds of tons of highly hazardous wastes were exported from the United States. Some was dumped in southern China. The Chinese government actually supported this venture, since they paid more attention to the benefits of economic gains than the costs to the local environment. The hazardous waste dump left a lasting impact on the local environment and the health of the local residents. (Post, et., 1996, pp.300-301).
Such cases of environmental degradation come in numerous numbers all over the world. It seemed that except for extreme disasters, the environmental incidents were mostly resulted from man’s endeavour to rebuild the earth to our own survival, prosperity and convenience, depending on the level of poverty or richness in the local areas. Such an endeavour is causing increasing number of so-called global environmental problems. Some examples of such problems are Ozone depletion, global warming, reduced bio-diversity, and etc.(Post, et., 1996, p.308). It seemed that in most of these so-called global environmental problems, there were always some local communities who happened to gain (e.g., economic gains) in the short term, while the global community as a whole (including those local communities) suffered in the long run. It could be useful to view our natural environment as the global commons, which is shared by the people of the present and the future. As we learn from the Commons Tragedy the lesson that ‘freedom in a commons brings ruin to all’,(Hardin, 1968)there is a need for restraint, either voluntarily or through mutual agreement (Hardin, 1992, pp.1243-1248). Such may be the underpinning for the challenge of the global environmental issue.
3.2.2 Critical Factors In the Global Environmental Issue
Some authors (e,g, Post, et al., 1996, pp.305-307) have identified three major factors which are adding increasing pressure on the sustainable development of our global commons. These are population growth, world poverty, and the rapid industrialisation of many developing nations. As it happens, we recognise from the previous chapter that they are also the major factors causing the Chinese environmental problems. This is important because it makes the Chinese environmental problems belonging to the same class of problems confronting the rest of the world. This makes it useful for us to review the global scene in order to shed insights into the Chinese situation.
The population explosion: The exponential growth of the world’s population has been blamed as the major cause for environmental degradation. There were only 10 million humans on the earth 10,000 years ago. By 1993, the world population had increased to 5.5 billion. The United Nations estimated that the population would reach about 11.5 billion by around 2150. To make the problem worse, this growth of population was more evident in the developing countries than in the developed countries. Each additional person uses raw materials and adds pollutants to the land, air and water. The rapid growth of population makes the task of environmental protection even more difficult, as more and more people, particularly those in the developing countries, are suffering from a vicious cycle of deepening poverty while living on less and less productive land.
World Poverty: The second critical factor causing environmental problems is poverty, especially with regard to the inequality between rich and poor countries. In 1992, the United Nations estimated that there were 1.3 billion people lived in absolute poverty, which is below the level needed for a nutritionally adequate diet and other basic necessities of life. To contrast, in 1991, the richest fifth of the world’s nations received about 85 per cent of all income, while the poorest fifth received less than 2 per cent. For example, Japan’s national income was roughly as much as that of the entire developing world, which had about 37 times as many people. Countries at either extreme of income tend to cause more environmental damages than those in the middle. People in the richest countries consume far more fossil fuels, wood, and meat; while people in the poorest countries often misuse natural resources just to survive.
Industrialisation: The third critical factor in the global environmental issue is that of industrialisation. Industrialisation is somehow double-edged. On the one hand, it promises to reduce poverty and slow population growth. On the other hand, industrialisation has been one of the main contributors to the growing ecological crisis. For example, industrialisation has increased the demand for energy and the emission of pollutants. Industrialisation in agriculture has over-killed with pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilisers.
Conclusion: There are also other critical factors in this so-called global environmental issue or the global commons dilemma. The crucial point, as raised by the authors of Beyond the Limits (Meadows, et al., 1995), is whether our human society has demanded more than the earth’s ecosystem can provide for. The problem for them is that the human society is suffering from an ignorance of the consequence of its own actions not until it becomes known and too late for any remedies. There are many who would challenge the pessimistic ‘doomsday mentality’ in this kind of limits to growth hypothesis as above. Some may argue that the market force will impose the necessary constraint as required in the solution to the commons dilemma. Alternatively, others would argue that maybe technology will provide the answer to the challenge of this global environmental issue. However, the discussion above may have persuaded the readers that the global environmental issue is really a serious matter for concern, and more importantly for management action. So far, we have been made aware that the global environmental problems are a class of problems confronting individual countries. There are some general characteristics of this class of problems, e.g., in their main causes such as poverty, population and industrialisation, but different countries’ sufferings are at different levels, depending upon the unique characteristics of their own, in terms of their history, their natural, social, political and economicenvironments. Hence, we seek to find whether they would respond to such environmental challenges in the ways, which also share some similarities but differ in some other aspects.
3.2.3 The International Response to the Global Commons Concern
There are several types of international responses to the global commons concern, which is the global environmental issue. These can be seen in terms of the collaboration among national leaders in the form of international conferences and summits on the environmental issue. There are also the emergence and development of environmentalism and voluntary international environmental organisations, and perhaps most significantly the International Organisation for Standardisation (with its influential ISO9000 series of standardisation for quality management and ISO14000 series of standardisation for environmental management).
International Conferences and summits: The international attention on the connection between business and the environment was put on the world’s political and economic agenda by the United Nations Conference on Human Environment held in Stockholm in 1972. This was the first international conference which, according to Richard Sandbrook, demonstrated that it was time to take responsibility for the “effluence of the affluent”. This Conference brought forth a global plan for the environment and the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP). The UNEP was established to build global environmental awareness and stewardship. Following the Conference, the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) was also established. Its task was to reassess and report on the environment in the context of development. The Commission published its landmark report “Our Common Future” in 1987, which first coined the word “sustainable development” in the world arena and called for industry to develop effective environmental systems. Over 50 world leaders had publicly supported the report by the end of 1988. They called for a major international event to discuss and act on it. This resulted in the decision by the UN to hold the first Earth Summit (Wolfe, 1997, pp18-19).
The first Earth Summit (or formally, the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development (UNCED) was held at Rio de Janeiro in 1992, where a host of national leaders gathered and endorsed international conventions on some of the most important environmental issues. The Summit passed a few important international agreement, such as the Framework Convention on Climatic Change, the Convention on Biological diversity, the declaration of Forest principles, the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, and the Commission on Sustainable Development and Agenda 21 (Spedding, 1995, pp.5-6). The Rio Earth Summit was followed by Earth Summit II held at the United Nations in New York in 1997. More than 100 Presidents, Prime Ministers, and other top officials attended this Summit to assess the progress of individual nations since the Rio Summit. The aim of such summits is to put the environmental issue onto the national political agenda, and involve the national leaders in the formulations of international conventions on environmental protection so that there can be a balanced global approach (or at least commitment) to address the environmental, economic, and social challenges facing the international community (Earth Summit Watch, 1997).
Prior to the Earth Summit, the Business Council for Sustainable Development (BCSD) was formed of around fifty top corporate executives from around the world in 1990. The group set out to stimulate the participation of the international business community. Over a two-year period, the group sponsored over fifty conferences in more than twenty countries—especially in the developing nations of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The central theme there was to develop a global business perspective on economic development and the environment.
Environmentalism: Environmentalism had its root in the counter-reactions to the Industrial Revolution and critiques of early industrial capitalism in the nineteenth century in the developed countries. After the Industrial Revolution, there were various authors such as Dickens, Mrs Gaskell, Marx and J. S. Mill who questioned the acceptability of unfettered growth and demonstrated an environmental awareness. The cultural residue of the Romantic Movement also contributed to the sensitivity to conservation. But at that time, there was little direct political activity connected with environmentalism.
It was in the late 1960s that environmentalism became politically significant in most advanced industrial societies. Environmentalism, like feminism, was born during the post-war economic growth as part of vibrant counter-cultures, which challenged the fundamental structures and values of advanced capitalist societies. Various voluntary environmental groups (such as Friends of the Earth, the Greens, the Club of Rome) emerged, which carried around with them the central tenet of environmentalism: eco-centrism. This has resulted in the prevailing environmentalism and proliferating voluntary environmental groups and organisations today. Environmental issues (such as global warming, deforestation, disposal of toxic wastes, and acid rain) have become regular features of contemporary media reports. Almost daily, governments and international agencies propose new initiatives to counter various threats to some aspect of the environment, from pollution to conservation.
After decades of development, the environmentalism has shifted from citizen action groups towards much more institutionalised forms of political action such as pressure group activity, the establishment of ‘green’ political parties. However, environmentalism is still very much supported mainly by a new generation of middle class and well-educated people mostly in the developed countries. The legitimacy of such a political movement for the sake of environmental protection can only be recognised in the West. However, the environmental action therein is getting increasingly onto the global scene and being internationalised through linking together global environmental groups. The diffusion of environmentalism in the 1990s can be seen in the examples of green consumerism, diffusion of green values, and increased state regulation. There is now a distinctive feature of the present environmentalism, which is its intensification in the globalisation of environmental issues and politics, as well as its being the critical dynamic in stimulating more extensive national regulation of environmental matters. There are four major features, which stand out for the current era of environmentalism:
• public concern with environmental issues;
• the growth of green consumerism;
• the diffusion of ecological values;
• the intensification of state regulation of environmental matters (McGrew, 1993; Pearce, 1991).
Over the past two decades, environmentalism has been embodied in a powerful social, moral and political force with wide-ranging economic and organisational implications. It is going to have a long-lasting effect on our approaches to the environmental issue in the years to come (Shrivastava, 1993).
International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO ): The International Organisation for
Standardisation (ISO) is a world-wide federation of national standards bodies, from about 100 countries. It is a non-governmental organisation, which was established on 23rd February 1947. The mission of ISO is
…to promote the development of standardisation and related activities in the world with a view to facilitating the international exchange of goods and services, and to developing co-operation in the spheres of intellectual, scientific, technological and economic activity. (http://www.iso.ch/infoe/intro.html)
The main tasks of ISO are to publish International Standards, which are reached through international agreement. From its emergence to answer the call by export-oriented industries to reduce/abolish ‘technical barriers to trade’, the ISO has aimed to facilitate the world-wide progress in trade liberalisation by providing ‘the language of trade’. The principles of ISO standards are ‘consensus, industry-wide, and voluntary’. ‘Consensus’ means that the ISO standards will take account of the views of all interests including manufacturers, vendors, and users, consumer groups, testing laboratories, governments, engineering professions and research organisations. ‘Industry-wide’ means that the ISO standards are global solutions to satisfy industries and customers world-wide. ‘Voluntary’ means that international standardisation is market-driven and therefore based on voluntary involvement of all interests in the market place. The procedure for formulating an ISO standard is as follows:
1. A need for a standard is usually expressed by an industry sector, which communicates this need to a national member body;
2. The member body proposes the new work item to ISO as a whole;
3. The ISO will proceed to recognise and agree upon the proposed need for a new ISO standard;
4. The ISO will organise to define the technical scope of the future standard. This phase is usually carried out in working groups, which comprise technical experts from countries interested in the subject matter;
5. The next stage is for countries to negotiate the detailed specifications within the standard, which is the consensus-building phase;
6. The final phase comprises the formal approval of the resulting draft International Standard (with the acceptance based on approval of no less than two-thirds of the ISO members who have actively participated in the standards development process and approval by 75% of all members that vote). Following that, the agreed text is published as an ISO standard with most of them periodically updated or revised (no less than once every five years). (http://www.iso.ch/infoe/intro.html).
Originally, international standardisation began in the electrotechnical field, and was mainly focused on mechanical engineering. These tasks were carried out by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the International Federation of the National Standardising Association (ISA). Since the birth of ISO, its main emphasis has been placed upon the industry-wide standardisation of goods and services (i.e., all standardisation fields except for the field of electrical and electronic engineering, which is covered by IEC). To date, ISO has created 9300 International Standards (ibid.). For our interest, we are mostly interested in the ISO 14000 series of standardisation, which is aimed at the field of environmental management.
From Technical Standardisation to Systems Standardisation: The ISO 14000 series of international standards for environmental management came after a fundamental shift in the work by ISO. Before the ISO 9000 series of international standards were established in 1979, the majority of the ISO standards were still for the engineers with regard to product specification, safety and component interface. The success of the ISO 9000 series on quality assurance meant a re-orientation by the ISO to place international standards at the heart of the strategic business management. That indicated a re-orientation towards more systems standardisation, as in the case of the ISO 9000 series of quality assurance systems standardisation and the ISO 14000 series of environmental management systems standardisation. The move from technical standards to systems standards can be seen as an increasing demand from business organisations to achieve horizontal integration and co-ordination rather than vertical compartmentation and functionalisation (as in technical standards). This might be seen as an effect from the recent development of environmentalism and environmental awareness among business organisations. We started to realise that our current environmental crisis may have been caused partly by our lack of horizontal or holistic thinking—we had long been vertical thinkers, which meant that we had neither seen nor recognised the importance of the ecosystems of which we were a part. As vertical thinkers, we cared mainly about product specification (as in technical standardisation) than about the management of the resources needed or the wastes created. We tended to work, think, and develop standards in silos of discrete activity and not in interconnected open systems (Wolfe, pp.17-18). We will concentrate on the ISO 14000 series of environmental management systems standardisation.
The ISO 14000 Series of Environmental Management Systems Standardisation: The ISO 14000 series is a family of environmental standards. It is supposed to help any company in any country to meet the goal of ‘sustainable development’ and environmental friendliness. The ISO 14000 series bears many similar characteristics with its cousin ISO 9000 series for quality management. Accordingly, a company is free to shape its management system to fit the needs of its size, market, and economic situation. Additionally, some elements of a management system are the same, such as document control and statistical methods. The ISO 14000 provides the general guidelines to developing an environmental management. The ISO 14001 provides specification of Environmental Management Systems (EMS). The ISO 14004 provides guidelines for ISO 14001. The ISO 14010 through ISO 14012 provides specifications on Environmental Auditing and related activities. ISO 14031 provides specifications for Environmental Performance Evaluation (Clements, 1995).
There have been many different comments on the ISO 14000 series of international voluntary environmental management standards. Some are positive, citing that such standards will become drivers for the international integrated environmental management (Wolfe, 1997) and for cleaner production world-wide (de Hoo, 1997); while others explore the possible negative effects of such international standards, e.g., with regard to its potential as trade barriers (Pfliegner, 1997). For our interest, it is sufficient to note that it is always difficult to set a world-wide standard, which is supposed to be applicable in countries with widely different levels of economic development and environmental regulation. We cannot ignore the fact that there are both economic and regulatory differences, particularly between developed and developing countries, as well as the fact that the developing countries are underrepresented in the process of setting the ISO 14000 standards. Accordingly, there might be a concern that the standards could lead to the requirements and management systems of advanced industrial nations being imposed on developing countries (Pfliegner, 1997). However, our main interest in the ISO 14000 series of environmental management standards is that it may serve as a linkage between the global, the national and the enterprise levels of environmental management. In this case, this linkage will be explored again in later sections on national and enterprise environmental management.
Regional Initiatives: There have also been some regional initiatives, which are worth mentioning as part of the international response to the global commons problem, perhaps at the regional level.
Eco-management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) : The concept of Eco-management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) is not new. European industries and business associations and individual enterprises have developed and used internal environmental auditing systems to control their environmental impact for many years. The idea of a pan-European eco-audit scheme was announced in the European Union’s Fifth Action Programme on the Environment, ‘Towards Sustainability’. The Eco-management and Audit Regulation was adopted on 29th June 1993 but only came into effect on 10th April 1995. During the 21-month lead time, member states were allowed to develop the administrative structures and undertake trials of the scheme. The central theme of this Scheme is the use of a management tool in the form of environmental auditing. It is designed to be a voluntary, market-based tool for independent assessment, which results in its credibility (Hillary, 1997b, p.129).
In order to be certified under the EMAS, the companies are encouraged to take the following comprehensive set of prescribed actions in order to be registered under the Scheme:
1. Develop an environmental policy for the company;
2. Conduct an initial environmental review of the sites;
3. Establish an environmental management system, programme, and a register of significant environmental effects (past, current and future);
4. Establish procedures to ensure that suppliers, contractors, and subcontractors comply with the company’s environmental policies;
5. Communicate with the public about the company’s environmental policies and other relevant environmental information;
6. Carry out internal environmental audit at least every three years;
7. Issue the company’s environmental statements;
8. Validate the environmental statements and the internal environmental management system with independent external environmental audit (ibid., p.133; Szekely et al., 1996, p.93).
During the negotiation process, there was considerable opposition to the Scheme as part of the pan-European environmental regulations. Some business associations opposed the Scheme’s concentration on defining internal management requirements, as they think such are not the concerns for the policy makers. Others would much prefer to develop such a voluntary scheme independent from the involvement of the regulators. Many pan-European and national trade associations did not take a positive position to advise their members of the Scheme. There was also objection by member states. Germany objected to the generic nature of the Scheme for its lack of specific environmental standards to judge organisations. Spain and Ireland maintained that the Scheme was too bureaucratic for smaller enterprises, while excessive for the large companies, since they were already well managed (Hillary, 1997b, p.133).
Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC): The IPPC is a most recent piece of EU environmental legislation. It is aimed to advocate a holistic approach to pollution control, by ensuring that industrial plants are regulated by one licence that limits emissions into the air, water and soil—rather than separate ones for each emission. This is the first attempt to recognise the interactions between various types of emissions and to address the ‘overall load’ on the eco-system. It is used to control emissions from large—especially polluting—industrial plants inside the EU. It is termed as an integrated approach to licensing new and existing industrial installations. Its rules apply to a wide range of industries including energy, steel, chemical, food processing, factory farming, and the pulp and paper sector.
Some EU member states such as France, Ireland, the UK and Denmark have had the experience of similar integrated approach to pollution in their national legislative actions, which implies that companies in these countries may lead the way to complying with the IPPC rules. Others must follow, as the legislation stipulates that no new installation covered by IPPC will be allowed to operate without the IPPC licence three years after the directive is approved. The EU regulators are hoping to use this legislation to encourage firms to consider emission trade-offs and move away from ‘end-of-pipe’ pollution control towards more integrated (holistic) approaches (Szekely et al., 1996, pp.93-94).
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA): The agreement on co-ordinated environmental management standards guiding industry and business is part of the North America Free Trade Agreement for the three North American countries. However, such environmental management standards are not as explicit as the European EMAS. The primary objective of the NAFTA environmental agreement is to ensure that individual countries enforce their domestic environmental laws. In fact, there have been a few environmental conventions such as the International Pact Prohibiting Illegal Trade, the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, the Basel Convention on Hazardous Wastes. The recent trend is that the NAFTA countries are moving towards using the international standards—ISO 14000, driven by a wish to export into the global market (ibid., p.94).
