Environmental issues know no boundaries. Most situations are not only interdisciplinary but international in scope. The National Association of Environmental Professionals (NAEP) publishes its China issue recognizing that environmental issues know no boundaries and that environmental professionals can learn from both the problems and the opportunities found in other nations.

Over the last three decades, China's rapid economic expansion has lifted millions of people out of poverty and returned China to prominence on the international stage. At the same time, however, it has done tremendous damage to the natural environment. A quick look at the headlines in the first half 2013 indicate the extent of China's environmental challenge. In January, Beijing experienced an “airpocalypse” during which a thick smog enveloped the city and sent pollution readings quite literally off the charts. In the spring, thousands of dead pigs washed up on the shores of the Huangpu River in Shanghai. Shortly thereafter, authorities in China arrested more than 900 people for meat-related crimes. The arrests included merchants at local farmers markets who misleadingly sold rat meat tainted with unsafe chemicals as mutton. Others butchered and sold disease-ridden pork after they had been hired by the local agricultural ministry to dispose of the pig carcasses.

In a world of increasing globalization, environmental concerns must contend with a variety of geopolitical borders for policy solutions. More than ever, environmental practitioners and students work in a global community, where the challenges of one nation impact worldwide issues that interconnect to other issues like poverty, human rights, and quality of life. During my trip two years ago to China, where I was invited to speak on international environmental treaties, particularly the Kyoto Protocol, I was struck by the global impacts from local practices in our megacities across the planet. The phrase by the United States (US) Environmental Protection Agency of “act locally and think globally” does not capture the magnitude of impacts from our large, dense megacities that collectively as urban dwellings are changing the quality of life of places on the globe much farther away. This poses new challenges for environmental professionals implementing projects and for academics teaching environmental public policy and sciences. The challenge is to expand both the professionals' and the students' understanding of not just of the environmental impacts to a region or state, or even nation, but also the sociocultural and economic ramifications of environmental impacts globally. In that spirit, Environmental Practice has focused our issues of 2013 on international environmental issues, beginning with our March issue on the European Union (EU). Continuing in the international theme, this issue of Environmental Practice is devoted entirely to the environmental challenges faced by China—with regard to the US, as well—for environmental issues today.

This article analyzes the historical dynamics of the relationship between China and the European Union (EU) in global climate governance. The evolution of this relationship is traced through three time periods: the early days of the United Nations (UN) climate regime (1992–2001), the road to the Copenhagen summit (2001–2009) and the post-Copenhagen phase with the launch of the Durban Platform (2009-present). The contribution aims to expose two of the major structural changes that define current global climate governance dynamics, i.e., globalization and the rise of China, and identify key challenges for an increased collaboration between China and the EU. It is concluded that the EU and China are gradually emerging as strategic partners in global climate governance, but that severe uncertainties regarding the future of the climate regime persist. In order to translate practical bilateral cooperation into more tangible outcomes in the multilateral sphere, a fine balance will have to be struck between traditional Chinese sensitivities regarding sovereignty and economic development, and the EU's desire for an international agreement with ambitious mitigation targets.

Environmental Practice 15:190–200 (2013)

Coastal megadeltas in Asia have emerged rapidly; their megacities are particularly stressed by urbanization and rapid population growth. In the Pearl River Delta, towns in coastal megacities, such as Hong Kong, experience severe land shortage, which has led to the installation of essential infrastructure in flood-prone areas. Floods from the storm surge of two recent storms, Typhoons Hagupit and Koppu in 2008 and 2009, respectively, damaged over 100 properties in the Tai O, Hong Kong. Although projected sea-level rise and frequent storms pose a serious threat for the foreseeable future, flood management is inadequately understood by the various stakeholders in Tai O. Based on interviews of 22 stakeholders related to flood-risk management in Tai O, this article highlights the similarities and differences in the prevailing perceptions of coastal flood management practices. In addition, the report highlights the need for urgent attention so as to establish an integrated coastal flood-risk management strategy that will involve all stakeholders in mitigating the emerging flood vulnerability of the coastal communities.

Environmental Practice 15:201–219 (2013)

Many Chinese economic actors in Africa have come under harsh criticism for the alleged environmental impact of their activities. This impact is not always documented, is uneven across the continent, and should be compared to that of business actors from other countries—in particular from the OECD. One major factor accounts for the recorded differences: the policy and regulatory framework within which these business actors operate. The African weak state is not conducive to the adoption of robust standards and their subsequent implementation. However, the shift in Chinese policy at home on environmental issues is already producing some changes for the state-owned companies, and there is a growing concern in China's leading circles about the international image of the nation and its companies turning global.

