PUBLIC PARTICIPATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE IN CHINA

This course deals with how individuals and communities can play a role in influencing decisions shaping socio-ecological systems. In consideration of her growing environmental and sociopolitical footprint, China is taken as a meaningful case study to explore the challenges and potential inherent in public engagement for environmental governance

Students will learn how to frame (conceptually-ethically-practically) the role that individuals and communities can play in shaping governance decisions impacting on environmental health and human wellbeing.

Enrollment in the MA Programme in Environmental Humanities (or to the single course)

The course is structured in four sub-modules. The first aims at building a common cognitive ground, introducing theoretical and ethical cornerstones informing people’s engagement in environmental decision-making.

The second sub-module introduces the milestones of China’s environmental governance and politics, by providing an overview of different framings of human-nature interaction emerged in the Asian country since the late 1970s.

The third provides an in-depth analysis of channels available to Chinese individuals and societal actors to influence environmental decisions. Three interconnected domains are explored: (a) formal public consultation in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Strategic Impact Assessment (SIA); (b) bottom-up mobilization; and (c) public engagement through participatory action research and citizen science.

The fourth sub-module engages students in a collaborative reflection over how public participation could be further improved, in order to trigger meaningful and long-lasting socio-ecological transformations in China and beyond. Results will be framed against the debate on the civilizational challenges epitomized by the Anthropocene.

In progress: the list will be finalized after the first few classes

Compulsory Materials

Lecturer's presentations uploaded in moodle (ppt and pdf format)

Scientific Works

Elvin, Mark 2004. The Retreat of the Elephants. An Environmental History of China. 1-18, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1-18.

Shapiro, Judith 2001. “Mao’s War Against Nature: Legacy and Lessons.” Journal of East Asian Studies, 1, 2, 93-119, Doi: 10.1017/S1598240800000461.

Sanders, Richard 1999. “The Political Economy of Chinese Envrionmental Protection: lessons of the Mao and Deng Years”, Third World Quarterly, 20, 6, 1201-1214, Doi: 10.1080/01436599913361.

Mol, Arthur P.J.; Carter, Neil 2006. “China’s Environmental Governance in Transition.” Environmental Politics 15, 2, 149-170, Doi: 10.1080/09644010600562765.

Kostka, Genia; Zhang, Chunman 2018. “Tightening the Grip: Environmental Governance under Xi Jinping.” Environmental Politics 27, 5, 769-781, Doi: 10.1080/09644016.2018.1491116.

Li, Wanxin; Liu Jieyan; Li, Duoduo 2012. “Getting their voices heard: Three cases of public participation in environmental protection in China.” Journal of Environmental Management 98, 65-72, Doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2011.12.019.

Johnson, Thomas 2020. “Public participation in China's EIA process and the regulation of environmental disputes.” Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 81, 106359, Doi:10.1016/j.eiar.2019.106359.

Brombal, Daniele 2019. “Is Fighting with Data Enough? Prospects for Transformative Citizen Science in the Chinese Anthropocene.” Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 63, 32–48, Doi.org/10.1080/09640568.2019.1641071.

Coenen, Johanna et al. 2020, “Environmental Governance of China's Belt and Road Initiative.” Environmental Policy and Governance, 1–15, Doi: 10.1002/eet.1901
News Articles

Butler, Rhett A. 2021. “Civil society’s push to advance conservation in China: Q&A with Jinfeng Zhou.” Mongabay, https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/civil-societys-push-to-advance-conservation-in-china-qa-with-jinfeng-zhou/

Videos

Angel Hsu, 2018, “How China is (and isn’t) fighting pollution and climate change”, Ted2018, https://www.ted.com/talks/angel_hsu_how_china_is_and_isn_t_fighting_pollution_and_climate_change .

Li Yifei and Judith Shapiro, with Daniele Brombal and Francesca Tarocco. Volume presentation China Goes Green: Coercive Environmentalism for a Troubled Planet, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iyVMwYljgY .

Optional materials (not compulsory) are listed and available on the moodle platform

Students evaluation will be carried out by means of a short video essay of 7 minutes, to be discussed in classe, and a written text.

Conventional classes
Collaborative and co-creative sessions

English

written

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Natural capital and environmental quality" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development