Conclusion: In this section, we review some of the major responses of the international community to the challenge of global commons problem. There are other landmark events, which may be also worth mentioning. There was the book Silent Spring in 1967 by the American author Rachel Carson. There was the establishment of the famous ‘the Club of Rome’ with its model of The Limit to Growth in 1971, and also the establishment of various voluntary international green groups such as the Green Peace (1971) (Szekely et al., 1996, pp.4-5). It is interesting to recognise that the interaction between the growing concerns and concerted actions by national leaders in the global arena and the emergence of environmentalism from the common people. And we shall not forget the impact of major environmental disasters such as the Exxon Valdez oil spill, Bhopal, the Three Mile Island explosion and the chemical spills in Tours, France and so on (Welford, 1994, p.113). This could be seen as the background, which led to the development of voluntary international environmental management standards (in the form of the ISO 14000 series) through a conversational process among various organisations across many nations in the world. This is now attracting increasing international attention and participation by more and more nations.
3.3 Environmental Management at the National Level
In the last section, we have described various international responses to the global commons problem. In this section, our attention is directed to the national level of environmental management. We will start with a brief overview of the national environmental management. Before, we should be made aware that one of the most prevailing approach to national environmental management until the recent past has been the command and control approach. A brief introduction of this approach may be helpful.
The command and control approach assumes that governments must force business to respond to environmental issues by passing laws and ensuring their compliance. There are four key elements, which determine the success or failure of such an approach. There must be sufficient scientific knowledge to determine what is and is not acceptable for the environment. There must be a good monitoring programme to identify any changes inflicted on the environment over time. There must be an effective and efficient programme in place to penalise those who transgress the limits established by the law. The rules generated by such a command and control approach must be both technically possible and viable in terms of company competitiveness. It is no easy task to have all these musts in place, let alone convincing the industry, which often means to arouse a reactive response from them.
However, the command and control approach is still widely used for the following reasons. It is fair that the same standards are applied to multiple stakeholders. It is particularly effective when applied to narrowly defined environmental problem, which occurs in many places. Its results are relatively certain and consistent. The main problem with this approach is that it is difficult to design and enforce standards. The cost of enforcement and compliance may be prohibitively expensive. This approach lacks flexibility in terms of responding to the dynamic environment and the occurrence of major disasters. Sometimes, such an approach also exposes competitors to grossly different compliance costs. The major and final problem with this approach is the adversarial response, which demands excessive time and energy. The companies are likely to be unconvinced that the national environmental standards are based on hard scientific evidence, which leads them to think that such demands are either unjust or unnecessary for them and for the society as a whole. The companies also feel that the compliance costs are a waste of money, which makes their products more expensive and eventually less competitive. Privately, many companies will also hope the environment movement is only a fad, which will fade away with time. All in all, companies are likely to see environmental policy makers and environmental management agencies as ‘enemies’.(Szekely et al., 1996, pp.9-15).
Therefore, over the recent past, there is a trend for countries (particularly those in the West) to move away from the total reliance on the command and control approach to seek approaches which would generate better environmental performances more effectively and efficiently. Our review below should reveal to us what alternative approaches countries have identified and adopted and the current role of the command and control approach.
Australia: One unique feature of the recent Australia environmental management is its shift in 1992 from the command-and-control approach to an approach, which targets to establish a national culture of environmental best practice and environmental innovation throughout business and government. Such a shift was made possible with an recognition of the potential for such international programs as environmental management systems through ISO 14001, cleaner production and eco-design and so on. This was expressed in the Prime Minister’s 1992 Statement on the Environment.
The Australian Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) adapted the programme, which was carried out in the Netherlands. It was a programme aiming to assist the Australian industry in meeting both increasingly demanding regulations and community concerns about the potential environmental impacts of industrial activities. The real target, however, was to stimulate the development of an industry culture committed to achieving an environmental performance beyond minimum environmental regulatory requirements. This programme was called a cleaner production programme, which was to increase awareness of the benefits of cleaner production and to encourage the uptake of cleaner production techniques and practices by Australian industries (O’Neill, 1997, p.117).
The Australian programme consisted of the following methods:
• a Cleaner Production Information Kit: This was issued to raise awareness of the advantages of cleaner production;
• three series of Cleaner Production workshops: the first two workshops were conducted by industry representatives and the last one by an expert on Cleaner Production. One result out of these workshops was the publication of an Australian booklet ‘Cleaner Production Case Studies’, which was done along the lines of the popular United Nations booklet, ‘Cleaner Production World-wide’. Another outcome was a database containing these case studies available on the Internet;
• an Environmental Management Handbook: this was funded by the EPA and produced by a leading business association, with a focus on facilitating the availability of information especially for small and medium-sized enterprises;
• a trade union guide: this was funded by the government to guide the trade union members on identifying and implementing environmental improvements in the workplace. The union also ran corresponding seminars and conducted pilot projects to assist the workforce to look critically at their work areas from an environmental perspective;
• an EcoReDesign project: this was also funded by the EPA in collaboration with industry and research institutions. The aim was to promote to industry the potential of life cycle assessment and the advantages of incorporating environmental considerations at the design stages of products;
• a Cleaner Production demonstration programme: this was administrated by the EPA based on the successful Dutch – Prisma – project. Selected companies were assisted to undertake a review of their production processes and changes, with results from these reviews to be used across Australia to demonstrate the potential benefits of cleaner production. Such demonstrations were also aimed to encourage industry (especially small to medium-seized ones) to adopt cleaner production practices;
• a National Environment Industries Database (NEID): this was developed by the EPA to demonstrate the Australian environmental management capabilities in a range of sectors. This Database has been available on the Internet since November 1995;
• AusIndustry programme: this was a governmental funding programme to assist the SMEs in implementing environmental management systems, with particular emphasis on cleaner production and waste management.
Besides these major programmes, there are also various regional programmes and educational programmes run by educational institutions, which were also supported by the national government (ibid., pp.118-119). The Australian government also worked together with the New Zealand government on establishing a joint Standards Australia/Standards New Zealand Committee to consider the need for an Australia/New Zealand EMS standard, following the ISO 14000 series of international environmental management standards (ibid., p.120).
Germany: In Germany, the move away from the command and control national environmental regulatory regime is expressed in encouraging specific industry sectors to improve their environmental performance voluntarily. These include a voluntary recycling scheme for electronic manufacturers and the recycling of used cars for car manufacturers. One very successful covenant in Germany has been made by the paper industry. The industry has committed itself to producing and distributing only paper-based products with at least 60 percent recycled content. In return, the German Environment Ministry has agreed to drop plans to enact a used paper recycling ordinance, which would have mandated participation in a prescribed programme (Szekely et al., 1996, p.95).
Currently, the German national green policy is implemented on the basis of three principles: the ‘polluter pays’ principle, the ‘co-operation’ principle (tying in the polluters’ technical know-how with a coherent environmental policy), and the ‘preventive’ principle (instilling an integrated approach). There is also a wide range of eco-regulation affecting the business world. The classical concept of direct intervention operates alongside regulatory measures and changes in the factors which influence decision making (Hopfenbeck, 1993, p.12).
India: It may be surprising to find that some of the national environmental management measures are actually more advanced in India than in some more developed countries. For example, in terms of curbing pollution, India has increased its measures and even introduced some novel techniques so as to endorse the preventive approach. It is a specific feature of environmental management in India that environment is a Federal and State matter and much depends on how the States implement the various measures being taken and proposed by the Central Government (‘the Centre’). In addition, an individual State may have introduced standards that are higher than those suggested by the Centre’s policy. However, there is a national institution for formulating environmental strategies, which is the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF). Environmental management in India has been taken very seriously, especially because of the expanding Indian population, which is set to reach one billion in the next 30-odd years. There have been some initiatives towards increased environmental awareness and improved environmental performance that are exemplary, even considering some of the European Union and US concepts. In June 1992, the Minister of State for Environment and Forests presented a policy which signalled Indian commitment to the global programme of sustainable development (ibid., p.30).
Japan: Japan has been noted for its national approach to prioritise economic achievement while often ignoring the environmental issues. There was a major shift of focus away from purely industrial concerns after four cases of toxic wastes were exposed in the late 1950s and early 1960s. This shift of focus on environmental issues per se has been further reinforced by the hideous pollution in the 1970s. Furthermore, the Japanese attitude towards environmental protection was influenced by its participation in international conventions including the recent Rio Earth Summit. Overall, the Japanese seem to have set a good example in terms of pollution control, while it is lagging behind in terms of natural conservation and public participation. However, it is interesting to note that the motive behind the efforts on improving environmental management by the Japanese government could be said to be both political and economical. It seems that the Japanese government has decided that environmental issues offer an opportunity for Japan to play a bigger role on the world stage. It also considers that Japan may be able to profit from green technologies (ibid., pp.55-56). The Japanese national environmental management was enacted by the national government through agencies, ministries and the Prime Minister’s Office. The national government only sets up guidelines while the actual guidelines to be followed by local and foreign companies are set by the Prefecture or Municipal Authorities in an agreement with the company involved. Like many other countries in the world, Japan has suffered from the lack of co-ordination among the amount of ministries involved in the environmental management process. The picture in Japan is that tougher regulations have been offset by steadily increasing pollution levels (ibid., p.59 & p.73).
New Zealand: The New Zealand economy underwent substantial reform during the 1980s. New Zealand’s business environment is now a highly competitive, unprotected and export-oriented market. It is also an environment with a very high proportion of small to medium-sized companies. It is in the challenge to meet the increasing demands of the customers that the enterprises come to see that they need to deliver sound environmental performance. Furthermore, the New Zealand environmental management builds upon the basis of its quality management (following the ISO 9000 series of international quality standards), which has been the main contributor to the recent New Zealand business successes. It is this awareness of customer demands on sound environmental performance and an appreciation of a disciplined approach to quality, which forms the foundation for New Zealand environmental management.
One of the unique New Zealand features in environmental management is to reinterpret the international call for ‘sustainable development’ in terms of ‘sustainable management’, which is the basic principle in the Resource Management Act 1991. ‘Sustainable management’ is defined in the Act as
…managing natural and physical resources so that people can provide for their social, economic and culture well being, health and safety, while sustaining the potential of resources to meet future needs, safeguarding the life supporting capacity of air, water, soil and ecosystem, and avoiding, remedying or mitigating adverse effects on the environment. (Russ, 1997, p.107)
This demonstrates a fundamental shift from activity management towards effects management, in others words, according to this Act, it is the environmental effects of activities that are controlled rather than the activities themselves. This effects-based approach means that the regulators’ policies, plans and rules focus on environmental outcomes rather than prescribing how activities should be carried out. The activities are regulated and managed by the enterprises, so long as they meet the environmental outcomes specified in policies, plans or individual resource consent (Russ, 1997, pp.107-108).
New Zealand’s environmental management follows the same steps of its quality management based on the ISO 9000 series quality standards. The success of quality management means that there is already a solid foundation for a systematic and disciplined approach to environmental management. Its environmental management has followed or benchmarked closely on the recent international development, such as BS 7750, ISO 14001 and the Canadian Responsible Care programme.
Sweden: In Sweden, the current national environmental management practice is dominated by the tendency to integrate a number of general principles and give preventive strategies a more advanced position in environmental policies. This can be seen in the example of the recent formulation of the so-called Environmental Code, based on existing environmental laws. The Swedish government has tried to build up a dynamic approach towards continuous improvement for the environment, incorporating a number of international agreements.
The fundamental shift in the recent years is to move away from ‘regulating in details’ to provide general recommendations, environmental fees and taxes, as well as other general instruments. The shift towards ‘regulating in the general’ has a great potential to stimulate innovation and inject continuous dynamism into the area of environmental protection. This can be demonstrated in the example of extended producer responsibility. The government imposes a general physical and economic responsibility on the producers, which means that there is an incentive to develop more environmentally friendly products as well as market-based solutions concerning the waste management. Through the combination of voluntary agreements and/or legally binding regulations, the Swedish government has successfully introduced producer responsibility for packaging, tyres, cars, electronic devices, construction materials etc. (Backman, 1997, pp.78-80).
Thailand: Thailand’s first serious governmental attention on the environmental issue was expressed in the 4th Five-Year Plan (1977-1981). It was in this national plan that the Thai government introduced resource protection and rehabilitation strategies. In particular, the government began to gather data on various natural resource and environmental concerns, in order to develop the background information for natural resource planning and management. However, at this stage, activities relating to protection and conservation of natural resources appeared to be more investigative than functional. It was under the Fifth Plan (1982-1986) that natural resource development strategies focused on an integrated approach to planning, based on activities that were implemented simultaneously in selected areas across the country. It was aimed to co-ordinate planning strategies with local social-economic development, and thereby increased the efficiency of natural resources utilisation and restoration. The Sixth Plan (1987-1991) marked a turning point in the government’s environmental strategies. It emphasised the development of alternative, non-agricultural sources of income to reduce dependency on increasingly unreliable productivity levels in natural resource areas. It had also focused on decentralising natural resources management to the local and provincial levels, with an effort to promote a sense of ownership, participation, and awareness among local residents. Active environmental management will figure prominently in the Seventh Plan, with which the Thai government intends to transform Thailand from an agrarian to an industrial society.
The Thai national environmental programme was also assisted with international aids, which had been primarily used to support the development of extensive country environmental studies, or ‘master plans’ as tools for environmental and natural resources planning. The problem there was that such studies tended to be more descriptive and analytical in nature, cataloguing data and information, while lacking the element of financial feasibility, linking recommendations with scarce resources at the disposal of the government. This had led to, in many cases, failure in implementing the formulated plans. The traditional approach in Thailand was for the government to take an all-encompassing role, with environmental agencies acted as planners, implementers, monitors, and enforcers of environmental policies and regulations. However, this role could not be performed effectively with regard to institutional constraints, overlapping authorities, ambiguous policy directives, and inadequate facilities, training and manpower. There was a need for the Thai government to move towards a multi-sectoral approach to environmental management. This meant to increase participation of the private sector, non-governmental organisations and independent policy research institutes (Phantumvanit and Lamont, 1991, pp.301-307).
The Netherlands: The Dutch government started to shift from a predominant command and control approach towards environmental management in the mid-1980s, when they started to pioneer voluntary agreements on environmental management. The approach started with a conversational process between the Dutch government and business sectors, with a view to formulate voluntary agreements on compounds or products, which are considered as environmental threats. Altogether, the Dutch government and the business enterprises have formulated and implemented 36 covenants, and the Economic Affairs Ministry has reached 23 long-term agreements on energy efficiency improvements since May 1992. The benefits of developing covenants on the environment include:
• the support to legislation;
• bridging the period between formulation and enforcement of regulations;
• avoiding the problems of the command and control approach by governmental agencies;
• providing the most efficient instrument in circumstances where regulations are lacking.
Under this approach, it is those Dutch firms with the most proactive stance that have the greatest opportunity to achieve competitive advantage based on environmental variables (Szekely et al., 1996, p.95).
UK: The British government’s move away from the reliance upon the command and control approach to environmental management was perhaps helped by the achievement of the British Standards Institute. This Institute was successful in formulating the first national voluntary quality standards in the form of BS 5750, which later became the foundation for the international voluntary quality standards in the form of the ISO 9000 series of quality management standards. Based on its success in quality management, it drafted the standard on environmental management in the form BS 7750 in March 1992 and published the final version in February 1994. The BS 7750 later made significant contribution to the formulation of the international environmental management standards in the form of ISO 14000 series of environmental management standards. The BS 7750 outlines a generic environmental management system, which is designed to suit all business and industry sectors. The standard is mainly concerned with defining clear roles and responsibilities, targets and objectives (Szekely et al., 1996, pp.95-96).
USA: In the pre-Clinton Administration period, the US national approach to environmental management could be said to be in the command-and-control mode. It was dominated by the neo-classical economic thinking that improving environmental performance can only come at a cost. The American national environmental policies had been formulated accordingly. Such a restrictive command-and-control system had worked to discourage innovation, freeze technology in place and focus on capital investment on the single media end-of-pipe solution. It encouraged an incremental approach rather than a systemic approach. The notion of environment as a cost-effective business strategy was simply beyond that control paradigm (Atcheson, 1997, p.65). For its regulatory controls since the late nineteenth century, the U.S. government has mainly achieved in trying to take the cost of pollution control out of competition by setting common standards for all firms (Post, et al., 1996, p.325).
There had been a recent surge of public opinion in the US that there was a need to try a new approach, other than the rigid command-and-control system, which did not work to serve its purpose. In particular, the Clinton Administration had been committed to reinventing environmental policy in terms of increasing flexibility, emphasising performance not design, while ensuring accountability and better environmental results at lower costs. It has set up several programmes designed to test and pilot new ways of accomplishing environmental objectives. These include the Common Sense Initiative, Project XL, Permits Improvement Team, Statutory Integration Project, and One Stop Reporting. The aim of these programs is to encourage companies to adopt environmental management systems, which often result in lean and clean corporations. The current mood in the American national environmental management is to encourage companies to get lean and green at the same time to deal with the challenges of 21st century (ibid., pp.71-72). This clearly demonstrates a move away from the command and control regulations to more market-based and voluntary approaches towards the U.S. national environmental management (Post, et al., p.332).
In reflection upon the U.S. experience of national environmental management, there have been several different approaches that the U.S. government has adopted. There was the command and control approach in the form of environmental standards on specific environmental issues, e.g., environmental quality standard and emission standard. This was so called the command and control approach because it meant that the government commands business firms to comply with certain standards and often directly controls their choice of technology.
The government also used market-based mechanisms, such as the concept of tradable allowances, emission charges or fees, and government incentives. Another approach to reduce pollution was known as regulation by publicity or regulation by embarrassment through information disclosure by companies. The government also used the power of criminal enforcement rather than civil enforcement to prosecute companies and their executives, who break environmental laws (Post et al., 1996, pp. 323-337).
Conclusion: In this section, we have briefly reviewed some of the national environmental management approaches in the world. It is interesting to note that different nations have different approaches according to their own unique social, economic and cultural background. However, increasingly, we notice that there is a general trend at the national level of environmental management to move away from the command-and-control approach (which does not seem to work as it used to in today’s world). The characteristics of their new approaches vary from country to country. It is also worth noting that there is increasing awareness of international standards such as the ISO 14000 series and demands of the international communities (e.g., global customers) on a high standard of environmental performance. Hence, there is an increasing move towards more voluntary collaborative measures to companies so that they can be encouraged (or facilitated) rather than told to behave more responsibly in their management of the environmental issues.
There seem to be four alternative strategies that countries may adopt in their national response to the national commons problem. These are the command and control approach, the approach of market-based incentives, the industrial self-regulation approach and the sustainable development approach. The first one is said to attract reactive responses from the business world, the second the productive response, the third the proactive response, and the last the visionary response. There seems to be strength and weakness for all the four approaches.