Environmental Practice 15:220–227 (2013)

This case study considers the applicability of collaborative governance to natural resource management challenges in China, particularly when compared with its use in the United States (US). The specific case in point centers on a June 2012 workshop in Beijing co-organized by the China Environmental Law Project of the Beijing Representative Office of the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Beijing Zhonglin Union Forestry Consulting Company, Ltd. The case study is based on participant observation, literature review, and policy analysis. The critical distinction between the applicability of collaborative governance in China and in the US relates to the incentives to collaborate, which differ in China and in the US. The authors suggest eight possible next steps encompassing research, practice, and education.

Environmental Practice 15:228–239 (2013)

Over the last 30 years China has enjoyed economic growth averaging about 10% of gross domestic product (GDP) per year. But this economic growth has come at a high environmental cost. In China approximately 750,000 premature deaths a year are attributed to high levels of environmental pollution. With the recent 12th Five Year Plan (FYP) China's leadership announced the launching of a green revolution that would balance the need for robust economic growth with concern for the environment and combating climate change. This paper utilizes a rent-seeking framework to explore some of the obstacles inhibiting more environmentally sustainable policies in China. We describe the situation as a struggle over the proper aligning of the individual actor's behavior within an opportunistic governance structure, and we argue that rent seeking and corruption creates substantial hurdles to promoting green environmental practices and programs.

Environmental Practice 15:240–252 (2013)

In China, water shortage and water pollution are pronounced challenges. The limited water resources are poorly managed. Despite a lack of water, China is committed to being food self-sufficient, which requires extensive irrigation. The paradoxical ambitions of reducing water shortage and promoting food self-sufficiency are supported by technological innovation and costly engineering projects. Yet, these attempts will ultimately fail to bridge the gap between water demand and supply. China's continued economic growth presents difficult problems and new prospects in the context of water and food security. On one hand, a growing number of wealthier, urban Chinese consumers are demanding water-intensive food products, which cannot be sustainably produced in China in light of heavy irrigation requirements and continued population growth. On the other hand, the economic growth opens a window of opportunity for China to include virtual water trade as a component of its water policies. China is reluctant to embrace this trade because it perceives it to have a negative effect on its national security. It appears that China's security axis must shift. It cannot maintain its growing population and economy while preserving current levels of water, food, and national security simultaneously. A policy change is needed. It is argued, therefore, that the policy relevance of virtual water trade must be addressed, and the water shortage–induced imperative of food imports must be given appropriate attention.

Environmental Practice 15:253–261 (2013)

China's practice of gifting and loaning giant pandas has been given new impetus as a result of damage to panda-conservation facilities caused by the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and China's rise as an economic power. We suggest that a new, third phase of panda diplomacy is under way that is distinct from the previous two. Phase 1 during the Mao era (in the 1960s and 1970s) took the form of China gifting pandas to build strategic friendships. Phase 2 followed Deng Xiaoping's rise to power in 1978 when gifts became gift loans involving a capitalist lease model based on financial transactions. In the emerging phase 3, panda loans are associated with nations supplying China with valuable resources and technology and symbolize China's willingness to build guanxi—namely, deep trade relationships characterized by trust, reciprocity, loyalty, and longevity. Notable is the correlation of guanxi loan deals with nations supplying resources and technologies to China in the aftermath of the 2008 earthquake in panda habitat. As captive breeding resumes with the completion of repairs to the earthquake-damaged Wolong Breeding center, we predict that panda diplomacy will increase and that panda conservation, more than ever, will be the outcome of a complex, dynamic interplay among politics, markets, and conservation science.

Environmental Practice 15:262–270 (2013)

Serious environmental pollution incidents happen in China every year. However, only a few of them have been filed as environmental pollution criminal cases. We argue in this paper that the main reason is because the environmental administrative agencies often refuse to transfer the suspected environmental pollution criminal cases to the judicial authorities. Therefore, it's critical to better supervise the transfer of cases from the environmental administrative agencies, in order to ensure the implementation of the criminal laws and regulations, as well as to pressing criminal charges on the suspects instead of having them get away with administrative penalties. The supervision mechanisms include at least the interior supervision by other administrative agencies and the exterior supervision by the general public. An effectively functioning environmental criminal law system is very important for environmental protection and rule of law in China.

