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Abstract
Public participation in environmental impact assessment is recognised as key to sustainable development. However, its role in public projects in China remains limited. The issue of non-participation is explored by focusing on the attitude and capacity of the citizens who experienced the Wuhan-Guangzhou High Speed Railway project through interviews and field surveys in multiple geographical sites along the line. Passive attitudes and low capacity were observed. While some respondents considered participation in government-owned projects unthinkable, most of them were discouraged by the absence of a sense of security and significance. Institutional barriers identified include a lack of participation channels and project information and the absence of transparent and proper processes of handling social impacts. Policy suggestions beyond the regulatory realm to encourage effective public participation are provided.
Acknowledgements
The survey was administered during the time when the first author was a postdoctoral researcher at the School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University, in 2011.
The authors wish to thank all the students who helped conduct the surveys and interviews with their knowledge and local language skills. They are Shanshan He, Qianting Li, Jiening Ren, Chen Shen, Quanfeng Shu, Qunyan Tan, Zhenyu Tong, Chenni Xu, Yongxu Yan, Yawei Yang, Junrong Yao, Yangbang Yin and Pei Zhong. The authors owe a great deal to Wanxin Li for her useful comments and suggestions on the design of the research. They also thank the Centre for Industrial Development and Environmental Governance, Tsinghua University, for the critical financial support. Their greatest gratitude goes to all anonymous participants who kindly participated in the research and, especially to those who trustfully shared their stories with us.
Notes
1. It operated at a speed of around 330 km/hour, which was reduced to 300 km/hour after the Wenzhou train accident.
2. Full content is available on the official website of the central government: http://www.gov.cn/ztzl/2005-09/16/content_64413.htm, and an English introduction available on the website of the China Railway Construction Corporation Limited: http://english.crcc.cn/Page/536/SourceId/1712/InfoID/4104/default.aspx
3. We selected one question choice from each question in the test because all choices in the same questions tend to have strong correlations.