The command and control approach has been introduced already at the start of this section. It is still widely used, but seems to be gradually replaced by other approaches, including the market-based incentives approach, which uses the market force to protect and conserve the environment. This approach includes the introduction of economic schemes, particularly market mechanisms, which will optimise the allocation of society’s resources. It also includes the development of new environmentally friendly products and services, as well as the development of environmental management standards by using governments, consumer groups and other citizen associations. With this approach, some companies may be able to generate more business by producing highly desirable environmentally friendly products and services if they are the first to address the environmental issues in their respective sectors. This is why this approach is called the productive approach, which means that companies are allowed by the national governments to generate extra economic benefits by their environmental management activities. The strength of this approach is as follows. It is flexible and cost effective. It allows those with particular environmental capabilities to use them fully. It promotes technological development. It tends to be especially effective when the pollutants are widely dispersed. The weakness of this approach is as follows. It is difficult to determine the cost/benefit relationships, making determination of incentives difficult. It is difficult to police. The distribution of pollution permits may favour dirty industries over clean ones. It is more difficult to understand, and does not ensure a minimum level of improvement (ibid., pp.10-16).
The so-called proactive approach of industry self-regulation is an extension of the approach of market-based incentives. It is for the industrial groups to assess their own environmental situations and come up with more stringent environmental goals than those set by the government, which is applied across whole sectors. The assumption that underpins this approach is that the industries know best what is possible, what can be achieved at a reasonable cost, and the optimum way to focus technological efforts on environmental issues. The strength of this approach is that it is the most flexible approach based on the inside knowledge of industrial groups. It is cost effective by design. It allows for an even playing field for all the players in the same sectors. It supports innovative solutions and continuous improvement. The weakness of this approach is that there may be environmental problems beyond the capacity of individual industrial sectors. It is also difficult to reach consensus within a sector (ibid., pp.11-16).
The sustainable development approach (the visionary approach) aims to understand the effect of increasing resource consumption by all nations and to introduce new technologies that will support and sustain a quality lifestyle without incurring severe environmental costs. The strength of this approach (which is still in its developmental stage) might be that it provides a means for organisations to communicate about the perceived economic and social needs with their respective environmental costs across industrial demarcations. The weakness at this stage lies in its lack of more concrete and practical system of measurement for its ambitious objectives (ibid., pp.13-17)
We can see that these strategies are based on four quite different worldviews. The command and control approach is based on the worldview that the world would be a better place, had it been tightly and well controlled, based on correct criteria (as defined by a benevolent ruler). The market-based incentive approach has the worldview that the world would be a better place, had everyone been given a choice to make by themselves with regard to the prices attached to such choices, in terms of commercial successes and legislative penalties and punishment. The proactive approach indicates a worldview that the world would be a better place, had we been allowed to predict the future and act proactively, based on our predictions of disasters, in this case of environmental problems. The sustainable approach is based on the worldview that the world would be a better place, had we made decisions on the balance of here and there, short, medium and long-term considerations.
We thus have identified a problem which SSM tries to solve, that is, how to deal with these vastly different worldviews. Do we try to enable their co-existence, or try to help one to gain dominance against others through the so-called compromise or consensus? For Checkland (Underwood, 1996), it seems that sometimes it is sufficient to simply stay with the learning process, with little regard for any outcome. People learn to see each other’s blind-spots and differences, so they may come to terms with their own long-held convictions and their own narrow-mindedness. Hopefully, they will become more tolerant of others’ criticisms and suggestions. It becomes easier to reach compromises or consensus, although in some circumstances, this approach may only constitute wishful thinking, particularly in organisations where there is a strong or dominant actor (or actors), like an autocratic and coercive leader. Having identified blind-spots in their worldviews, the latter’s response could easily be, ‘So what? I am the boss here!’ We will study the worldview behind the Chinese environmental management in more detail in the next chapter.
3.4 Conclusion
In this chapter, we have reviewed some of the main trends in the literature on what is happening to the environmental issue and its management at global, regional, and national level. The importance in observing the common features of the environmental situations confronting individual nations across the globe is to enable us to understand this class of human problems called the environmental problems. We also notice that for a long time different nations had been responding to the environmental challenge in a similar way, which is the reliance on the command and control to national environmental management. While this approach may have produced similar results around the globe, it is interesting to note that different results are being achieved by the current trend of moving away from the total reliance on this approach, particularly by countries in the West. The interesting question here is whether there are general lessons to be learnt so that a common approach can be derived, which may be proper to this new era of acute environmental awareness (less so, in terms of action), i.e., a common solution to the same class of problems around the globe. Attempt on global environmental management standardisation is an interesting initiative. Standardisation, though voluntarily based as claimed by the ISO 14000 series, seems to be a close-product of the command and control approach. It may suffer similarly from the defects of this traditional approach, as we have reviewed in this Chapter. Its failing may become more apparent in less democratic countries like China, where voluntary actions by individuals (enterprises and people alike) are often a result of implicit commands and control. It may be a step forward for Western countries where voluntary standardisation implies a form of ‘mutual coercion’ as identified by Hardin (1968). Alternative solutions may be required for countries like China, which is our task in the next chapters.
Perhaps it is time to point out the human elements in this rich picture. It is people whose commitment and efforts to sustainable development that will bring about the actual improvement of our natural environment for now and for the future. It is also people who will suffer the most, if there are any environmental disaster or accident such as the Indonesian smog, burning of the Amazon Forest, the Bhopal catastrophe, and the Alaskan oil spill (Welford, 1994, pp113-124). The stake is high for the human society to protect, preserve and nurture our natural environment, which will have immense implications on all the other living systems on the earth. It is a desire for the human society to progress beyond mere survival, which is the real driving force for the green movement and environmental management programmes. This reminds us that there are still many people on the earth whose mere survival is still in a day-to-day struggle. In the next chapter, we are going to highlight what China can learn from the global environmental theories, practices as reviewed in this chapter, which can form the basis for a way forward to improve its environmental performance.
Chapter 4
An Insight into The Chinese Environmental Management
4.1 Introduction
In the previous chapters, we have briefly reviewed the Chinese environmental situation and the existing management systems as well as what has been happening in the global environmental scene. Following the steps as indicated by SSM, we have already unearthed four major worldviews around the world today. In this chapter, we are going to expose the Chinese worldview in environmental management. We will argue that any national way of management will be embedded in its culture, politics and economy. China, as one of the last self-claimed socialist countries in the world, does seem to have unique features in these aspects, which may have contributed to the worldview that it has chosen to manage its national environmental affairs. In the following sections, we are going to explore these cultural, political, and economical characteristics.
4.2 The Unique Characteristics of Chinese Politics Today
One of the unique features of Chinese politics since 1949 was the unitary rule by the Chinese Communist Party. The reason that the Communist Party is still unshaken and unchallenged in its leadership of the country seems largely due to the fact that it ‘had led a popular uprising against a corrupt and oppressive regime’ (Wilson, 1996, p.4). Just how far the Communist Party can ride on its past laurels remains to be seen as increasingly it is confronted with demands for more radical political reforms, as more and more Chinese become aware of or influenced by Western electoral multi-party politics. In contrast, the dominant philosophy in Chinese politics, as summarised by Mao Zedong, who demanded that the ‘individual must submit to the state’s interest’ (Wilson, 1996, p.4), is very similar to that of the feudal emperors like Shi Huangdi (the first Qin dynasty emperor in the third century BC). If the environmental issue is not on the current political agenda, then it is difficult to see how the Chinese public can raise issues and hold debates. If it is on the political agenda as of today, the Party would be one who would see fit to use the environmental issue as part of its political propaganda campaign. In a way, any environmental effort has to also fit in the Party’s political interests and agenda.
Another feature of Chinese politics which seems to owe much to historical inheritance, as noted by Voltaire and Montesquieu. ‘While Voltaire promoted China as a model of wise administration, because it was theoretically entrusted to the most learned and virtuous men, Montesquieu saw the Chinese as in practice crouched under a brutal despotism, driven by the whims of an arbitrary emperor. There is a popular saying about the Communist Party in China that it tends to use Leninism (the strictest form of Communist) on the people while applying liberalism (the most lenient and the most freedom) on themselves. These are the two faces of China – plausible theory but errant practice –even today (Wilson, 1996, p.8).
So it is easy to see the divergence between the all very plausible Chinese environmental policies and the worsening and deteriorating Chinese environment as of today. Whether the much-publicised national environmental policies are actually practical enough in today’s Chinese economic and social conditions is an interesting question, which few have bothered to search for an answer. To look at the reality of Chinese national environmental management, it is best to look at the reality rather than following and examining the policies, as we would have done by following the conventional Western environmental auditing practice. Here simply vouching the books (of policies) would be a big mistake indeed. That is perhaps why some SOEs do not find the ISO14000 series too demanding, as it emphasises much on a documented approach to management. During the researcher’s field trip to China, an environmental manager of a SOE told him that it was just too much paper work, otherwise the ISO14000 standards were not too difficult to follow, at least in procedures (just don’t look at the reality in too much details). So an emphasis on documentation and certification (which are usually useful and reflected in practice as in the West) may not be that useful in China.
Another feature of Chinese politics is the so-called socialist democracy, as explained by the prosecutors of Wei Jingsheng who was jailed for wanting to add a fifth modernisation (that of democracy) to the Party’s four modernisation programme:
Our constitution clearly stipulates extensive democratic rights. However, our democracy should be a democracy protected by law. It does not mean absolute freedom for one to do as one likes… Freedom of speech of the individual citizen must be on the basic principle of insisting on the socialist road, the dictatorship of the proletariat, the leadership of the Party and Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought. The citizen has only the freedom to support these principles and not the freedom to oppose them (Wilson, 1996, p.38).
It is clear that this type of democracy is far different from the Western democracy in many developed countries in the world today. One may suspect that it is difficult to envisage the emergence of voluntary and non-governmental green groups in China, without the Party’s endorsement in one way or another. But, voluntary and non-governmental groups and indeed green political parties have been the driving force in the Western green movement, which lays a good foundation for these nations’ national environmental management policies and practices. It is also to be noted that the Chinese media are still used by the Party to promote its policies, though increasingly there are signs of freedom of expression in the recent years (Wilson, 1996, p. 40). The extent of how much freedom there is under this kind of political system was summed by the rather open-minded China Youth magazine in 1993:
The socialist countries adopting the Soviet model, however, pursue a highly centralised system in which the Party Leader holds ultimate power, and … has the final say in deciding everything or changing policies haphazardly. In this sort of system, when leaders exert absolute power, which is not restricted by any control, socialist democracy becomes an empty slogan (Wilson, 1996, p.57).
Such a political system also leads to the submission of the judiciary to the Party, which was expressed by Ren Jianxin, President of the Supreme People’s Court, that
the People’s Courts must self-consciously accept Party leadership. It is a mistake to think, because there is the law, that justice can be executed without the guidance of the policies of the Communist Party. Separation of powers is bourgeois (Wilson, 1996, p.57).
With much demanded in its political reform, which has lagged far behind the recent economic reforms, it is interesting to note that some, both in the West and in China, have argued that the Western democracy is neither needed nor feasible in China. For example, some conservative Chinese intellectuals argue that
if the Chinese are released from the control of a strong authority, they will go wild and abuse their freedom, acting with extreme selfishness and no patriotism (Wilson, 1996, p.58).
Robert Elegant, a China observer, also concluded that Western democracy is ‘unworkable—technically and psychologically—in China’. An extreme point of Western viewpoint of China is that
China…has no concept of citizenship, no assembly, no Senate, no Magna Carta, no social contract, no immemorial rights of the freeborn subject, no constitution, and nothing requiring any of the people to take part in the legislative process. It is basically contrary to the social values of the Chinese to put their political future to the hazard of an election (ibid.).
Thus, it seems that this political dictatorship based on traditional political submission will remain as the dominant feature in the Chinese politics in the foreseeable future.
In one of the latest books on the Chinese politics, Lam (1999) has noted the following characteristics which seem to be dominant in the era of Jiang Zeming, who had succeeded Deng Xiaoping as the supreme leader of both the Chinese Communist Party, the Chinese army, and the Chinese government
1. After the death of Deng Xiaoping, there seems to be a renewed tendency of re-centralisation of political power by Jiang and his so-called Shanghaibang (group of officials from Shanghai). This can be seen clearly in the example of the Central Committee General Office (CCGO), which became a chief operating centre for the entire country under the leadership of Zeng Qinghong (one of Jiang’s Shanghaibang). The CCGO was expanded from less than 100 people to nearly 300 people, and took over the functions of the Central Committee Secretariat. Its duties included making policy and issuing top-level party documents and controlling the paper flow between headquarters and other CCP organs (Lam, 1999, p.34). This trend of re-centralisation of political power was seen by Lam (1999) as a return to the Song Dynasty style of governance: a strong tree trunk and weak branches. With the swelling of the central bureaucracy, it became difficult for orders to be carried out in the regions and the effectiveness of overall administration was dubious (Lam, 1999, p.214). This perhaps partly explains why Chinese environmental policies may look sound on paper while far from satisfactory in implementation in the recent years;
2. Coupled with re-centralisation of power, there is an increasing dependence on inspections, checks and surveys from the top on the regional governments and cadres. In the example of CCGO, in the early 1995, Jiang established a top-level Security and Investigation Group (SIG) within the CCGO to check on the loyalty of senior cadres (Lam, 1999, p.35). Another manifestation of this is the so-called government by work teams method by Jiang’s administration.
Since the early 1995, Beijing had commissioned hundreds of squads to bust graft cases; to crack down on price fixers; to sniff out ‘piggy banks’ maintained by regional administrations; and to prevent localities from raising loans overseas or over-spending on investment projects. Bureaucratic fire-fighters were also sent to seize smugglers, fight smut dealers and to ensure the fire-safety standards of entertainment centres....Sometimes, these so-called ‘imperial emissaries’ could be concerned with apparently trivial matters such as stopping localities from setting up roadblocks to collect illegal fees (Lam, 1999, pp.104-105).
The obvious question here, as Lam posed, is that ‘if the normal system of administration was working well, why the urgency to send inspectors to hotspots? (Lam, 1999, p.105)’ The need for better local management seemed to have been ignored deliberately by Jiang’s administration. It appears to have been interested mainly in centralising power to Zhongyang (the Central Government or his personal office or himself and his Shanghaibang), for the perhaps lofty purpose of striving for political stability at all costs:
3. Another noticeable feature of Jiang’s administration is that of the inter-departmental approach (Lam, 1999, p.105). With regard to the lack of systematic solutions, the leadership had been setting up teams of experts from different party and government departments in the form of a lianxihuiyi (convening a joint committee) to tackle new or difficult issues. Such an approach was used in China with astounding frequency to deal with issues such as crime, SOE reforms, ensuring wheat and cotton production; fighting smuggling; hitting out at intellectual property rights violations; and plugging leaks of state secrets, as well as small issues such as fire prevention (Lam, 1999, pp.105-106);
4. A fourth significant feature of Chinese politics under Jiang’s leadership is an emphasis on spiritual civilisation. Unlike the more pragmatic Deng Xiaoping, Jiang repeatedly emphasised the importance of spiritual civilisation, which was ‘to bring to new heights the superior moral tradition of ancient times as well as revolutionary tradition. We must diligently create an advanced spiritual civilisation through imbibing all the superior moral achievements of mankind (Lam, 1999, p.8)’.
This spiritual civilisation was often built upon nationalism, patriotism, as well as traditional Marxism and Confucian values (Lam, 1999, p.276). Jiang often warned the Chinese people from becoming a ‘vassal of foreign, particularly Western Culture’ if the Chinese people forget the fact that ‘the Chinese race is one that has 5,000-year tradition of splendid history and culture as well as tremendous life force and creativity (Lam, 1999, p.277)’;
5. The last important feature of Jiang’s era of Chinese politics is the emergence and strengthening of legalism (‘everybody being equal before the law’), which can be attributed more to the rising power of the National People’s Congress (NPC). The empowerment of the NPC was mainly due to the perception of Dengist reformers that economic reforms could not succeed without legal reform: business activities, particularly those involving foreigners, had to be based on statues. Strong leaderships from Peng Zhen and Wan Li in the 1980s and Qiao Shi in the 1990s had made this possible. The leap forward came when Peng started by establishing the NPC as a possible counter-balance to the party and government, which was continued by Wan Li. For Lam, the NPC seemed to be the only means in the Chinese context where cadres or citizens outside the party elite could exercise influence, the empowerment of which must signal some degree of progress towards a more democratic rule of government (Lam, 1999, pp.109-110). In contrast to the party-centric approach by Jiang, Qiao Shi was the first to advocate the ideal of ‘using the law to rule the country’. In 1996, he insisted that all party units and members ‘self-consciously obey and safeguard the constitution and the law. and all cadres must operate within the parameters of the constitution and the law (Lam, 1999, p.111).’
For Qiao and his deputies, the NPC systems are the most effective organs for ‘arousing masses’ enthusiasm’ to take part in government. Congresses of all levels were a manifestation of the will and the enthusiasm of the people, and ‘the congresses safeguard and develop the democracy of the people, according to Qiao in 1995 (Lam, 1999, p.112). Qiao also asserted that it was the duty of the NPC ‘to safeguard citizens’ rights to sue government departments for violating their rights and to get compensation from the government (Lam, 1999, p.112).’ With Qiao’s retirement in 1998, on the face of it, the NPC faction did not seem to have achieved much beyond the Chinese parliament and had not been able to stage a successful full frontal challenge to Jiang. However, it is important to note that laying down the theoretical or ideological foundation is often the prerequisite for pushing new policies in the Chinese context. By the end of mid-1990s, the signs were that the Qiao clique was able to win wider sympathies and build up a loose coalition of liberals and moderates. One successful example of this coalition was that it managed to prevent Jiang from reviving the party chairmanship (Lam, 1999, p.288-289).
Thus, we conclude our brief analysis of the current characteristics of Chinese politics. It is clear that a successful national environmental management model will have to work along the line of re-centralisation of power, which indicates a command and control characteristic. A reliance on auditing is plausible because of the current reliance on government by work teams. It is possible to adopt a model of pluralism where different spheres of expertise can be pooled together into environmental management. More importantly, the model must indicate its bias towards spiritual civilisation, which can be seen in the forms environmental education for individuals and collectives. Lastly, there is a possibility that some degree of dependence upon law and constitution may be possible in the current Chinese situation.
4.3 The Unique Characteristics of the Chinese Economy Today
The Chinese economy has been shifting from a centrally planned socialist economy (for a long time mostly based on the Soviet model) to a more market-oriented socialist economy as of today. The economic achievement since the economic reforms started by Deng Xiaoping in 1978 have been unexpectedly impressive with annual GDP growth rate averaging 9 per cent in the 1990s. All this has been well documented in the Western literature (e.g., Wilson, 1996). With the emergence of latest study on China, it is possible to conclude some of the contemporary characteristics of the Chinese economy today as follows.