Environmental Practice 15:271–279 (2013)

Although administered from the top-down, China's environmental governance is characterized by decentralization, a feature that has been cited as the cause of poor implementation of policies at the local levels. To address this implementation gap, the central government in China has instituted environmental targets in its evaluation system of local leaders. However, the system of performance evaluation based on statistics and indicators has revealed problems of data and information abnormalities, falsification, and collusion between local officials to hide or misrepresent data. Little academic attention has been paid to sub-national institutions in place for data collection, reporting, and verification in China. This paper seeks to understand how institutions collect and transfer environmental data in China's vertical governance structure, as well as the challenges faced primarily by provincial Environmental Protection Bureaus (EPBs) to shed light on why discrepancies and gaps in environmental data might exist. Using data gathered from semi-structured interviews of environmental protection officials in nine provinces and two municipalities across China, this paper provides an analysis of environmental monitoring, reporting, and verification at primarily the provincial level. The consequences of a complex, decentralized environmental monitoring system in China has meant provincial environmental protection bureaus face a multitude of challenges, including a lack of institutional coordination, weak incentives for environmental performance evaluation, limited autonomy for enforcement, and varied capacity and public demand for improved information.

Environmental Practice 15:280–292 (2013)

A complex nature conservation scheme has been taking shape in China since 1965. After the first national park made its debut in 2007 in Yunnan Province in southwest China, the gap between this new model and existing conservation tools became apparent. This article attempts to analyze the degree to which a model of national parks can contribute to and remedy the defects within the existing nature conservation scheme in China, and to reveal the obstacles that impede the national parks from reaching their full potential. These are main findings of this report: (a) The model of the national park has not fully delivered the desirable outcome that its initiators had anticipated (i.e., a more effective balance between conservation and use of natural resources). (b) A gap exists between national parks envisioned and national parks in practice in terms of objectives, institutional capacity, community development, and legislation. (c) The new model does not fundamentally solve the existing problems, such as the funding shortage, overlapping authorities, and implementation deficiencies; rather, it has revealed new problems, such as central-local conflicts. (d) The obstacles that national parks face are foreseeable, such as the adverse effects of tourism and economic pressure on nature conservation, the constrained role of nongovernmental organizations, and the government bureaucratic structure in China. (e) The legality of the national parks has been challenged, and conflicts have arisen between legislation on national parks and superordinate law existing in terms of the rezoning within national parks.

Environmental Practice 15:293–312 (2013)

This report focuses on the current state of debate surrounding environmental goods negotiations under the World Trade Organization in the context of Chinese exports and imports. The report also examines some recent proposals (in United States and European Union) that called for increased trade barriers against imports from nations that have less stringent carbon policies and then draws implications for China.

Environmental Practice 15:313–322 (2013)

Though China's overall degree of urbanization is still below most Western countries, for instance when compared to Europe where over 70% of the total population lives in cities, the speed and magnitude of urbanization is truly mind-blowing. The challenges of China's unparalleled urbanization will not only impact on China's future growth but also have important implications for other nations. The European Union (EU) and its 27 member states have faced or continue to face some of the similar challenges of city management. The EU-China Partnership on Sustainable Urbanisation, launched at the EU-China summit on February 14, 2012, in Beijing, is a response to these pressing common challenges and offer new opportunities for expanding and reinforcing EU-China relations. This article puts China's urbanization process in a historical prospective and points to the country's massive current urban challenges and the way to deal with them as set out in the 12th Five Year Plan. It will illustrate how the EU and China can work together constructively in tackling the challenge of urbanization by helping to make Chinese cities greener and more sustainable, and by adding a fresh dynamic to EU-China economic and trade relations.

Environmental Practice 15:323–338 (2013)

Chinese environmental law in the 21st century continues to evolve in legislation, enforcement, higher education, and academic research. This article summarizes the general development of Chinese environmental law and reviews the new policy of a five-type society; new legislation and amendments; policies on energy conservation, emission reduction, and climate change; the establishment of the Ministry of Environmental Protection; the attempt at environmental courts; the first case of environmental public interest litigation; environmental protection; nongovernmental organizations; and higher education and academic research on environmental law.

Environmental Practice 15:339–349 (2013)

China's tuigeng huanlin or “Returning Farmland to Forest” (RFFP) program has been widely praised as the world's largest and most successful payment for ecosystem services program, as well as a major contributor to China's dramatic increase in forest cover from perhaps as low as 8% in 1960 to about 21% today. By compensating rural households for the conversion of marginal farmland to forestland and financing the afforestation of barren mountainsides, the program, in addition to expanding forestland, aims to reduce soil erosion and alleviate poverty. This paper presents qualitative and quantitative studies conducted on the local implementation of RFFP in three diverse townships in Sichuan. We find the actual results to be more mixed than the official figures would indicate. Though there have been some positive results, we identify problems with site and species selection, compensation for land taken out of cultivation, shift of labor to off-farm activities, and monitoring of replanted sites, which challenge the ecological and economic impacts of these programs and reveal much of the effort of the program has been misdirected. We suggest that efforts are misplaced because of the top-down, panacea nature of the program, which in turn is a feature of Chinese bureaucratic management.

Environmental Practice 15:350–366 (2013)