Checks on China’s provincial governments show they’re failing the environment.
In Tianjin city, the authorities were found to have forged documents on the treatment of water pollution and to be brazenly interfering with air quality monitoring in two city districts. Many localities in Shanxi province were found to be lax on pollution requirements, ignoring public complaints on environmental matters, and reluctant and slow at taking action – resulting in poorer environmental quality.
Inspectors have been painstakingly thorough.
This exposes a huge systems failure.
The Institute for Public and Environmental Affair’s most recent Pollution Information Transparency Index (PITI) figures for 120 cities show Huzhou ranking bottom in the south-east coastal region for transparency of information on public environmental complaints. This lack of transparency prevents the public from exercising oversight and means that environmental authorities are unable to avoid local government interference.
Problems with our environmental management systems are not confined to any particular place or time. For example, the new Environmental Protection Law requires all local governments to publish lists of key polluters, while the new Atmospheric Pollution Prevention and Control Law requires listed polluters emitting atmospheric pollutants to instal automatic monitoring equipment and make monitoring data available in real time.