• gradualism or incrementalism: it is to be noted that the Chinese economic reforms were of a different nature to that in the former Soviet Union, which was described as of a shock-therapy nature. The Chinese economic reforms particularly under Deng were often described as incremental or gradualist. There was no overall grand plan for the reforms, but different ideas and programs were first experimented in some places and then expanded all over the country if successful. This follows Deng’s idea of ‘crossing the river by feeling the stones’, which was probably due to his caution of avoiding Mao’s Great Leap Forward like mistakes and also due to resistance from the conservatives in the Party (Wilson, 1996). Jiang’s gradualism was more due to the fact that he ‘frequently re-oriented the country to a concern with ideology whenever there was a danger of market forces getting out of hand’. For Jiang and his advisers, they often saw economic development through the prism of politics. That probably explained why Jiang could never produce a clear vision for economic reforms in China, particularly those concerning SOE reforms, as he often saw the SOEs as strongholds for party leaderships (Lam, 1999). That is probably why under both Deng and Jiang, the Chinese economic reforms often took two steps forward and one step back;
• Deng’s overall drive was for decentralisation of economic powers or responsibilities from the central government to the local governments and finally to the enterprises, their managers and the workers to a small extent. This was achieved through decentralisation programmes such as Contract Responsibility System (CRS), enterprise profit detainment programme, and the programme to establish modern enterprises. However, the decentralisation programme had also encountered serious problems.
Relinquishing control of industrial development to provincial or municipal authorities did not always mean more market freedom for those factories, because some local governments, being physically closer on the ground, could stifle them with more planning regulations than the centre had ever decreed. It also meant a lamentable waste of investment funds and industrial resources....the result of newly de-centralised state factories having a field day of over-consuming, over-investing and over-paying their workers. There was nothing to hold them back (Wilson, 1996, p.163).
• Under Jiang’s leadership, the main drive of SOE reforms was to Zhuada fangxiao (taking a firm grip on major SOEs and letting the minors ones go free) and to form jituangongsi (conglomerates). This seemed to follow the early successful example of Chaebol-style enterprise groupings like the South Korean ones through mergers and acquisitions aided by extra government subsidies (Lam, 1999, p.379). This probably reflects Jiang’s conflicting views concerning the liberation of SOEs and strengthening the Party’s grip on SOEs. It is through these 500 to 800 big SOEs, with which he may be able to keep the Party’s grip on the whole Chinese economy while maintaining the socialist nature of the economy. However, the bursting of the South Korean bubble in late 1997 did come as a shock to the Chinese reformers such as Premier Zhong Rongji. At the same, the Zhuada policy was also criticised by some senior economists such as Wu Jinglian. He warned that under the Zhuada goal, many bureaucrats were forming conglomerates via executive fiats and not market mechanisms. He pointed out that there had been cases of mismatches among the components of conglomerates and most conglomerates borne out of government directives did not do well. Yin Wenquan, State Development Planning Commission economist also decried the following faults in jituangongsi that were cobbled together due to executive fiats. He criticised them as of ‘poor internal management; lack of a rational relationship between headquarters and the units; and failure to achieve economy of scale (Lam, 1999, p.379).’
The Asian crisis has probably given the Chinese reformers much to think about on their strategies towards the economic reforms and particularly the head-aching SOE reforms. It may be fair to say that the Chinese economy has made significant progress over the recent decades with private and foreign enterprises taking more and more percentage of the GDP. However, the main area of concern and the main challenge to the future of the Communist Party in China may be the reforms of the SOEs, many of them making heavy losses and draining away a main part of the state resources. Yet, it is to be remembered that the SOEs are also perhaps the largest employers in the country providing many secondary benefits, such as housing, medical treatment, and even education, childcare and so on. Without a proper social security system, a sound financial system and a mature capital market, the challenge is a serious one indeed, given the dogmatic insistence by Jiang and the Communist Party on the socialist nature of the Chinese economy. With the ownership question being often the taboo, the economic reforms had suffered from the lack of vision as a whole, and shakes of over-control to over-liberation (or vacuum of control) (Zhao and Jin, 1997).
According to Zhuang (1995), by moving away from the centrally planned economy to that of a more market oriented economy, the Chinese economy has sometimes suffered the worst of both world with the deficiency of both systems exaggerated to the extremes through a mal-combination of the two. Given the status of the economic reforms so far, there is clearly a need for a clear vision for the future and better management systems for better planning, better controls, as well as for establishing a sound market economy system. Thus, it is easy to see why management models produced under mature market economy systems as of the West may not work effectively and efficiently in China. We need a management model which will work under this imperfect or immature transitional period, where the Chinese economy is. It is difficult to proclaim a clear vision for the future of the Chinese economy, and it is more difficult to establish sophisticated management systems, which are based on the historical development of a sophisticated economy. It may be possible to introduce a model, which will point to or bring forth the future possibilities.
4.4 The Unique Characteristics of Chinese Culture Today
The study of Chinese culture today is perhaps the most difficult of all the three studies undertaken to complete our framework of analysis. It is perhaps the fastest changing feature of the Chinese society, flooded by foreigners, foreign goods, entertainment and media, as well as the latest fad of the Internet (though in somewhat restricted way by the Communist Party). It is to be noted that there are two sets of cultural characteristics at work. One is the traditional, which has been carried in the Chinese blood for thousands of years; another is the contemporary one, which changes and shapes as new environment and fads come to existence with the fast changing pace of science, technology and the economy. It is easy to see that in most Chinese, we can notice a combination of the two at work. It is difficult for the modern Chinese to get rid of his/her traditional cultural breeding (e.g., common senses). It is equally difficult for the conservative Chinese to avoid the frustration and bafflement by being constantly subjected to the unthinkable through the influx of the modern world particularly from the West. For a management model to work in China, it must aim at bringing forth the best from this unique combination of the traditional and the modern Chinese cultural characteristics, which are briefly analysed as follows.
1. Servility coupled with authoritarian rulers: The culture of compliance coupled with authoritarian rulers has been status quo in the Chinese society over many centuries. This even extended to every other East Asian states with the historical influence of Chinese civilisation. Servility was taught by Confucius and his successors for thousands of years. As a matter of fact, Chinese children are expected to grow up obedient, unassertive, dependent and non-aggressive, which would suit any authoritarian regimes throughout the dynasties. Thus, the Chinese normally take up being passive beings both in the families and in the society. This traditional type of servility goes as far as regarding taking advantage of individual rights as selfish, so that the Chinese cannot separate natural self-interest from selfishness. However, this seems to be the distinction which has enabled ‘Western societies to carry out a large amount of communal work while still allowing the individuals concerned to monitor their behaviour themselves through their own individual conscience (Wilson, 1996, pp.46-49).’
The side-effect of this servility is that it is hard for the traditional Chinese to internalise the commands of the high authority in order to become autonomous and independent, acting on their own judgement and moral sense (Wilson, 1996, p.51). Thus, the traditional Chinese expect little control over their own destiny, which makes them less effective as democrats or rebels. They are perpetually hoping that those better informed and with higher authorities will lead the nation or enterprise in the right direction (Wilson, 1996, p.53). Another by-product of this servility is the seniority system often implemented in at least most Chinese SOEs as well as in the Chinese political systems, which are often ruled by ‘immortals’ (Wilson, 1996, p.58-59);
2. On the other hand, the modern Chinese seem to respect film stars and world statesmen more than their own parents. This came as an indirect result of Mao’s politicisation process (e.g., Cultural Revolution), which literally destroyed old values and lessened respect for authority, and Deng’s economic reforms which has put money first before authority. This is also compounded by Western influence in the cities, by legal reforms, by the mushrooming of corruption, by unemployment and internal migration, as well as greater freedom in literature and the cinema. However, individuality has not been widely practised in reality, as often who you are determines what can individualistically get away with (Wilson, 1996, pp.50-51);
3. Face (preserving someone’s self-respect in the eyes of others): Face is why a traditional Chinese very rarely criticises another person in public, or draw attention to that person’s mistakes and deficiencies when other people are present (Wilson, 1996, p.53);
4. Guanxi (a complex network of reciprocal obligations, fulfilled often through material gifts or substantial actions): Chinese people use guanxi as a means of manipulating other people (often better positioned or with higher authorities) in order to advance their own desires and rights. Guanxi is often used to get a better surgeon, to escape a fine, to obtain a better education or job for their children, etc. In fact, it covers every facet of the Chinese social life, without guanxi a Chinese simply cannot survive, sometimes literally. To use gifts in order to extract reciprocal obligations from the receivers is very rare in the Western societies, which probably explains why it is hard to overcome corruption and briberies in the country, where the boundary lines are often mingled in a tangle of human webs. Thus, it is easy to see why independence in order to perform one’s professional duties (e.g., auditing) is something very hard to achieve in China;
5. weak conception of law: it is easy to see from the above why the concept of law is very weak in the Chinese society, since most appeals are directed not to the ‘lifeless pages of old law tomes or new statute books but to the persons in authority, with whom, if you are lucky, you may have some connection, or with whom you may be able to set up at least some form of guanxi. Without the rule of law and with much dependence on the persons in authority, that is why the so-called socialist democracy is quite empty with no real equality and freedom of speech among the people and no constraints on the paramount leader of the country with absolute power (Wilson, 1996, pp.56-57)’;
6. the emergence of the civil society: One significant development in recent decades for the modern Chinese is the fast emergence of the civil society (Lam, 1999). The weight of the civil society comes from non-party intellectuals, private businessmen, Christians and members of non-official trade unions. From the mid-1990s, there was some liberalisation towards denizens of the civil society at the social and cultural level. It was also becoming more difficult to regulate information owing to the fast expansion of the Internet in China. Through the consistent policy of the open-door policy, the civil society has become more vigorous, clamouring for a voice in politics (Lam, 1999, p.304). Often the ones with the most political clout are the growing class of private entrepreneurs including the middle class, professionals and gumin (shareholders) (Lam, 1999, p.305). Influential professional groupings had emerged in the cities by the mid-1990s, with firstly lawyers setting up their own private practices (doctors and accountants could be the next professions to follow). From late 1997, businessmen were able to lobby for policy changes through informal channels. They also gained influential positions through the backdoor, with 5,401 of them had by 1994 become People’s Congress deputies at the level of county or above (Lam, 1999, p.306). The expansion of the Internet had encouraged more freedom of expression through the Internet versions of dazibao (big character posters, often used in the Cultural Revolution, and since banned by Deng Xiaoping), started by university students in 1996 (Lam, 1999, p.308). Signs of the civil society in action can be seen in many aspects of the Chinese society. In lawsuits, courts of all levels had handled 141,949 cases in the five years since the promulgation of the 1991 Law on Administrative Litigation.
These were mostly citizens, companies or groups that took government departments to court over dereliction of duty or other alleged lapses. According to official statistics, the government lost 36.2 per cent of these cases. This percentage was considered high compared with the results of similar lawsuits in other countries (Lam, 1999, p.309).
These cases (e.g., some peasants suing a polluting factory for damages) demonstrated that citizens had become more enthusiastic in asserting themselves. At the same time, consumers became more aggressive in suing unscrupulous manufacturers—there had been nearly 7,000 cases of complaints and court cases in Guangdong in the first half of 1996 alone (ibid.).
From the above, we see that the ordinary Chinese is really a combination of two major influences. One is the thousand years of Confucius teachings and feudal traditions, another is the sign of changes through opening their eyes and minds to the influx of Western ideas, conceptions, and ways of doing things through scientific and technological developments. It is said that often it is the compromise between the traditional and the modern Chinese, which is at work in every contemporary Chinese. This can also be seen in the behaviours of Chinese leaders such as Jiang Zeming. On the one hand, he seemed to have gone back to the Maoist party-centric tradition in many of his policies and programmes. On the other hand, after visiting America and the West and witnessing the Asian crisis (mostly built upon the influence of Chinese civilisation of the past), he lamented the lack of good zhidu (appropriate management systems) and ideal democracy in China today (Lam, 1999). There seems to be some hope (by the likes of President Clinton) that even Jiang had proclaimed a need for further progress, as he claimed in Massachusetts in November 1999,
We are conducting comprehensive reform. We will realise the socialisation, marketisation and modernisation of the economy. Politically we will develop socialist democracy and govern the country according to law (Lam, 1999, p.388).
The words surely sound encouraging, more difficult however is to put them into practice. Without a clear vision for the future of China by the likes of Jiang, the challenge ahead may be more difficult than those for Mao and Deng.
4.5 An Insight of Chinese National Environmental Management
It will be a surprise to see that Chinese national environmental management is not underpinned by the unique Chinese political, cultural and economical characteristics. Its so-called command and control approach can be seen aligned with the so-called socialist politics. Its origin can be sought in the thousands of years of Chinese feudalism, where the emperors ruled from top down. Bearing in mind the above political, cultural and economic analysis, the problems of the current Chinese national environmental management approach can be explained the following ways:
The viewpoint: Environmental issues, like all the other social issues in China, are treated as governmental responsibilities. This can be seen in the example of the SOEs running as national factories in the old days, so it is the government who would do the thinking, planning, as well as running of the show. This naturally resulted in a top-down approach, whereby laws, legislation and rules of practices are formulated and passed at the top, and often imposed on the enterprises. This requires the government to try to understand the environmental issues to the best they can and formulate best rules and practices, which can be followed up by the business enterprises, particularly the SOEs. However, as we know, the environmental issues are naturally complicated and often present themselves as dilemmas of different choices between them and us, now and future. It becomes more of a problem if such difficult choices are made at the top and imposed on the people. Without much understanding of and involvement of why certain choices are made in this way rather than other ways, the business enterprises and the people in them are bound to have misunderstandings and misconceptions. Thus, environmental laws and legislation are often nicely worded and formally presented, without being effectively and efficiently implemented or enforced. This has often been the case in the thousand years of Chinese history where decisions were made at the top without involvement of the mass. This is quite a different viewpoint from the one commonly adopted in the West. This will be explored in the next chapter.
The national environmental management system: The main body of the national environmental management system is staffed by public sector workers. They are often lowly paid and suffer from low morale. It is often difficult to maintain good quality staff in such agencies, as we can see from the problem of the Chinese state auditing system, which reflect similar symptoms (Zhuang, 1995). Insufficient staff, low morale, and low quality staffing together with other bureaucratic problems (rifle in the public sector) means inefficient and ineffective monitoring and implementing the nicely formulated national environmental policies, legislation and practices. A question of corruption can also be raised, as in the Chinese circumstances, human relations and briberies can get one through all sorts of red lights. This is quite different from the West as a large number of private environmental management service companies have emerged and blossomed in the last few decades. Such a private monitoring, auditing, and management sector is supposed to be more independent and far more efficient and effective. This will be explored in the next chapter as well.
We have chosen to highlight the above-mentioned two particular weaknesses in the Chinese national environmental management, since we believe that improvement can be made in these two specific areas with good immediate effects. As often, we cannot ignore that China does have its unique problems. These include historical problems concerning its socialist industrialisation process, its huge population, its inadequate natural resources, its status as a developing country concerning issues of poverty in its vastly underdeveloped areas and its lack of financial resources and technology with regard to environmental management. Because of the scope of this project, we will concentrate on the two areas above and try to suggest ways for improvement in these particular areas.
4.6 The Commons Viewpoint
In this section, we are going to explore the Chinese problematic situation as reviewed above, using the Commons viewpoint. This means to view the environmental problems as the Commons problems. We will firstly explore why the Chinese command and control approach has been ineffective in dealing with its environmental problems, particularly seen from the Commons viewpoint.
To be able to discuss the Chinese situation in a flexible way, we re-interpret the Commons problems as a playing field, which is used by a number of sports. To co-ordinate use of the field, the Command and Control approach presumably would have the strongest and dominant user group (e.g., the football team) take full responsibility, e.g., for maintenance, development, security, etc., all the time. As we know, this usually will lead to (undercover) resistance. There are many ways to do so. These include bribing the guards while the football team is not playing, or trying to destroy or cause damages to the field as much as possible, without being caught, or trying to prevent the football team from using the playing field to play football by causing disruptions or other nuisance. Furthermore, it would be difficult for the football team to justify its own use in the eyes of the public, who may consist of the supporting fans for all the sports events. This becomes particularly problematic in an open and democratic society where the public’s opinion counts. In China’s case, it has proved possible to implement a command and control approach to all spheres of the Chinese society since 1949, through a support of socialist politics, economy and culture which has been more alien to democracy than to feudal top-down rules. Yet increasingly, with the advance of communication technologies and the opening up of the Chinese market and culture, China has found that the old trick of the command and control rule getting less efficient and effective without the ruling party taking an ostrich stance. This is why China has been opening up its market to the world and is trying to find a way to implement a socialist market economy integrated with the world economy. With such integration, it will become increasingly more difficult for China to apply the old command and control approach to any sphere of Chinese society.
There has to be a change of approach to the management of a number of national issues, such as the environmental issues. It is difficult to foresee that China will change overnight to the usual practices in the West, although it is possible for China to learn from the West and try to transform its command and control approach so that the commands are based neither on ideological biases such as Mao’s or personal whims (both Mao’s and Deng’s). This can result in controls being better understood and better implemented. Given the poor quality of the existing environmental monitoring and management agencies, the need for change is greater than ever. In the next section, we will explore what can be learnt from the West as we have reviewed in Chapter 3 and what sort of resources China can take advantage of as we have reviewed China’s current situation with regard to its political, economical and cultural characteristics.
