Environmental Degradation in China - Research Paper Example

Chinas Environmental Degradation; Chinese Governments Negative And Positive Introduction China is the world’s fastest growing country; no other country has grown such rapidly. Chinese leaders and policy makers have made all possible efforts for thirty years, to pursue economic growth faster than any other nation. China has given priority to the objective of achieving economic growth over others; all the policies of state are focused on factors for economic growth (Lu, and Freeman, 2008) ..China’s single-minded approach, consistency of priority given to economic growth often refers to Chinese pragmatism but the logic behind their policies has proved that Chinese policy makers are not that pragmatic. China realization of environmental concern as important growth factor gives the reason to transition of single-minded policies to environmental friendly policies. China’s effort and strive for thirty years has made it the second largest economy and exporter of the world, real GDP has risen some thirteen times since last thirty years (Fewsmith, 2010). This incredible growth of real GDP has placed around 300 million people out of poverty, this growth rate has achieved through balance of high saving and investment rate, and through rapid development of export industry. Though focus on development goal has resulted in tremendous growth but it has ignored many other rising issues such as social injustice on matters like health care and environmental protection, falling role of political parties towards citizens, and rising inequality. Environmental challenges Though last three decades proved to be very beneficial for economic growth of China but many new environmental challenges have arrived in this period. Societal concern observed to be ignored while engagement of China in single-minded growth policies. Environment degradation and its effects With rapid economic growth of China many environment degradation problems have risen in the region. Environment degradation problem in the China refers to rising air and water pollution, emission of carbon dioxide in atmosphere, and lack of energy. The economic activities require the use of energy which may contribute to global warming above the acceptable level. Basically the use of energy creates water pollution, air pollution and secretion of carbon dioxide that affects the environment and causes global warming. China’s excessive involvement in production and distribution activities to achieve the goal of rapid economic growth contributes largely to degradation of environment as country’s contribution percentage to global warming depends on its economic activities. China mainly uses coal as a source of energy, in that way it utilizes the excessive presence of coal in the country but it contributes negatively in the reference of environmental stability. China’s water and air are considered among the most polluted in the whole world. As industrialization is rapidly increasing in China, air and water pollution seems to follow the same trend because industrialization raises the level of production and waste disposal in water. Effects of privatization, FDI and deregulation on environmental conditions Chinese government economic policy revolves around the objective of economic growth while ignoring many other issues, most importantly environmental safety. Government trade policies with other countries ensure growth and local industry protection, on other side it is encouraging industrialization in the local market through increasing the share of investment (Fewsmith, 2010). The change in economic policies of China in late 90’s has promoted foreign investment in the country and has allowed entrepreneurs to start the business; it has given boost to economic development but has negatively impacted to environment. Increase in number of industries has also increased the air and water pollution, and secretion of carbon dioxide through manufacturing and distribution processes. China has opened itself to privatization, deregulation and FDI which has contributed largely in attaining the position of second largest economy after USA but on the cost of environmental loss due to increased industrialization and lack of implementation of environment safety policies. Flaws in Chinese government policies China policy makers never discouraged the use of low-quality coal for long that results in death of six million miners since early 2000s; in fact recent survey has shown that use of coal implies 7% per annum cost on China to GDP. Transition strategy, industrial development strategy and repurposing the communist party hierarchy which have been adopted recently by China, have given privileged to the objective of economic growth over others that shows lack of consideration of environmental well being. Lack of clause of overconsumption of energy by industrialist and consumers Social impact of environmental problems Environmental issues such as air pollution, water pollution, and emission of carbon dioxide are damaging health of china citizens and population of other countries as well. Within China, water and air are polluted badly specially in urban areas given rise to many new health issues, where as burning of coal discharges carbon dioxide which brings climatic changes and effects negatively to air and water quality, agricultural growth and eventually to the health of citizens. This practice ultimately causes global warming and affects the people all around the globe. Many new diseases have evolved due to global warming, of which some are life-threatening, rising health issues have even decreased work efficiencies of people around the globe. Economic impact of the environmental problems Rising environmental problems in China is because of the over use of production and other resources and lack of environment protective policies, this over usage may result in destruction of natural resources, and inefficiencies of human resource. Natural resources such as gas, oil and coal are big factors for industrial development, destruction