Environmental awareness, governance and public participation: public perception perspectives

Abstract

China’s rapid economic growth has come at severe environmental cost, challenging its sustainable development. This paper compares the findings of two public environmental awareness surveys conducted in 1998 and 2007 respectively. Although the findings suggest that the level of public environmental awareness is rising, the institutions that represent the public interest are weak. Thus the Chinese people rely on the government to solve the country’s environmental problems. Environmental NGOs are part of a developing civil movement. The growing public environmental awareness provides an opportunity to help advance civic development in China.

Keywords:

• Environmental awareness
• Environmental governance
• Environmental NGOs
• Civic development in China

Acknowledgements

The author acknowledges with thanks the Sino‐Forest Applied Research Centre for Pearl River Delta Environment, Hong Kong Baptist University by providing support for a part‐time research assistant Mr Wai‐Kit Yan who has helped with the data collection and preparation of this paper, and Dr Michael Brett‐Crowther for his attention to detail.