4.7 Lessons To Be Learnt
In this section, we are going to list a number of things that China may want to learn from the West, in their efforts to move away from the traditional command and control approach. Before that, we have to bear in mind that the so-called Western democracy is very much different from the Chinese socialist democracy, and there is fundamental difference in culture, economy and politics. However, China always has the scope to adopt the best environmental management practices, all or in part, in future. They are listed as follows:
• communication: there seems to be a general emphasis on better communications on environmental issues. This noticeable feature can be found at all levels, ranging from the global, regional, national levels as we have reviewed in Chapter 3. Better communication could mean better conversation in the Dutch example where business and government talk things through to formulate covenants. It also means better communications between national leaders in the form of global earth summits. The sort of formal conversation is more familiar to the Chinese leaders with regard to their conception of communications. But as we have witnessed in the recent years, there is a growing interest for voluntary groups and NGOs to make their presence felt at such formal and often less fruitful meetings. It could also come in the form of talking to other stakeholders and communities affected as we see in Responsibility Care. Standardisation of environmental practices and management systems also helps to improve communication as parties involved will be clear of what they are talking about and what to expect from their counterparts. Communication is also better improved when environmental concerns can have an equal voice as against other major concerns. This is mainly achieved by the politicisation of environmentalism and the emergence of the green parties in the national governments in the West. This is still unimaginable in China today. In terms of communication, China has to make great progress. When people are used to take commands as given, it is more likely that communication means being talked to rather than conversing;
• politicisation: as mentioned above, one noticeable feature of the Western environmental management is the emergence of environmentalism as a political ideology and with it green groups or parties taking up powerful political positions in the governments, such as in Germany. Politicisation certainly enables the environment to be represented in the political decision making process as an important player. This is most relevant when we view the environmental problems as the Commons problems in the form of the playing field, whereby no dominant strong user group is desired, as we have discussed in the previous chapters. This is certainly an aspect that is lacking in China. In recent years, there has been an emergence of small groups consisted of mainly middle class well-off young people in the more advanced cities of China. But they are still in their early days and further development into a political party is certainly not allowed at the present China;
• standardisation: there is a growing trend for global environmental standardisation in terms of products, management systems, environmental audit, and other environmental practices. This, as mentioned above, may enable better communication and better understanding between different trading partners around the globe. But as of today, there has been strong resistance from the developing countries as some of them may view such green standardisation and with it green certifications as another trade barrier set up by the more advanced countries. In China, there has been some interest to embrace such international standardisation as of the ISO 14000 series. This is still early days and the Chinese people often pay more attention to the certificates than to the actual performance required. With a weak national environmental audit agency and certain weaknesses in the Chinese culture, it is hard to see such certifications will bring about significant improvements, without the independent environmental certifiers and auditors as is the norm for the West;
• effects management: there is a shift from production management towards effects management, as exemplified by the New Zealand national environmental management. This is interesting for China where real improvement is required to improve the environment as soon as possible. Whatever the policies or certificates, it is the effects of the enterprises on the environment that should come to the full front of all stakeholders’ minds
• transparency: there is a tendency to move towards more transparent environmental management and practices particularly at the national and enterprise levels as reviewed in Chapter 3. Transparency can come in the forms of publicised environmental policies and stakeholder communications. Transparency can come in the form of national environmental database, which we have seen in the case of Australia so that conversations on environmental matters between all major stakeholders can be based on solid facts. This may be insightful for China, where most of the environmental data, as all other sorts of data, are still treated as if they are top secrets and only accessible often by the top managers concerned. The environmental agents who collect such data often treat them as treasures and use them as barters for trading for favours, promotions and power struggle. This came to light when the researcher visited a number of Chinese SOEs in Shanghai during his field trips. When it was suggested that the value of data and information increases through increased access, rather than secrecy, the environmental agents were really shocked and puzzled;
• Co-operation: there is a real need for inter-departmental, inter-sector, inter-group co-operations so that environmental policies can be implemented effectively and efficiently. An example for the lack of co-operation is the case of Japan, where environmental performance has suffered from the lack of co-operation among governmental ministries and among other relevant stakeholders. This could easily be the case with China, as from above we have seen the hint from the lack of transparency.
There are certainly many other areas which China may wish to learn from experiences obtained by other countries. It is important to implement such learning, while taking advantage of the existing Chinese strengths in the current Chinese society. In the next section, we will explore a number of possible moves that China may wish to take to move away from its current command and control approach to environmental management.
4.8 Moving Forward
In the present chapter we have reviewed some of the major approaches to national environmental management around the world in Chapter 3 and the Chinese approach. It seems that the Chinese worldview sides with that of the command and control approach, which states that the world would be a better place, had it been tightly and well controlled. We have also observed that the Chinese command and control worldview is deeply rooted in its economic, cultural and particularly political characteristics, which can be regarded as unique in the world. With regard to the rule by the Chinese Communist Party, such a worldview will be prevailing in all spheres of Chinese society as long as it remains in power by virtue of its Communist past. As for the way forward, bearing in mind the analysis we have undertaken concerning the current Chinese cultural, political and economic characteristics, it is more than likely that China will be inclined to take after the American, whose main characteristics are repeated here.
In reflection upon the U.S. experience of national environmental management, the approaches adopted by the U.S. government can be distinguished in the following ways. There was the command and control approach in the form of environmental standards on specific environmental issues, e.g., environmental quality standard and emission standard. This was so called the command and control approach because it meant that the government commands business firms to comply with certain standards and often directly controls their choice of technology. The government also used market-based mechanisms, such as the concept of tradable allowances, emission charges or fees, and government incentives. Another approach was to reduce pollution known as regulation by publicity or regulation by embarrassment through information disclosure by companies. The government also used the power of criminal enforcement rather than civil enforcement to prosecute companies and their executives who break environmental laws (Post et al., 1996, pp. 323-337).
By taking after the Americans, China would still be able to exert its preference for the command and control approach to a certain extent so that some kind of stability of administration is continued while new ways of thinking and management approaches may emerge in the future. Stability or least disruption is always high on the Chinese government’s agenda in its handling of all spheres of the Chinese society. The American model might also allow China to develop and adopt more market based methods, which is always gradually coming into force in China today as we learn from the creation of the new five environmental management systems which have been reviewed in Chapter 2. Here we have to remember that the market environments are considerably different between China and America. It is somewhat doubtful whether similar measures or measures with same names will work to the same effects. In China, while the market economy is coming into force, without a proper legal system to support it, there are always shady areas where the rules of market economy are not obliged. For example, there will always be the work of guanxi (human relations through the back door) or political influences and bargaining. But these will be left to develop with the further progress of the Chinese market economy. It may be interesting to see the American’s adoption of ‘regulation by publicity or regulation by embarrassment through information disclosure by companies’. Based on this American feature, a communications system may be derived which can be adopted in China to strengthen its existing environmental management systems and improve the environmental performances of the SOEs. This will be discussed in detail in Chapter 5.
4.9 Conclusion
In this chapter, we analysed the current Chinese cultural, economical and political characteristics, in which we believe its worldview for use in its management systems is represented (whether it is for environmental issues or else). China is operating in a way very different from the West. It is still one of the remaining self-proclaimed socialist country, though increasingly it tends to integrate its economy with the rest of the world market. Most countries in the world today have been trying to move away from the command and control to environmental management. This is because such an approach is highly expensive while offering low quality of performance and low level of guarantee. In a big country like China where there has always been the case of the Centre issuing policies while the locals adapting such policies to their own advantages. It has been a major problem that nicely formulated national environmental policies are not implemented effectively and efficiently all over the country. There has always been a question of ‘policing’ with low morale among the environmental agents. The question of who ‘police the police’ remains unanswered as bribery, corruption and guanxi remains the rule of the game in a society where law and order are obeyed to the convenience of individuals’ status.
After careful consideration, it may be concluded that it is highly likely that China would prefer to learn more from the American approach, which will appeal to their sense of stability and order while making progresses. Other national approaches may require a higher level of Western style democracy and market sophistication such as the Dutch conversation model and the UK’s systems approaches. We have now built up a rich picture of the global national environmental management approaches, exposing four major worldviews behind them (and some variants). Interestingly, the sustainable worldview is still very much in its infancy, hence there seems to be a need to identify a practical approach which can realise its lofty ambitions. In the next chapter, we will be able to use the Commons Framework to enlighten us further and to indicate what this practical approach involves and how it is put into action.
Chapter 5
Exploring A Way Forward For Chinese Environmental Management
5.1 Introduction
Our journey so far has followed the steps of a particular systems methodology (Checkland's SSM) as a way to organise material and identify what may solve a particular class of Commons problems. The main task in this chapter is to identify a way forward for Chinese national environmental management—and on what level this will constitute a justifiable solution to the Commons problems.
To explore the nature of China's environmental problems, as well as what is behind them, we have presented, first, a detailed description of China as a human activity system, and second, some of the worldviews that constitute the main impediments to a desirable change of that system. The next step is to identify what changes would allow China a way forward. Again in the terminology of Checkland's SSM, we need to formulate a likely root definition and delineate a system to be transformed—to increase its ability to change as a collective of actors.
Following the work in the previous chapters, a likely root definition is similar to that of the American environmental management system. It says that it will be a system to manage the environmental situation with an integrated approach between the command and control approach in some aspects and market-based measures in some other aspects, as well as using publicity to whip up the enterprises' environmental performances. We have to bear in mind the difference between China and America in terms of culture, economics and politics.
The model to be explored here should function in the present, under the many constraints imposed by the Chinese past, but it should also help bring forth a desirable future. We must be aware, therefore, that what is proposed is not simply a way to learn. It should represent knowledge, the result of research. It should therefore indicate what is to be set up and provide a criterion as to the direction in which improvements should be made. In other words, it should be possible to indicate how the model is to be tested while being implemented such that a system develops what is resistant to misuse. In this sense it is part of 3rd-phase science—as well as the result of efforts to indicate a sustainable collective with preferred properties.
We will first explore the details of this conceptual model for use, then explore theoretically why such a model will help China to solve this typical Commons problem in terms of Chinese environmental problems.
5.2 The Tragedy of the Commons Framework
The name Tragedy of the Commons was coined by Hardin in 1968 in his paper in Science (Hardin, 1968). It introduced a framework he used to summarise a class of problems, which were called the ‘no technical solutions problems’. This indicated that it was hypothesised that science and technology alone could not solve this particular class of problems. While this class has many members such as the arms race between the super powers at that time, Hardin was particularly interested in finding solutions to one such member in the form of the population problem. He found his Framework particularly useful in shedding insights and allowing for the evaluation and formulation of possible solutions to this problem.
One typical Tragedy of the Commons Hardin used in his paper was the story about how common pastures are often overgrazed, despite the best intentions of the herdsmen to preserve this resource for their use. Humans almost always act to maximise their own individual benefit and profit. This attitude can have grim consequences, when benefit is gained from the use of a finite commonsly-shared resource. In line with our interest, in the paper, Hardin actually used his framework to look at the pollution problem.
In a reverse way, the tragedy of the commons reappears in problems of pollution. Here it is not a question of taking something out of the commons, but of putting something in—sewage, or chemical, radioactive, and heat wastes into water; noxious and dangerous fumes into the air; and distracting and unpleasant advertising signs into the line of sight. The calculations of utility are much the same as before. The rational man finds that his share of the cost of the wastes he discharges into the commons is less than the cost of purifying his wastes before releasing them. Since this is true for everyone, we are locked into a system of "fouling our own nest," so long as we behave only as independent, rational, free enterprisers.
The tragedy of the commons as a food basket is averted by private property, or something formally like it. But the air and waters surrounding us cannot readily be fenced, and so the tragedy of the commons as a cesspool must be prevented by various means, by coercive laws or taxing devices that make it cheaper for the polluter to treat his pollutants than to discharge them untreated. We have not progressed as far with the solution of this problem as we have with the first. Indeed, our particular concept of private property, which deters us from exhausting the positive resources of the earth, favours pollution. The owner of a factory on the bank of a stream—whose property extends to the middle of the stream—often has difficulty seeing why it is not his natural right to muddy the waters flowing past his door. The law, always behind the times, requires elaborate stitching and fitting to adapt it to this newly perceived aspect of the commons (Hardin, 1968, http://www.aloha.net/%7Ejhanson/page95.htm).
Hardin clearly suggests that the command and control approach (through law and enforcement) alone will not be sufficient to solve the pollution problem. According to him, education will certainly help to enlighten people, but it cannot solve the problems completely. Appealing to individuals’ conscience will only work to a limited extent. The only solution for him is through an approach of ‘mutual coercion,’ which is mutually agreed upon (http://www.free-eco.org/free/FP/FREE.perspectives.html). While in the Western democratic countries, standardisation of environmental management through voluntary agreement may serve as Hardin’s ‘mutual coercion’, alternatives must be sought in countries like China, where there is no prevailing democracy for personal freedom and freedom of expressions. This becomes our task in the next sections.
5.3 The Sustainable Worldview
Our proposal for an ideal system or model for Chinese national environmental management will be based on the worldview of sustainability. The Tragedy of the Commons Framework prescribes that this model should enable a form of mutual coercion so that each Commons owner or stakeholder will be able to take responsible actions either by their own wishes or by mutual coercion. Thus, this ideal system should allow individuals to make informed choices both as a private individual and as a member of a collective. This system should facilitate better communications, allow more transparency, and enable better co-operations, at the same time provide measures for effects management (in cases of punishment and penalties), standardisation (wherever necessary for practical reasons), and the emergency of politicisation of environmentalism. As you may notice, these are all the areas China may wish to learn (as of Chapter 3).
5.4 The Model for Use in China
We have to remember that we are trying to design a model of pollution management, while viewing the pollution problems through Hardin’s Tragedy of the Commons Framework as underlined above. We will start by exploring what it consists of and then explain how it will work functionally.
5.4.1 The Origin and the Name of the Model
The problem with the command and control approach in dealing with Commons type problems like pollution centres on the traditional question of unilateral coercion. This, according to Hardin (1968) ‘is rightly feared for an ancient reason—Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? —Who shall watch the watchers themselves? John Adams said that we must have a ‘government of laws and not men. Bureau administrators, trying to evaluate the morality of acts in the total system, are singularly liable to corruption, producing a government by men, not laws.’ This, as we have argued in previous chapters, has been the main problem for China, where the rule of law is marginal to the personal rule of whims, and where corruption is encouraged by a culture of guanxi and face. We will extrapolate Hardin’s solution to such problems in the form of mutual coercion, which calls for individual responsibility in recognising the necessity—‘not of doing the right things but of doing things right’. It is possible that mutual coercion can be established through better communication among all, so that policies and practices become more transparent. This makes irresponsible behaviours such as pollution by individuals or individual enterprises less feasible and more costly in accordance with the Chinese culture of face. Better communication in the form of publicising major, serious and regular pollution offenders will bring forth some form of mutual coercion because the Chinese cultural characteristic of the so-called face (the respect of publicity as a double-edged sword). Mutual coercion will also come about in the form of coercion by better knowledge. For example, individuals and enterprises will find coerced not to increase pollution through their new projects, if they get to know alternatives and better ways, which produce less pollution while cost them less. It has to be stressed that the following model is a supplement to the current Chinese environmental management systems. With this model in place, the Chinese national environmental management will be similar to the American approach, which combines the command and control approach with other alternatives (not completely abandoning the command and control, as it is still useful in some aspects, as we discussed before). It is based on these assumptions that the model is designed.
We call this model the Commons Communications System (CCS). The term ‘Commons’ derives from the theoretical underpinning in Hardin’s Tragedy of the Commons Framework. The ‘Communications’ part stems from having the system to provide ‘mutual coercion’ in the form of better communication among all its members, in this case, including all the Chinese people. It is called a system because it is only when all the components are working together, and recognise each other as members of the same collective through proper information transfer, that the total desired effects can be achieved. So it will be a system of interactive components together with overall systems links, which will enable the system to tell itself how well or badly it is working and which components are working satisfactorily and which parts are not. Furthermore, the system will evolve with changes in the environment, such as changes in Chinese cultural, political, economical and environmental characteristics. The CCS is aimed to help the Commons users or user groups with communications channels and knowledge bases. So that they are able to communicate with each other in a meaningful way (e.g., they know how to talk about things and know what they are talking about when they talk to each other). China is such a vast country with dramatically differentiating levels of literacy and education, so the CCS needs to start from the simplest form, e.g., using colour and diagram as interpretative indicators for complex environmental data. These colouring and diagram indices are widely in use in China today in areas such as economic management and enterprise production management. We have to bear in mind that the CCS is aimed to assist the command and control measures such as compulsory compliance to environmental laws and legislation and standards as well as the market-based measures such as tradable pollution permits. These three systems should work together as in the American model explored previously. Initially, the CCS will be aimed at air and water pollution rather than any other types of environmental problems. In the next section, we will discuss the composition of the CCS in more detail.
5.4.2 The Composition of the CCS
A CCS consists of four parts: the data-monitors, the databases, the communications channels, and the brain.
1. the data-monitors: These could include a range of monitors, from human beings, to sensors, to black boxes, and so on. China now has a comprehensive monitoring system for collecting all sorts of environmental data (CCICED, 1997). The inclusion of non-environmental workers as self-motivated monitors would be a new concept under the CCS;
2. the databases: in order to enable people to understand the issues at stake, their rights and possible actions to take, they need to have access to a range of databases. The following are a number of examples, which is not exhaustive, for database on I) the national, regional and local environmental laws, legislation, standards, and other compulsory measures against air and water pollution; II) on the best practices in the world, China, the region and the local city; III) environmental rights and responsibilities for enterprises and individuals as well as procedures and forms for complaints, legal help and law suits; IV) the global, national, regional, and local environmental agendas including important dates and events; V) the environmental records on local enterprises in terms of environmental statistics and other relevant quantitative measures; VI) the qualitative measures such as standardisation, certification and auditing reports; VII) the latest development in the environmental field in the globe, in China, in the region as well as in the city. These could be theoretical developments as well as material developments such as new product designs, new production technology, etc.. VIII) what assistance individual enterprises and individuals or consumer groups and communities can get from the globe, the Chinese central and local authority, as well as other private but also legitimate channels. These could relate to funding for new product designs or environmental events and so on. The point about all the above-mentioned and perhaps other databases is to have them work together in the simplest way possible. This will be dealt with by the communication channels;
3. the communication channels: it is through communications channels that people will be able to access, understand, and make full use of the above databases. There are still many Chinese people who are almost illiterate or merely educated. The central communication channel may be giant screens in the most populous areas in a city, such as the central city squares where there are already numerous screens for advertisements in cities like Shanghai. In terms of water and air pollution, the Big Screens will show the colours of the city’s water and air, e.g., black for highly polluted, blue for standard. The daily colouring will be compared with the standard colouring according to the environmental standards. This will make it obvious to the people how the city as a whole is faring in any given day against the compulsory environmental standards. The colouring is made up of statistical feeds from major water and air polluters in the city. It is possible to demonstrate that certain big polluters have broken the rules, e.g., by naming the culprits of the day. This is supposed to be based on the principle of publicity and the Chinese cultural characteristics of ‘face’. The Big Screens can also show environmental events and other interesting facts and stories. Another communications channel is the TV, which is perhaps still the most dominant media in China. Newspaper and the radio can also be utilised for this purpose. More interestingly as China gets closer to the Internet age, a dedicated web site would be ideal for such purposes. It is on this web site that the databases should be based so that anybody can access to them anywhere and anytime (through PC, phones, etc.). This Web Site can take advantage of the latest developments in the Western internet age, whereby bulletin boards hosting information discussions and information dissemination. It is also possible to have ‘mouth pieces’ located in areas where there are potential environmental disasters. These electronic devices can be used to announce warnings and help people in emergency with instructions;
4. the Brain: the Brain of the CCS is made of a powerful mainframe computer and web server as well as a virtual centre whereby experts and other relevant stakeholders can work together to transform some qualitative data into information. Ideally, all quantitative data should be transformed into useful information by the computers. The Brain obviously is what links all the databases with the communications channels. An important function of the Brain is to monitor and maintain the work of the whole system through a feedback loop and an ideally automatic analytical process, through some knowledge management systems/software. Altogether, the Brain will be an integration of computer power and human ingenuity.
