Transition in public participation in Chinese water management Available to Purchase

In recent years, the Chinese central government has expressed the goal of working towards a civil society. However, there are great challenges in a transition to participatory decision-making in water systems management, and this paper aims to analyse the difficulties in the Chinese context. The development of Chinese water systems is summarised, with a focus on the characteristics of water management framework and its underlying values. The initiation of public participation in environmental decision-making is tracked, as well as its scope in the planning process of three water-related projects. Finally, the participatory mechanisms and capacity in China are briefly discussed from different perspectives. This paper argues that effective public participation in China is substantially hindered by current participatory mechanisms and capacity. Improved decision-making would result from: amendments to legal requirements on compulsory participation and broadening environmental information disclosure; developing sufficient relevant monitoring systems towards evidence-based planning and decision-making; inclusion of all relevant stakeholders under transparent planning and decision-making regimes; and building institutional capacity with the emphasis on developing a feasible procedural framework for participation and for assessing the effectiveness of the participatory process.