Environmental Governance In Taiwan

Three decades of rapid industrialization until the lifting of martial law in 1987, with little or no concern for the environment, have made Taiwan’s environmental degradation a serious problem. In the past twenty years, Taiwan has seen a surge of environmental organizations, which to a certain degree have enjoyed a remarkable success in fighting polluting industries or affecting policies on behalf of the environment. This book aims to analyse environmental governance mechanisms and actors in Taiwan through a multi-disciplinary research approach. Based on extensive and original research, it includes four different case studies, which have all taken place since 2011. It focuses on four major elements of governance - specifically norms, actors, processes, and outcomes - to examine Taiwan’s national and local environmental governance in the post-2008 period. The book shows how the painful lessons Taiwan has learned throughout its transition should be of interest to other developing countries, illustrating how these positive transformations have managed to bring about a more ecologically friendly mode of economic development. Demonstrating that the battle to further ecological sustainability is also a battle to further democratisation, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of Taiwan Studies, Developmental Studies and Environmental Studies.

Written in a readable and concise manner, Governance of Biodiversity Conservation in China and Taiwan makes an interesting contribution to the study of Chinese environmental politics. Kathleen Burton, The China Quarterly McBeath and Leng s work on contemporary Chinese environmental governance and conservation provides an excellent overview of the key issues in the People s Republic as well as a timely comparison with environmental issues in Taiwan. . . McBeath and Leng s book is written in an concise and readable manner appropriate for undergraduate courses, while the breadth and depth of information makes it equally useful for graduate research. This book on China s environment makes a worthy contribution to contemporary conservation studies and policy issues, and should be essential reading for specialists and students working on biodiversity governance issues in China. Jack Patrick Hayes, Pacific Affairs This fascinating volume highlights the ongoing conflict between economic development and environmental protection in both mainland China and Taiwan. The authors value biological diversity and examine its loss and conservation from historical and comparative perspectives. Despite significant differences in institutional frameworks and environmental NGOs on the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, the authors also note a similar approach to biodiversity conservation and the entailed success or failure. This volume is a must read for people who are concerned with the endangered global ecosystem. Students in public policy comparison may find this volume instructive in combining institutional analysis with behavioral observation. Lin Gang, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, People s Republic of China China and Taiwan have roughly one-eighth of the world s known species. Their approaches to biodiversity issues thus have global as well as national repercussions. Gerald McBeath and Tse-Kang Leng explore the ongoing conflicts between economic development, typically pursued by businesses and governments, and communities seeking to preserve and protect local human and ecosystem values. China and Taiwan have sharply different political and economic systems. In Taiwan, a public relatively more supportive of sustainable development, a free press, a more transparent decision-making process, and an autonomous civil society have influenced governance. Yet democratization has not guaranteed better environmental outcomes. In China, on the other hand, fragmentation of power and softer forms of authoritarianism than in the Maoist era have created openings for NGOs, scientists, journalists, and officials seeking a sustainable future to participate in the environmental policy making process. The authors provide an explicit and comparative treatment of the national policies preserving rare, threatened, and endangered species and ecosystems. Considerable attention is paid to the actors involved in policy formation and implementation as well as to recent cases concerning biodiversity conservation in China and Taiwan. This comprehensive volume will appeal to students and researchers in the areas of political science, environmental science and politics, environmental activists in national and international NGOs, and members of multinational corporations working in developing countries.

This article provides an analytical overview of major works on the topic of environmental governance in China, with a particular emphasis on studies examining policies during the reform era (post-1978).

In this edited volume, leading environmental policy experts from China, USA, and Europe provide a contemporary view of Chinese environmental policy, analyzing current discussions among various actors and agencies. The book covers a wide range of topics including the gap between national policy goals and their local implementation, cultural and social factors shaping political behavior, legal and political systems affecting environmental policy creation and execution, new societal forces participating in environmental policymaking and governance, and local state strategies tasked with navigating a mix of political, legal, and societal forces. Featuring in-depth, empirically-grounded analyses with interdisciplinary approaches, the book is ideal reading for scholars interested in the complex nature of balancing Chinese environmental sustainability and economic growth.

Taiwan experienced a highly successful economic transformation in the last 50 years that produced one of Asia’s genuine ‘miracles’ of modern development, in terms of improvement in per capita income and overall quality of material well being for its citizens. The process, though, involved rapid industrialization and urbanization, and breakneck mass consumption, that inevitably resulted in rapid escalation in degradation of the island’s fragile air, water, and land, and produced some of the worst environmental pollution to be found anywhere in Asia This book examines the causes of Taiwan's environmental predicament, engaging in Taiwan's unique geological, geographical, demographical, political, industrial, historical and economic circumstances. In addition, Jack Williams and Ch'ang-yi David Chang assess the efforts of the government, NGOs and private citizens to create a "green" environmentally sustainable island, with a high tech economy based on the silicon chip, the backbone of Taiwan’s highly successful IT industry. Finally the authors discuss what can be done to improve Taiwan's environmental future. As the first commercially available book in English on Taiwan’s environmental problems this is an invaluable read for students and scholars interested in environmental studies, sustainable development and the island of Taiwan.

During the past three decades of rapid industrial growth, China has suffered from devastating environmental degradation. Most scholarly and popular publications have painted a rather pessimistic picture about the worrisome trend. Yet a somewhat more optimistic view has emerged in the past decade given the Chinese government’s increased commitment to fighting industrial pollution, the public’s increased concerns regarding the adverse effects of pollution, and domestic and international civil society’s increased involvement in promoting environmental protection in China. Drawing on the authors’ extensive research on Guangdong Province and a few large cities in other provinces, this book provides an in-depth study on China’s environmental governance and regulatory enforcement in the past two decades. Section 1 examines various institutional constraints for environmental regulation enforcement at the local level and how governance reform efforts in the past decade have contributed to the lessening of those constraints. Section 2 draws on data derived from surveys and interviews conducted in multiple cities and times; it examines the dominant regulatory enforcement styles of local environmental protection bureaus and how these styles vary across different regions and over time. Section 3 examines how various stakeholders—the general public, environmental groups, government entities, and corporations—affect the environmental governance process. Overall, the book presents a cautiously optimistic view on the evolution of environmental governance in China. While highlighting many political, institutional, social, and economic constraints, it also documents many changes that have taken place—including reform efforts from within the government administrative system, increasingly societal concerns and actions, and changing attitudes among corporate executives—potentially paving the way for more effective environmental governance in the future.