5.4.3 The Functions of the CCS
There are several major differences between the Chinese environmental management system and that of Western countries, according to a Chinese official source (CCICED, 1997), as follows:
• There are lots of data, but they are not effectively used. This is due to the lack of information exchange and connectivity among various departments. Thus, relevant information is not fully utilised by the society, which results in these monitoring data being narrowly used by a limited number of parties;
• There is a need to make the exchange and transmission of data more prompt, more systematic, and more accurate. There is a lack of efficiency and effectiveness in the transmission and exchange of data generated by the monitoring institutions and outsiders;
• There is a need to improve the hardware and software for computer analysis of data;
• There is a lack of integrated monitoring reports on environmental quality, pollution, economy development, energy consumption, effectiveness of policies and so on. Thus, progress is needed for the monitoring data to be used for supporting governmental decisions (CCIECD, 1997, p.38).
It is with regard to the above deficiencies within the current system that the functions of the CCS have been designed, so that some of these current problems may be re-/dissolved with the help of the CCS. These are listed as follows.
• transparency: The CCS will bring about transparency to the whole subject of environmental issues and environmental management in China. During the researcher’s fieldwork in China a number of events pointed out the lack of transparency in the Chinese environmental field. Firstly, it was very difficult to get hold of environmental related books and magazines, as they were generally not available in the bookstores (being squeezed out by more popular and perhaps higher margin books such as those on business management, computers and Internet, etc.). In the end, the researcher had to go to the NEPA (National Environmental Protection Agency) and the environmental journals’ head office to get some books and magazines. These places are not really open to the general public, so access is rather limited. Secondly, there is a need for NEPAs at all levels to publicise all the environmental law, legislation, and other related information, so that people know what their (meaning NEPA) responsibilities are and how well they are performing in their jobs;
• knowledge: The researcher’s field work inquiries were made whenever there was an opportunity. When asked what their environmental rights and responsibilities were, most of the people said they did not know. When the researcher interviewed a Professor in environmental management at Tsinghua University, she agreed that it would be a good idea to produce a leaflet for citizens’ environmental rights, responsibilities and procedures for complaints and lawsuits. It is easy to see why most of the people would just endure the environmental problems such as pollution until they can no longer live in the Chinese way—we have to remember the Chinese tolerance and endurance of sufferings is really a feature of the Chinese culture. According to Lu Xun, a famous Chinese writer, the Chinese race tends to endure in silence until they had to burst out when they reach their limits;
• information: China is developing into an information sensitive society with the development of the market economy, such as the stock market. However, as far as the researcher is concerned, he had found that environmental information is often taboo and none of anyone else’s business except for those in environmental jobs. From interviews with the environmental managers of some SOEs in Shanghai, it became obvious that they would welcome the opportunity to know about what is going on in the global environmental scene as well as what is available as support to their particular tasks;
• integration: China is famous for its bureaucratic set-up with the usual departmental segregation concerning power struggles. Putting a number of databases together will demand different groups and departments to work together on a big project over a long period of time. It will also mean that they will have to work together to keep the databases updated;
• access: With the CCS, it will be possible for people to access the information and knowledge which is currently not publicly available to all stakeholders;
• communication: With the CCS, people can exchange views, information and knowledge. The CCS will also be able to warn people of potential environmental disasters and help people in terms of needs and emergency
This list of functions is not exhaustive, but it provides a glimpse of what is possible with the CCS and much more uses will come to light when the system is up and running. People will be able to make ethical investments upon the information available on the enterprises. They will also be able to find suitable employment with regards to quality of environment within an enterprise or a local area. In China, it is often two in one, meaning an enterprise is also a town itself with its large number of employees and their families living nearby the enterprise. Property can also be priced accordingly. One may think of many other uses for CCS.
5.5 Desirability of the CCS
We have discussed the goal of the CCS, its composition, as well as some of its possible and preferred functions. In this section, we are going to discuss the desirability of the CCS. It refers mainly to political and cultural desirability.
• political desirability: the pros are that the CCS will help China’s current efforts in integrating with the rest of the world. With the CCS, it is possible for global communities who are concerned with the state of the Chinese environment monitor the Chinese situation, as well as offer helps and advice accordingly. It will also help China make its case in the global community that it is making good efforts in environmental management. Thus, it will be easier for China to obtain global funds and technologies for its environmental projects. It will improve the effects of China’s command and control approach, which will still be very dominant in certain aspects with compulsory measures and standards for enterprises to comply with. The government will be able to tell instantly where the fall-guys are and where more efforts are needed to improve the performance of the whole nation. It will also enable the government to monitor the environmental situation closely through information and formal source available on the CCS so that prompt actions and remedies can be undertaken. It will certainly contribute to the notion of stability if the environmental situation is significantly improved, as currently unemployment, crime, corruption, and the environmental problems together with social unrest can all contribute to the instability of the Chinese society. Stability is the key, and the CCS can certainly make significant contribution there, for everyone’s benefits, as environmental issues should ideally be apolitical and concern everybody in the country.
On the other hand, there are also a number of aspects on which the Chinese government may think the CCS politically undesirable. One is the politicisation of environmentalism in China. It would be difficult to foresee in the immediate future that the Chinese government would want to welcome the emergence of a green party as a political force to be reckoned with in China. It is equally difficult to see the government welcome the emergence of powerful voluntary environmental groups. Another is that the government would be worried that the so-called environmental data will be exploited by China watchers outside China or opposition Chinese groups for purposes other than environmental concerns. The switch from secrecy to transparency is no easy task. There will also be political opposition to the integration of different departments and different groups. Another concern will be the emergence of powerful consumer groups making informed choices. On the whole, however, as stability is still very much the political key word, the CCS might be politically desirable in terms of a balance of improving environmental performance and close monitoring of enterprises according to the compulsory measures and standards.
• cultural desirability: There are a number of pros for cultural desirability for the CCS. The main problem in China is the lack of independence of people who are supposed to be able to formulate their independent judgements, such as environmental agents and auditors and so on. Another problem is the thing called ‘face’, i.e., nobody wants to lose face, so that everything can be somehow sorted out behind close doors and under the table, irrespective of the law and legislation concerned. The use of computers, sensors, black boxes can certainly provide more accurate facts and data. The use of the CCS can also remedy the lack of whistle blowers in the Chinese SOEs, where such people will not be properly protected by the law. Whistle blowing is apparently healthy for all organisations if it is encouraged and protected, because potentially fatal problems can be identified early. On the minus side, the issue of ‘face’ also swings both ways. It would be quite a leap for the fall guys (the big polluters who have broken their legal requirements) to be publicised on the Big Screen all over the places. They would rather keep it quiet and sort things out with the NEPA one way or the other, without public knowledge. While the researcher was in Shanghai, there was an electricity plant near where he stayed. The plant had a peculiar behaviour of polluting (with loud noise and heavy smoke) outside the working hours of the NEPAs while keeping a clean and quiet profile during the day. The problem was that nobody knew whether they were sticking to their permitted levels or whether they could complain about it, as everyone was afraid of getting their electricity cut off if they cared to retaliate, which is not rare at all in China.
5.6 Feasibility of the CCS
Having discussed whether the CCS will be politically and culturally desirable in China, we are going to explore whether it is feasible to implement such a system in China. There are a number of relevant issues to be discussed.
• technical feasibility: China is not yet known as an advanced information society, i.e., a society using many computers, but it is still possible to put this CCS at least in places with a more advanced economy such as Shanghai and other coastal cities. Not many families have computers, but most have one or more television sets and telephones. With the Internet now accessible by TV and phones as in the West, such technology can come very handy for the installation of the CCS. Black boxes have been used on aeroplanes for a long time. They are used increasingly more in things as cars. The researcher has also found a company in China, which is able to produce such environmental black boxes. Web-based cameras are now widely available in the West. China already has a large number of big screens around the populous squares in the cities for advertisement purposes. Chinese families have recently gained access to cable TV and other communication media. As we have reviewed in Chapter 4, a growing number of Chinese people are logging onto the net. Hence, technologically, it should be feasible to install the CCS in China, though funding and timing will still have to be resolved;
• funding feasibility: With the global emphasis on the environmental issues over the recent years, it may be possible for China to get substantial global funding for the CCS project, given that the international community will be able to monitor the Chinese situation more closely and perhaps help improve its contribution to the global environment by offering timely recommendation, research, advice, technology and funding. Many types of projects will become possible with the installation of the CCS;
• operator competence: with the CCS, it will be possible for the Chinese staff running the Brain to work closely with their Western counterparts, particularly if the system is heavily supported by global funding. Through the virtual room in the Brain, experts and other groups around the globe can be directly involved in the interpretation of data and information transformation process;
• audience competence: the CCS aims for the public, enterprises and organisations from all walks of life. By using simple colouring indicators for important key indices of pollution, it will be easier for everyone interested to keep an eye on their local environment and hence their quality of life in that respect. The colouring indicator system to simplify complex data was used in an experiment by Stafford Beer (Beer, 1989) in his Chilean economical reform projects. At that time in Chile, the workers had taken up the leadership at all key enterprises in Chile. Concerned with their lack of competence in reading the complex economical data, Beer had used the colouring system to indicate the health and the state of the economy for the whole country. It was a great pity that Beer’s experiment was cut short by the death of the then president, Allende. Otherwise, we might have seen more use of such simple and useful communications systems all over the world today. Other symbolism can also be adopted on the CCS, which should be easy to do with the help from computer animation and simulations.
It would be difficult for China to install a national CCS without help from the international community, but it can still experiment with it in cities like Shanghai and other coastal cities. The project can also be franchised to private ventures and later floated on the stock market in China. There will be many obstacles to overcome before the CCS can be adopted in China. We will undertake a cost and benefit analysis for the CCS project in the following section.
5.7 Cost and Benefit Analysis For the CCS
The initial outlay for the CCS may be quite significant with the large amount of capital investment required—in software (e.g., statistic software, knowledge management software, etc.) and hardware (e.g., computers, big screens, cable links, sensors, cameras, and black boxes, etc.). There will also be costs for staff recruitment and training, setting up organisations for maintenance and support. Over time, the system has to be kept updated and software updated as well. Additionally, there will be running costs involving staff pays, equipment upgrading, maintenance and repairs, utility bills and many other expenses, which are payable all the time while the system is up and running. It is interesting to note that it is sometimes the case that some SOEs tend to shut down environmental equipment just to save the costs, as the equipment and installation are normally paid for by the government, but not the running costs. There will also be losses to current employment for the NEPA staff and environmental staff in the enterprises, but it is hoped that some of them can be retrained to run the new system. There may be also costs occurred in preventing the network from virus and malicious hacker attacks as any computer system is vulnerable in these aspects. There may also be costs of crashing down and the need for computer and manual backup systems in emergence. The initial cost will not be insignificant, which is why it is important to apply for international funding and global supports from the Western business community.
However, the benefits of the CCS could also be enormous and the potential forit to be used for some other purposes is also unlimited. The initial benefits for the CCS is to try to improve the environmental performance of all the areas and enterprises, which are covered by the system. This could result in monetary benefits as well as (partly unquantifiable) environmental benefits both for the present and for generations to come. The political benefits for the Chinese government will be significant as environmental problems are becoming a significant factor hindering the long-term sustainable or stable development of China as a peaceful and reasonably comfortable (relative to the sheer size of its population) nation. It will also enable China to move forward quickly toward international integration with the global market economy and gain access to the latest development in environmental methods and technology. It may also help China’s case to join the WTO and become more accepted as a legitimate trading partner for many Western economies, who usually demand stringent environmental standards. Transparency through the CCS will certainly help the global community to understand the Chinese situation and problems better, which may result in more understanding and ultimately more help.
5.8 Conclusion
In this chapter, we have proposed a conceptual model, which emphasises the worldview of sustainability. We used the Commons Framework to enlighten ourselves as to what this ideal system should aim to achieve. We described the origin, the composition, the functions of the Commons Communications System, which we hope to help China in improving its environmental performance once installed and up and running. We have also discussed its costs and benefits, together with its cultural and political desirability as well as technical and other related feasibility issues. We have already witnessed the emergence of similar systems in the more advanced information societies such as the UK. For example, there is now an active web-based investment system, whereby even the smallest private investors can play their parts. In this case, the sensors and black boxes are the people who air their views, speculations, information and rumours on the bulletin boards which are increasingly being closely watched by market makers and companies themselves, as well as investment media. Thus, the traditional dominance of the market makers, ‘insiders’, and the big investment institutions are eroded in small investors’ active participation while the companies are being watched ever more closely from more angles than ever.
Such activist interactive networking has contributed to the recent bull run of the technology share in the global market, where small investors tend to have more influence. Whether this is to the benefit of all investors and the companies involved is to be debated. The fact that it has created more billionaires and millionaires than ever before is not sufficient. The use of the CCS in China will be a brave step forward to embrace the global community. It will be a leap into the future with significance as such web-based systems can be used for many more purposes, to the benefits of the Chinese people. With the ongoing open-door policy, there is no way back to the old closed-door approach. So maybe it is better to find ways to communicate with the rest of the world in an open and more mutually beneficial way. In the next chapter, we are going to explore a detailed plan for the installation of the CCS in China with measures to take account of potential conflicts of interests and other types of resistance.
Chapter 6
Setting Up the CCS
6.1 Introduction
In this chapter, we are going to explore how the CCS can be implemented in China. There are many possibilities. One is to recommend the CCS to the Chinese government and leave it with them. This may lead to the misuse of the CCS, which is originally intended to provide a communications infrastructure to deal with the environmental problems as indicated by Hardin’s Tragedy of the Commons Framework. It is possible that the Chinese government would use it just to strengthen its command and control approach. The CCS may also be set up as a private enterprise, but this is a highly impractical approach as there will be immense political and cultural resistance to it. A plausible approach is to set it up as a joint venture among three parties: the Chinese government, the private entrepreneurs, and an international funding organisation/or organisations, such as the World Bank. We will further this exploration adopting this last option, from the angle of a private entrepreneur, to see how he would approach this project to get the CCS up and running.
6.2 Where to Start
A good starting point for the private entrepreneur is to register the CCS on the net. It is already impossible to have the likes of www.ccs.com, but still possible with www.commonssystem.com. The name should not be too long and too complicated. Once the name is registered, the private entrepreneur should recruit a small number of key personnel. There should be experienced web designers (possibly two or three), one experienced fundraiser, and one environmental expert who is well connected with the global green community. Initially, some venture capital may be required to fund the initial stage of setting up the business, together with the original investment from the private entrepreneur. This could be obtained in the West where such funding appears readily available. So we start with a cogent argument that the CCS will be a viable Internet business.
6.2.1 The CCS as A Viable Internet Business
When the private entrepreneur addresses venture capitalists, he may be able to argue that the CCS will be a viable Internet business as follows:
• the potential of the Chinese ABC market: the CCS will aim at so-called ABC types of customers in China, that is to an emerging middle class of white-collar young people who are professionals earning good salaries. These are the people most likely to have Internet access on their home computers. Furthermore, Internet access will also be provided through cable TV and phones (voice access), as these are becoming technologically feasible and becoming more affordable at the moment. Most Chinese families have more than one television and many have phones, so it makes it an attractive market with regard to the large Chinese population;
• Income sources: there will be many ways to generate income. The first step is to grab a fair share of the Chinese Internet market by offering a free access service. This depends on the quality of the service provided and the contents on the www.commonssystem.com. A range of contents can be offered. The first is environmental information for local areas, which will be of interest particularly to the ABC people who may be concerned with quality of air, water, green products and services. Also, such information will be useful in employment services and property searches. Under the green banner, a range of services can be offered. There can also be an internet game show or TV game show similar to that of ‘Who wants to be millionaire?’, which is solely based on environmental questions, e.g., on the development of environmentalism, global environmental field, global environmental efforts and events and so on. Being so narrow and specialised, it may only allow those who regular browse the site to have a fair chance of knowing the answers. Another environmental related service is to provide academic knowledge for students specialising in environmental science and research links for environmental projects. It is also feasible to provide specialist environmental services for governmental agencies and researcher organisations, which may want to look more closely at the details and use the databases. It can also offer service to help the enterprise environmental managers to deal with their environmental problems. Such services will not be free. They will be charged as per case solved, maybe through a commission on the environmental consultants employed or equipment purchased through the Site. It will be possible to design environmental related entertainment programmes and games for children, which are both fun and educational. Another service is to provide a regular market monitoring service for environmentally friendly products and services, e.g., CCS-verified green products and services, because the environmental effects of such organisations are constantly being monitored by the CCS. Obviously, an increasing number of business organisations would want their products and services being verified as green products and services, so the CCS can charge a suitable fee for interested companies to be verified. If the CCS can grab a fair share of the ABC Internet market in China, then advertising revenues will follow. Western companies can advertise for their green technologies, research, databases, knowledge, products, services, and so on. Global environmental groups and organisations can advertise to recruit members and expand their networks. The CCS can also help Chinese students studying abroad in the subject area of environmental science and management, linking them to Western universities (studying abroad still remains the hottest pursuit among the young Chinese people). The CCS would need to portray an image of being helpful for people to identify with quality of environment and quality of life, through providing access, communications channels, monitoring services, and various databases. The public can use it to help them with finding suitable jobs, houses, doing their homework, entertaining and educating their children and so on. The specialists can gather together to exchange views, services and products or doing research together. It will be of a multiple purposes, with a range of charges (from zero to commissions, fees, and so on) and services based on different contents with specifically targeted audience.
Hopefully, some of the specialist venture capitalists will be willing to provide some seed capital. Obviously, there should be a detailed business plan with breakeven analysis, business strategies and action plans. It may be helpful to clarify the actions needed to set up and run the CCS.
6.2.2 The Funding Composition of the CCS
As we have mentioned before, the CCS will have to be a partnership among the private (including the entrepreneur and his team, and the venture capitalists), the Chinese government, and some global environmental funding organisations, such as the special environmental branch at the World Bank. The possible breakdown may be 50% private and 25% each for the Chinese government or NEPA and the global funding organisations. This is aimed to retain certain degree of private sector independence. Among the 50% private ownership, 30% can be floated onto the stock exchange, which should attract substantial institutional and private investors.