or lack of such factors may result in decreased economic activities whereas rising health issues are affecting the productivity and efficiency of workers within and outside China that may result in low economic growth. Role of Chinese government in controlling environmental problems Before discussing the role of Chinese government in controlling environmental problems, it is better to give insight to hurdles to better environmental conditions in China. Barriers to better environmental conditions in China Many efforts have been made by Chinese government to manage rising environmental issues but have failed to successfully integrating environmental issues into its governance structure. Reasons for this failure are: Conflict between national and local preference Due to conflict between national and regional interests in China, the government has failed to develop and implement effective environmental policies. There is prominent disconnect between central and local bodies in awareness and policy implementations which is hindering the environmental safety. Bureaucratic hurdles in practicing environmental policies Officials in china belonging to all relevant bureaucracies hardly work together; this weakness is growing environmental issues and making difficult for government to take suitable action on environmental issues. Conflict between interests of civil society and industrialists Conflicts between civil society and industrialists’ interest regarding environmental handling has confused Chinese government to how to act on current issues, industrialist contribute to economic growth whereas civil society is the main focus in market-based economy. Chinese government’s effort and investment to ease and solve the environmental problems The Chinese government has adopted the tool of research in order to better understand the linkages between health pollution to better develop the policies against environmental issues. Secondly, the government has started making efforts to tackle major environmental issues, notably shortage of water supply which is topic of concern for China. Thirdly China has collaborated with number of world’s environmental agencies to better handle the rising environmental issues (Fewsmith, 2010). China’s transition from single-minded strategy of growth to harmonious society actually resulted in shutting down of number of small coal mines; it is a major step of government towards environment well-being. Chinese government’s plan for the environment problem China has initially planned to be single-minded in terms of achieving rapid growth, even it had practiced this strategy for many years but today china has realized that ignoring other important issues has resulted in destruction of natural resources notably water resources and has created many environmental issues such as global warming. Today China has taken a new phase of development to promote balance between economic growth and environmental concerns. Improvement of Chinese government’s regulation and supervision Improvement of Chinese government regulation and supervision in terms of environmental problems is quite obvious from changing undertaken strategies and through broadening base of goals and objectives. With increased environmental concern of Chinese government; privatization, deregulation and FDI in China seems to be more benefited than past, government regulations regarding usage of low-quality coals and excessive use on energy has increased positive aspects of these concepts. Positive results of Chinese government’s effort It is unjustified to say that there are no positive results of Chinese government effort on environmental conditions; there is evidence of number of positive results which are discussed below: Encouragement of government policies to bring structural change has shown the transition of workers to non agricultural jobs that has created a place for unemployed agriculture worker. This shift has encouraged industrial as well as agriculture productivity, thus increasing living standards of whole economy. It has shut down number of small mining companies which uses low-quality life threatening coals. Contribution of China to global warming has decreased. Conclusion Three decades of china’s development made it far wealthier than it was; china has developed its roots so strong that it is becoming difficult for other nations to compete. China has practiced many unfriendly environmental policies for rapid economic growth but today it has realized the worth of losing harmonious environment. It has started working on achieving back the harmony of environment and society; focus of achieving more growth with taking care of resulting environmental issues evolving with the practice of economic activities, has created a balance in the economy. China’s government future vision of harmonious economic development and better environment seems to be more beneficial in near future than ever. Speedy defeat of China to effects of recent credit crises has shown its potential towards efficiency whereas other prominent nations are still striving for economic stability, when its growth potential going to be harmonized with complete environmental practices than no one can stop China to rule the world. There are some possible obstacles in complete adoption of harmonious economic and environmental policies which are Conflict between national and local preference, Bureaucratic hurdles in practicing environmental policies and Conflict between interests of civil society and industrialists. Despite the presence of above hurdles China still seems to be positive and policy makers are working day and night to come up with more environmental friendly policies to economic growth. Work Cited Fewsmith, Joseph. China Today, China Tomorrow: Domestic Politics, Economy, and Society. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2010. Lu, Xiaoqing and Charles Freeman. “Assessing Chinese Government Response to the Challenge of Environment and Health”. A Report of the CSIS Freeman Chair in China Studies. Jun. 2008. 15 May. 2012. Read More