After the initial funding by the entrepreneur and his team and the venture capitalists, the first step is to get the Chinese NEPA on board as a major partner. The NEPA can use the site to store their data so that their agents around the country will be able to discuss problems and co-ordinate actions and research efforts. Only with the partnership of the NEPA, it will be legitimate and possible to link with or install the various sensors, cameras, and black boxes at key polluters’ sites of effects points. It may be possible to persuade the NEPA to take a 25% stake in the CCS with the following arguments:
• The CCS can help the NEPA in many ways to improve the environmental performance of the Chinese enterprises. One is that live data will be collected and analysed on line all the time, so that enterprises will have to obey the law and legislation by sticking to the legal permissions or facing fines or other punishment. With sufficient data available, it will be easier to prosecute and collect fines and impose other penalties;
• The CCS can be used to co-ordinate the actions and researches by NEPAs all around China. It can be used to store data on the web site so that it can be accessed anywhere in the country. The NEPAs and environmental managers and personnel can use the NEPA to gain access to Western environmental development, search for solutions and assistance to problems. This should keep the NEPA more updated than ever before. The CCS can also be used by the NEPA to run environmental promotion and educational programmes;
• The CCS should try to obtain global environmental funding for Chinese environmental projects. This could involve technical assistance, technological transfer and funding through the CCS’ global partners with the likes of the World Bank. Only with the CCS, it becomes more feasible to get such funding and assistance as the Western partners will be able to monitor the effects of their help, which is often a major case for concern with regards to all developing countries;
• The CCS may help China to portray an opener image as far as its environmental situation is concerned. With more inter-governmental exchanges, the Westerners may have a better understanding of the Chinese dilemmas. It may help China to gain a foot in WTO or gain further footing into the global market if an increasing proportion of its exporting enterprises are monitored by the CCS, whereby the Western trading partners can call up data on environmental effects;
• The CCS may also be expanded to be used to monitor public health and security issues, which should be useful to the Chinese government in reducing some of the complexity of its many tasks;
• The CCS should be floated in the stock markets, for example Nasdaq, which could provide extra incentives for the NEPA, who can thus use attractive share options pay packages to recruit high quality staff, which is really one of the key problems confronting the Chinese public sector.
If, the CCS can get the Chinese government or the Chinese NEPA on board, then the next step is to go to organisations such as the World Bank and OECD. There is a need to make a cogent argument to get one or more of these on board, perhaps to take a 25% share as well, which is as follows:
• With the Chinese NEPA as a major partner, the CCS may become China’s No.1 designated green Internet web site and environmental service provider;
• The CCS will be able to help the international sponsors to channel their funds to the right uses with on-line monitoring of its effects;
• The CCS will help the international sponsors to promote their environmental calls to the Chinese people directly;
• The CCS will provide major trading partners with substantial effects data of their Chinese counterparts;
• The CCS will provide possibilities for exchanges and communications between China and the rest of the world on environmental issues, concerns, problems, solutions, technological development and so on;
• The CCS may be able to provide the international sponsors with a clear picture of the Chinese air and water pollution situation;
• The CCS may be able to help China to improve its environmental performance, which should contribute to the further improvement of the global environment;
• The CCS may also be expanded into other countries so that the global sponsors can use the CCS to monitor the environmental effects management around the globe;
• The CCS can issue warnings to potential environmental disasters and co-ordinate rescue efforts among the international community, should such disasters strike;
• There are also many potential uses for the CCS as it grows and expands. It can also be used to gather or monitor issues like poverty, social unrest, human rights, etc. It may be able to encourage the exchange of culture and make the global village a more interactive one (in order to avoid Commons problems). If the NEPA becomes a major partner to the CCS and agrees with the basic plan of the CCS, it will be a major breakthrough for any global environmental funding organisation. At present, most of the Chinese environmental data are officially gathered only by the NEPA itself, so the validity and clarity is beyond inspection. It would be beneficial to have a partly private enterprise to undertake an independent stance in the gathering and analysis of these vital data on Chinese environmental effects-management, starting with water and air pollution.
If such funding attempts are successful, then the CCS can be born. It may be necessary to offer those enterprises that are going to be monitored a stake in the CCS. However, it might just be able to use the NEPA ‘muscles’ initially. It is ready for the real actions, which are discussed in the following sections.
6.2.3 Business Actions
Once the funding issues are being solved as discussed above, there will be a need for business actions, which may include the following:
setting up the system: Once the conditions for the CCS have been realised, there is an urgent need to recruit all the people required for all types of work. The CCS can follow the examples of successful stories like Amazon.com and others, with regard to organisational structure, operational system, communication and control system, strategic management and so on. The name of the game here may be to encourage flexible working and encourage innovation and contribution, while trying to create a corporate image where everyone can feel inclined to be proud of being a member. It should be a system of individuals, so the individuals exist while they can work together in unity. Internet companies are normally different from traditional companies, anyway. It may be possible to have certain staff working from all over the world, from their homes, for example. As usually is the case with Internet companies, the staff will be offered share option incentives, which perhaps contribute to the creation of the collective or the company;
www.commonssystem.com: After registration, there is a need to design the web site in such a way that it is as good as any commercial site, such as III and Freeserve in the UK, AOL and Amazon in the US, etc.. There are plenty of good examples out there, so a basic framework should not be too difficult to come by. It should allow search engines to search for general and special knowledge and data. A bulletin board should be there for people to discuss and exchange views and information. It may also be possible to encourage ethical investment whereby private investors can discuss where to invest ethically (e.g., in green companies). There should be the usual services covered by most of the Internet sites, such as daily news on economy, environment, sports, entertainment, etc. The first step is to make a working site whereby potential contents can be added on. The aim here is to be as good as any other general Internet service provider in China. Then, the next step is to be different.
purchase and installation of hardware and software: It will be important to purchase and install the right hardware and software for the CCS. There needs to be a special purchasing team, headed by an entrepreneur. Mistakes made here can be fatal in this young age of the new business, so extra care is required in the selection process. Except for the working equipment for the web site and back office equipment, others like sensors will be purchased using the just-in-time system.
partnerships and contents: Many databases need to be purchased or obtained from all sorts of organisations around the world, such as the ones on environmental science, events, technological innovations and development, environmental research, environmental facts, etc.. These could be quite easy by subscribing to certain journals or becoming members of certain environmental groups and institutions. Mutually supportive or beneficial partnerships are important in this aspect. In China, there are already environmental newspapers, mostly belonging to the NEPA and its affiliates. So it may be useful to create a web green newspaper, copies of which can be freely distributed in paper as part of the advertising campaign. There are many partnerships to be established both with Chinese organisations and Western organisations. To start with a few, then float the CCS on the stock market, so that future partnership deals can be driving up share prices. This could be useful in acquiring other companies to form part of the CCS group. With such strong backings as discussed above, it should not be a handicap to float the business even without starting trading, as long as the web site is up and running, and providing the basic useful information to start with.
advertising: There should be a major advertising campaign for the CCS and its web site. There are a number of useful adverts, for example,
• the CCS can help to warn and prevent environmental disasters;
• the CCS can help enterprises solving environmental problems by offering technical assistance and consultancy or technological equipment and so on;
• the CCS can help exporters to gain market access in Western countries where environmental standards are stringent;
• the CCS can help environmental students, scholars and researchers to link with their international counterparts;
• the CCS can help people identify better quality air and water and hence better quality of life using people’s residence or work place as examples;
• the CCS provides entertainment and education for people of all ages through quizzes, games, puzzles, cartoons, etc.;
• the CCS can help people contribute to save the environment by buying green products and services;
• the CCS help young people going abroad to study environmental science and management with live application to the Western universities; etc..
Obviously other actions need to be taken, but skipping the details, we will concentrate on the conditions in China that one (e.g., a Westerner, as this may be the case with the entrepreneur) needs to understand in order to do business in a legitimate and also Chinese way.
6.3 How to Manage a Business in China?
With its unique history of thousands of years of continuous cultural development and civilisation, managing a business in China may be significantly different from that in the West. What should a Western manager be aware of and what are the resources within the Chinese culture that s/he can utilise to his/her advantage from a manager’s point of view? These are the questions to be answered here.
First, we will refer to some examples of the Chinese employees’ mentalities, which may surprise a few Western managers.
1. If a manager arrives a little early, then the staff would think ‘he does it deliberately in order to catch us out.’
2. If a manager arrives a little late, then the staff would think ‘he himself can do whatever he wants.’
3. If a manager inquires about the well-being of a staff’s family, then he would think that the manager is nosy;
4. If a manager does not inquire about a staff’s family, then he would think that the manager does not have interest in fellow human beings;
5. If a manager proposes something new, then the staff would think ‘he always regards his ideas as the best’;
6. If a manager asks for opinions and ideas, then the staff would think ‘this person has no ideas of his own’;
7. If a manager takes prompt actions, the staff would think ‘he is more haste, less consideration’;
8. If a manager does things gradually, then the staff would think ‘he is lack of guts and determination’;
9. If a manager wants to add a new member of staff, then the staff would think ‘he is obviously expanding his personal influence’;
10. If a manager says that the company is sufficiently staffed, then the staff would think ‘obviously, he is going to load us with all sorts of chores’;
11. If a manager makes a joke, the staff will think ‘he is deliberately making a fool of himself’;
12. If a manager does not joke, then they would think ‘have you ever seen him smiling?’
13. If a manager is kind to the staff, then they would think ‘he makes a deliberate effort to please you’;
14. If a manager is not kind to the staff, they would think ‘he is too proud of himself to see the others’;
15. If a manager’s department is efficient and effective, they would think ‘we have done all the hard work’;
16. If a manager’s department is inefficient and ineffective, they would think ‘he is too incompetent to be a manager’ (Zhang, 1996, p.440).
Obviously, these are extreme examples listed together, which makes one wonder whether being a manager in China is at all appealing. Maybe, it helps to understand some of the characteristics of the Chinese culture. We have already covered a few in the previous chapters such as
1. Servility coupled with authoritarian rulers;
2. On the other hand, the modern Chinese seems to respect film stars and world statesmen more than their own parents;
3. Face (preserving someone’s self-respect in the eyes of others);
4. Guanxi (a complex network of reciprocal obligations, fulfilled often through material gifts or substantial actions);
5. a weak conception of law (Wilson, 1996).
All these characteristics can work either ways, both negatively and positively. For example, with regard to ‘face’, it could mean publicity—which to Chinese personnel is the severest punishment for any wrong doings. However, it often also means that Chinese people would do anything to save ‘face’ or avoid causing others to lose their ‘faces’. This could be tremendous difficult when independence is required for certain type of jobs, such as auditing and evaluation. Another example is guanxi. It seems almost impossible to get around smoothly in China without getting on through the web of human relations with presents, gifts, etc., as part and parcel of the game. And yet, if you do not know how to play the game, you could end up in jails for bribery. It is often a thin line to cross, all depending on the way you play the guanxi game. Altogether, it is better for a Western entrepreneur to be prepared for the cultural shocks and be willing to learn about it. Then, s/he can use its many facets to his or her own advantages rather than trying to ignore the cultural differences and then get burnt with its many ugly sides, like the ones we quoted above.
6.4 Conclusion
In this chapter, we have dealt with some practical actions that need undertaking to set up the CCS in China. As we have explored above, ideally it should be a joint venture between a global funding organisation, the Chinese NEPA or government, and the private sector (the entrepreneur and venture capitalists). With the Chinese government on board, the CCS would gain credibility and authority almost instantly. It would also help to open the many closed doors and gain access to databases, as well as legitimately linking with or installing sensors, cameras, and black boxes at the enterprises’ effects points as well as the Big Screens in public squares and access to Chinese homes.
With a global funding organisation on board, the CCS will be popular with Chinese Internet surfers, as young Chinese people tend to look up to Western images. The CCS will be able to gain access to the many global resources on environmental issues and management. By aiming to be China’s No.1 green site, the CCS will offer more than the standard services. It would create a green theme of contents, ranging from studying green science and management abroad (a major attraction to be), ethical investment, education and entertainment, as well as a range of specialist services. Some of these services will be free to gain market shares. Others will be charged to gain revenues.
Potentially, this could become an interesting Internet venture, but one has to be aware of the difference between China and the West and be prepared to work one’s way through the maze of Chinese human relations. What has to be borne in mind, at all times, is that the CCS is meant as a solution to a general problem, which has all the characteristics of a Commons problem. Any change in the implementation should be judged in terms of these characteristics. It should also be judged in terms of gaining knowledge, that is something that helps to act without restricting the initiative and development of specific users.
Chapter 7
Final Conclusion and Reflections
7.1 Introduction
We start this chapter with a discussion on the goals of this research. Then we examine what has been achieved, or rather how one may recognise that something has been achieved from the project, in terms of logical coherence and external validity. We will also explore what was not achieved, but would merit future research work.
7.2 The Validity of this Research Project
Many criteria have been proposed to determine the value or 'validity' of the results of a research project. Two will be considered here, as the basis for an evaluation of this project. They take the form of two questions. One is whether or how far this research project has achieved its goal. The other is whether the project is sufficiently coherent, both logically and practically.
7.2.1 The Goals of the Project
As we have stated at the outset, the goal of this research is double edged. Firstly, it intends to seek a practical solution to the Chinese pollution problem; secondly, to argue in favour of this solution by comparing advantages and disadvantages—on the basis of an interpretation as a Commons Problem. What needs to be done now is to identify to what extent these goals have been achieved. Hopefully, this will allow us to delineate some progress also in how to study environmental problems in general. The method employed in this study made use of two ideas. One is that it is possible to contribute to the solution of 'messy' organisational problems (as envisaged, for example, by SSM and other ‘methodologies’), and another is that this is the case even when the necessary 'debates' take place using a variety of sources rather than only one (i.e. participants). Bearing these in mind, the following points are expected to summarise what have been achieved in this project.
A practical solution to a specific problem situation (i.e., that of the Chinese environmental problem situation): We have proposed a solution to the Chinese pollution problem in the form of the Commons-Communication System or CCS, which is used to complement the existing Chinese environmental management systems. The main work has been covered in Chapter 5, in which we have examined the CCSs’ desirability and feasibility in terms of culture, politics and economics as well as its possible implementation. We have provided a cost and benefit analysis for CCSs to be set up in China. The CCS appears to be a practical solution to the Chinese environmental problems (pollution has been used as an example in this case), when it is used in combination of the existing Chinese environmental systems. It follows the American example of combining the command and control approach with market-based mechanisms and publicity as a management tool. The CCS has not been tested in real life, so its quality as a solution has been argued only in terms of circumstantial evidence.
Solutions to Hardin’s Commons problems: A side-effect of developing this approach may have been the exploration of a practical solution to Hardin’s Tragedy of the Commons, which is not a ‘technical solution’ in Hardin’s sense, either. For Hardin, the only and the best solution for his Commons’ problem is through mutual agreement. This solution has many advantages, for example as defined in the recent movement towards global environmental management standardisation advocated by the ISO. However, this may be effective in the Western countries where it can be based on mutually-respected voluntary agreements. It can easily be used as another tool of the command and control approach common in countries like China, where individual freedom and freedom of expression have a different meaning. Thus, we propose the CCS as a form of mutual interaction specifically for countries like China.
Hardin (1968) initiated the discussion on the Commons problems by using an agricultural example of the Commons to raise herds of animals. It has proved useful in this study to use the example of a Commons playing field, whereby different teams and the community ‘compete’ for the use of a commonly-shared playing field. The origin of the CCS is based on the search for better solutions to the Commons problems involving what is called “the Commons playing field syndrome”. Let us imagine that there is a commons playing field shared by different user groups. There are several possible scenarios.
One is that one user group is particularly strong and dominates over the other user groups. So it will try to maximise the use of the commons playing field for its own benefit. This is only possible when the dominance is total and complete. This was the case for China under Mao’s ideologically defined leadership. Everything for Mao was part and parcel for politicisation and tools for perpetual class war. The natural environment was often sacrificed for whatever personal whims he came up to push forward his politicisation process. This resulted in nature’s retribution in the form of natural disasters after his Great Leap Forward movement in the 1950’s. The consequences of many of Mao’s politicisation programmes at the expenses of the Chinese natural environment have been disastrous. They are still with China today. Furthermore, similar events developed in the initial period of Deng’s economical reforms since 1978, when the economical agenda dominated everything. The idea was for some individuals to get rich as quickly as possible, followed by others, and eventually by the whole nation. But this approach backfired badly in terms of environmental damages because many of the Chinese environmental problems actually arose from the ill-equipped and highly polluted township and village enterprises which mushroomed in Deng’s period of economic reforms. There also emerged many private individuals and enterprises that tried to make money out of natural resources such as forests and minerals. The result was that China suffered many annual floodings in the 1990’s. This scenario with a strong and dominant user group must be considered very undesirable for the benefit of the whole community concerned. We now need to look for alternatives.
The obvious one is to have total equality among all user groups so that conversation can take place and better communication and better co-ordination of the use of the playing field will result naturally. This scenario seems to be followed by Dutch and Australian environmental management forms whereby governments and enterprises and the people talk together and decide democratically on how to make better use of their nations’ natural resources. Voluntary industry standardisation for the UK and other Western countries may also come into this category, to a lesser degree, often with a strong guarding hand, which is the government.
Another scenario, which was used as a model for the formulation of the CCS, is where there is a strong leading user group, i.e., the government, but it does not choose to dominate over the other user groups by overuse of force. It chooses to use its dominance to create an environment for the other user groups to have equal says and also encourage them to co-operate with each other so that better uses of the playing field become possible. That is typical of the American model of environmental management, which we reviewed in the previous chapter. It is a combination of the command and control approach in some areas and market-based schemes in others. It uses publicity as a harnessing tool. The CCS is created in terms of this sort of scenario. It may be used to make clear what compulsory measures there are so all user groups know the consequence for non-compliance in these areas of the command and control approach. This shapes and protects the general environment, in which all players can become accountable not only to themselves, but also to the community (in this case, the nation). The CCS is also used to encourage the formulation of more market-based schemes so that the user groups can somehow work out better ways for co-operation and co-ordinated use of the commons playing field at relatively low economical costs and benefits. Let us see how this works out in the Commons playing field problem.
Suppose, for example, that the football team is the strongest user group in the commons community. But it does not choose to abuse its position as the most popular sports on the commons. It declares its schedule of playing times after consultations with all the other user groups and the community at large. It also encourages other user groups to work out schedules whereby the playing field could be used in the best way possible. It is argued that for this to happen, one needs transparency, knowledge, information, integration, access, and above all, better communication. These are exactly what the CCS will provide for the commons community – by way of its web-based databases, its web-based sensory tools, its displaying tools such as Big Public Screens. So at the end of season, there can be web polls on the demand for each sport, though we know that traditionally there are many more fans of football on the commons than of any other sport. It is the other sports where demands may change with fashion over time. Having said that, over a longer run, the dominance of the football team is not guaranteed. We may have already witnessed a development in this sense in that there are countries which are more international than national, such as the Netherlands who claim to be more European than just Dutch. After the polls of demands, the statistics can be published for all to see and the computer together with a team of experts can work out the schedules for all to see. In events of conflicts or violation, it would be easy to find out what has gone wrong so that everyone will know who is to blame, e.g., if the football team has used the time reserved for ice hockey. Some kind of compensation, either material or notional, can be paid, and so on. The point is that with the CCS, everybody is clear concerning the whole picture over a long period of time so that any variation can be easily identified and corrected or remedied. This makes it more possible to have a harmonious commons while the playing field is used to the optimal advantages to all the user groups.
To sum up, in a commons situation where certain resources are shared by a number of different user groups, it may be possible to reduce the chance of the Commons tragedies occurring by improving the communications among all users through the use of a communications system, that is, the CCS. Firstly, there is mutual constraint or coercion through shared knowledge; secondly, there is mutual constraint through publicity. This is especially useful when there is a prevailing culture of face-saving such as that in China. Finally, there is mutual coercion in the form of interaction, communication, mutual support and inter-dependence. Some interesting insight has since come out of the change of viewpoint from Hardin’s Commons problem with very similar user groups (e.g., the herdsmen) to our Commons problem, where user groups and the community use of the Commons for different purposes. The latter viewpoint may be more relevant in terms of solving our environmental problems as different enterprises and individuals seem to make different demands from our natural environment.
The difficulties of social research: Research is an activity that seems to have a clear intuitive meaning to many, but is difficult to formalise and channel. One relatively effective approach to formalisation aims to develop new formalisations whenever previous ones run into insurmountable difficulties. The formalisation that seems directly relevant to our project has been referred to as third-phase science. It emphasises the need to justify results on the level of collectives (including collectives such as those defined in the commons problem), rather than on the level of individual elements. It can be characterised as requiring the researcher to seek for a modernist solution while taking account of post-modernist challenges in the solution itself – thereby successfully addressing many of the problems of social research. Additionally, this research has made use of Soft Systems Methodology (SSM), not as an instance of third-phase science, but rather as a method to identify collectives that may be relevant to third-phase science. It does so in a number of steps, which seemed useful to follow in our project (and hence partly suggested the sequence of chapter headings). The steps are: seeking a rich picture, identifying conflicting worldviews, learning, proposing conceptual models, undertaking comparisons and debates on the desirability and feasibility of the models, including considerations for its implementation. The steps facilitated in demonstrating the notion of a collective and identifying ‘commons’ collectives as the basis for CCSs. Finding such collectives does not preclude the need for justification, however. This is where implementation and practical application of CCSs becomes important. One cannot maintain that ‘having a point of view’ is sufficient as knowledge; one has to demonstrate that being able to develop individuals’ responsibilities—and points of views—as part of certain collectives is effective. It may be noticed that if such collectives can be justified as ways to solving problems, punishments and penalties as well as encouragement, facilitation and co-ordination are in-built to maintain CCSs.
As developed by de Zeeuw (1986), the core emphasis of third-phase science is to get to know how individuals may contribute to the development and continued existence of collectives with preferred properties, in our case, properties such as avoiding collective pollution. The main difficulty in achieving such collectives would be to identify how individual activities are in constraining each other. Thus, changes in individual activities could be prevented from damaging activities on the collective level. De Zeeuw’s notion of a social system is an interesting one:
In general, I think of a social system as any system whose existence is dependent on use by actors: it supports the competence with which some activity is implemented by various actors, and it will cease to exist when such activities no longer need that support.... It is not only people that form social systems: they may also be composed of the activities of people, or of the tools necessary for such activities (de Zeeuw, 1986, p.133).
What makes this definition interesting is the emphasis on the collective as a ‘hard’ referent to research and to knowledge acquisition, while individual contributions at the same time are kept in view as ‘soft’ referents that help to maintain the collective. This seems to put De Zeeuw outside the more traditional run of systems researchers, who appear to use collectives as the only referent to research (and their members as informants only). Checkland’s methodology provides an example of the latter approach. The steps he indicates precisely follow the traditional empirical cycle, apparently in order to allow members to function uniformly as researchers – all eager to reach the same conclusion in the end (some preferred and justifiable plan of action). There is, it appears, no interest in having respondents maintain the collective that applies SSM (and tries to achieve some action). Its results do not appear to mean anything to the members’ personal advantage. This raises serious questions for the possibility of consultancy on the basis of such methodology. How often do consultants break all the china so that the shop can survive or prosper? How often do consultants think of the usefulness and purposefulness of the china without the shop?
There is another advantage to the notion of CCS that can be justified. Suppose it has proved possible to justify research on the level of a CCS. Then CCS must be stable (in the sense that present and future observers alike can identify as being the same), but not only that. A CCS will reduce the costs of achieving as compared to any other system in achieving the same thing. It will possibly manage to waste less time and effort in communication – or rather, it will minimise those costs (for example, by only requiring discussion rather than punishing). This will make any particular CCS competitive and worthy of imitation. If we look at the phenomenal development of the Internet in the 1990s, we realise that once the infrastructure was in place, it simply grew exponentially, withstanding the owners of the infrastructure, the governments concerned, and even the users themselves. What is different here is that many methodologies seem to emphasise learning only, not minimising costs – which may, but will not necessarily, support transfer of that learning, unlike the results of research on CCSs. Justification implies testing for the possibility of transfer.
To conclude, we have proposed a solution to a practical problem situation. The research process to justify the solution helps to make this solution adaptive en seductive to others. This process is based on the notion that one should justify only on the level of stability. In the case studied this implied justification on the level of collectives that aim to achieve the elimination and avoidance of pollution – not on the level of the individuals achieving such a collective. The process of research thus has led to two interesting results: not only a possible solution to the pollution problem in China, but also an additional set of solutions to Hardin’s Commons Problem.
7.2.2 Logical Coherence
Every research project asks questions, the answers to which need to be at least logically coherent (otherwise there would be no reduction of variety through testability). The same holds of course for sub-questions, the answers to which have to cohere moreover with more general answers (to fulfil their role as sub-questions). Questions as well as sub-questions have been answered through literature review, fieldwork, the framework or theory in use, the procedures, and the guiding philosophy of the whole research project.
In terms of the literature review, the researcher has covered literature in both English and Chinese, from books, to journals, to newspapers, and to the Internet. The literature also covers the environmental field, systems research and management. In the case of environmental management, the researcher has comprehensively reviewed practices ranging from companies, to national environmental management, to regional environmental management and to that of global environmental management. As the boundaries to his units of analysis proved to be strongly context dependent, the researcher also reviewed various systems approaches, and eventually decided to use SSM as the most effective way to organise his material and to search for collectives. In the end no conflict was discovered between the literature, the approach using the framework of the Commons’ problem, and the need to find collectives that minimise the effort needed for their maintenance. What seems to be still missing is only an appraisal of the results in terms of such minimisation.
The fieldwork in China took about six months. This included conferencing, visiting Chinese NEPA in Shanghai, visiting Chinese SOEs, visiting Chinese environmental professionals, interviewing and having discussions and seminars with Chinese SOE managers. There were also visits to companies in Britain, for example the Body Shop in the UK, which is one of the leading green-conscious companies. Given the fact that the environmental issue is a politically sensitive and practically often ignored issue in China, it was difficult to conduct formal field research work. It is also with these aspects in mind that the recommendation of the CCSs seems to be practical and in line with the current situation. The notion of a CCS will allow the Chinese government to go into the future without having to dwell too much on their past and current mal-practices. Any approach that would emphasise the latter should be expected to be a total non-starter.
The choice of the Commons Framework has been a deliberate one, therefore – as the Chinese situation could have been analysed from a number of different frameworks. In the field of systems management, it is not uncommon to try and deal with problematic situations through the use of various metaphors (Jackson, 1991). The problem with this is that although the choice of metaphors may help to discuss problems, it usually does not help to clarify the possible transfer of any solution. Moreover, the nature of metaphors to be chosen seems pre-determined anyway by the prevailing democratic political and social environment. Alternatively, one might think of looking at the situation as a complex giant system where approaches such as Critical Systems Thinking (Flood and Jackson, 1991a; 1991b), Management Cybernetics (Espejo and Harnden, 1989) and Critical Heuristics (Ulrich, 1997) might be useful. Unfortunately, such approaches seem to depend too much on the debating culture that exists in Western countries. The opposite problem holds for the WSR systems approach adapted specifically for China (emphasising wu-li, shi-li and ren-li and their interactions; Gu et al., 1992). By emphasising the need for operational solutions, it avoids the normative questions involved. Hardin’s Commons Framework has been argued to avoid all such problems: it allows for justification and transfer, and it helps to know what normative values may contribute to maintain collectives of the desired kind.
As to the procedures that the researcher used to implement the guidelines of third-phase science, it is felt that SSM has proved useful in delineating a series of steps to explore issues that may become the ‘glue’ for future collectives with preferable properties—although it wasn’t designed for this purpose. It proved to provide an important operational tool, in particular to make explicit what values or points of view will help in maintaining a collective. Unfortunately, it does not help to identify when collectives become sustainable.
The guiding philosophy of this project, that is the set of ideas constituting what has been called the 3rd-phase science, certainly has proved important. It emphasised that what is needed to solve environmental problems are collectives that are socially stable and can demonstrate preferable properties, in particular the ability or competence to avoid and reduce pollution. By stressing the need for outside referents, while supporting inside referents, it avoids the traps set by either modernism or post-modernism. It is in the final recommendations (and the arguments to support these) that the researcher has embodied most of 3rd-phase thinking. The recommendations detail a solution, which is both specific (in terms of what it is) and general (in terms of the possibility of generating many similar solutions when it is in place).
7.2.3 External Validity
Every research project needs to be logically coherent as explained above and externally valid, that is acceptable to all its users, and stable under change of users. We need to explore, therefore, whether the end result of this project, the proposed CCS, is as externally valid as can be expected given the available resources. This exploration will make use of the summaries in section 7.2.1. Two achievements were mentioned. One is whether CCSs can be implemented as a practical solution to the problem of the Chinese national environmental management. The other is whether it does constitute an acceptable answer to the Commons problem as formulated by Hardin.
Is there evidence that CCSs will contribute to Chinese Environmental Performance? We may consider analogical evidence. A notion very similar to the notion of a CCS is implemented on the Internet, in particular the United Nation’s site for sustainable development: http://www.sdnp.undp.org/, which intends to provide national decision-makers and society members with relevant information. This site also incorporates the idea of video cameras and live feed of data. There are many sites with similar intentions but targeting different audiences .
CCSs appear technologically feasible, the more so given the latest breakthroughs in broad band Internet and data collection and streaming development. No similar Internet projects exist for China, however, at least to the researcher’s knowledge after extensive search. People in China do appear increasingly aware of the power of the Internet in the field of environmental management. They realise that the Internet may provide the much-needed communications infrastructure to present and exchange data, discuss and debate on analysis and judgements, share resources, collaborate in researches, enable governments, companies and people to make better environmental decisions. Functions that are less well-known were discussed in previous chapters.
Should CCSs get the backing from the World Bank or United Nation and the Chinese government, a possible flotation in China is a distinctive possibility. More shareholders lead to more stakeholders and perhaps more users. In fact, there are already Web sites, which are giving away their ownership in shares to their users. The CCS could adopt similar approaches to secure a large number of private following.
One major advantage of the CCS is that it attempts to be a profit-making business rather than a governmental representation. It may be unique in making its profits from the environmental area, ranging from recruitment of environmental students, to developing environmental games and other entertainment, to facilitating the exchange of data, knowledge and technology, to enabling the collaboration of projects and research, and so on. It may look complex on the outset, but its complexity can be greatly reduced by making use of the Web sites already live on the Internet and by transferring many of the activities which are happening in daily life onto the Internet. Its provision of access, facilitation, exchanges, transparency and publicity will push Chinese national environmental management onto the global highway of sustainable development. This will in turn contribute significantly to the improvement of the Chinese environmental performance, particularly in terms of pollution and resources management. The following are examples of potential improvements brought about by the CCS:
• it will help shape a system in fully co-ordinated operation, rather than the current system with many segregated and almost isolated parts (through secrecy and lack of interest, etc.). The new system will empower but also constrain the parts to make them work together and achieve emergent and desirable properties;
• it will help achieve a high standard of working and living. Some new features are that people would be able to carry out research, conversation, and rational thinking in order to make more informed choices in what they do in business and in life. Carving wheels behind closed doors (in our case, polluting in the dark) will be a thing of the past;
• it will help many Chinese to develop individual competence in the context of an increasing number of competent collectives to shape their life and work, which will further contribute to an efficient and sustainable whole system;
• it will introduce a social experiment for China. If turned out successful, it can be expanded to other parts of the world, which would allow for further solutions to the global Commons system.
Do CCSs help solve Commons Problems? Hardin and others have explored many of the possible solutions to the class of Commons problems (e.g, Turner, 1993), as we learnt in the previous chapters. The most efficient and ethically acceptable solution for Hardin is that of ‘mutual coercion, agreed upon through mutual agreement’.
CCSs are intended to attempt to put this stipulation into action through the use of the Internet, which was not widely available at the time Hardin was writing. CCSs will strengthen the force of coercion through the live data feed, which may be interpreted and presented into many formats (e.g., plain language, or colour-graph), to be understood by all people. This publicity will make all those in a position to make environmental decision more competent and make those who implement these decisions more effective. For example, a waste recycling colour graph for a city may point out where people have been able to do the most for the environment, possibly with support from the local governments or other agencies.
The kind of coercion intended may come in the forms of law, legislation, rules, fines and other punishment. Such forms will not require much policing, as long as they are based on mutual agreement, in the sense that they appeal to people’s conscience, their sense of responsibility, of belonging to peer groups, their citizenship, neighbour-ship, and so on. This type of agreement will be facilitated by easy and wide access to data and various forms of knowledge (such as practical tips on how to do one’s bit for the environment in daily life). Easy access makes it more difficult for people not to be conscientious or sensitive about how they are contributing individually or organisationally to the protection of the environment. Therefore, the CCS may indeed be said to fit Hardin’s requirement, and hence to be an acceptable candidate for solving Hardin’s type of Commons problems.
7.3 Further Work
A number of contributions have been mentioned. Their consequences may need some further thought. It may be noted, for example, that one should not expect Western-originated methodologies like SSM to be very useful in a country like China—at least for the time being. With caution, the researcher tested the use of SSM in one of the SOEs, where he held discussions with a group of environmental managers. The results were devastating. A number of old and (in the Chinese culture) wise scholars came to the same conclusion. In China, people still bear scars from Mao’s politicisation process, where people were encouraged to express their individual viewpoints but always got severely punished afterwards. Still, there is a possibility that SSM will be used by the Chinese management, though mainly for irrelevant or formal reasons such as trying to emulate Western style management. However, it is highly likely that SSM will be misused in the same way as Mao’s politicisation programmes. Western researchers should give some thought to this possibility.
Another area to be explored further is the way in which Commons problems as identified by Hardin have been solved. Such problems can appear in many spheres of our life. The search for a solution in this project could stimulate further explorations. The solution in the form of the CCS is relatively unique. It makes use of the latest developments in global history, in particular the popular spread of the Internet and other related technology throughout the world.
A third area is the exploration of the Chinese environmental problems in terms of its cultural, economic and political characteristics. This may help to understand the depth of the Chinese problem, as well as the need for various forms of support (in terms of infrastructure, data, knowledge, technology and know-how, and so on). It should be clear especially that it will be impossible to solve the Chinese environmental problems only by improving the environment. With the use of CCSs, the potential side-effects of a common-shared communications infrastructure may be managed to contribute to more effective solutions to the pollution problem.
Another area that should provide food for thought is the way methods of 3rd-phase science have been used to design this research project. It has enabled the researcher to search for a practical solution to a concrete problem while avoiding the traps of modernism and post-modernism. The CCS is not modernist in the sense that it does not provide a singular or absolute answer to a question, based on a singular set of absolute values or criteria. The CCS is not post-modernist, either, in that it does not suggest to enter into an endless internally oriented cycle in search for answers. It states that the answer lies in the design and justification of specific communications infrastructures, to initiate and maintain supportive collectives.
Finally, it should be mentioned that the design developed in this project suggests a useful way of doing social research. Currently, in the systems field, there is a tendency for people to be more loyal to their methodologies than to their problems. This project emphasises the need to solve a specific problem in the best way possible, making use of the experiences of research in the past. It does not spend most of its efforts in debunking previous approaches as often happens to defend particular methodologies. When it uses the systems approach (e.g. in the form of SSM) it does so only as far as it is appropriate and useful.
CCSs supposedly will be implemented as web-based e-commerce companies. There are two distinctive paths that it can take to become a viable company. The less ambitious one is to go it alone and become a green site, generating revenues mainly by charging for introduction to green consultancy, membership, green products and services, as well as helping young Chinese people go abroad to study environmental science and management, etc. The more ambitious one, which was discussed previously, was to create a partnership with the Chinese government (e.g., the NEPA), some global green funding organisation, and the entrepreneur together with venture capitalist. This will give the CCS a powerful start and presence in the Chinese green market. The CCS could be used for the following:
• Helping the SOE managers deal better with their tasks by providing them with on-line comparative information and analyses, search of international databases and knowledge base, accessing to international community of environmental experts and activists, as well as obtaining environmental findings as technological transfers;
• Enabling the NEPA to work more closely with other department and among its own many agencies around the China through web-based data storage and communication channels;
• Providing information for people to make better decisions in purchasing products and services, hunting for jobs and houses;
• Offering guidance and warnings on environmental quality and potential disasters;
• Disseminating environmental information;
• Organising student recruitment for studying green issues and management abroad;
• Exchanging data;
• Undertaking projects;
• Providing consultancy.
Among the main difficulties of implementing and using CCSs is to get the Chinese government and international funding organisations involved and committed. Some possibilities were briefly explored in Chapter 6. At the moment it appears highly unlikely that access to SOEs as well as to vital statistical databases may be allowed by the Chinese government. Still, in the long run people may not be able to avoid becoming educated concerning their environmental rights and procedures.
7.4 Conclusion
Events such as the recent flooding in Britain provide a timely reminder that in the global commons there are no free riders nor anybody who will be free from suffering when the consequences of our irresponsible behaviours strike in the form of natural disasters. The environmental issue will not go away if we ignore it or take no action. There is an urgent need to protect and preserve our natural environment by exploring what it entails to be environmentally responsible.
Several tasks can be taken forward from this project. One is to explore the feasibility of the CCS project in more detail. It should also be attempted to formalise the approach that may be most effective and efficient in dealing with the commons problems. It is advised also, therefore, to consider further work on the lines of third-phase science as it did prove useful as a way of justifying certain solutions.
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