Author: Elizabeth C. Economy.

Environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are at the forefront of strengthening civil society in China, drawing hundreds of thousands of Chinese citizens into environmental activities, forging non-state linkages across provincial boundaries, and establishing the Chinese people as political actors independent of state-directed policies. Environmental NGOs also play a critical role in advancing transparency, rule of law, and official accountability within the Chinese political system. Through this process, they have become a significant force for political reform. There are approximately 2,000 environmental groups officially registered as NGOs, with perhaps as many registered as for-profit business entities, or not registered at all. Over the past decade, since the establishment of China’s first environmental NGO, Friends of Nature, there has been a transformation in the nature of environmental activism in China. Initially concerned primarily with the relatively politically “safe” issues of environmental education and biodiversity protection, environmental NGOs in China today are engaged in dam protests, filing lawsuits against polluting factories, and pursuing multinationals engaged in illegal activities. Most environmental NGOs in China exist as part of a much wider community of environmental activism involving China’s scientific community, the media, multinationals, international non-governmental organizations, and elements of the Chinese government. The Chinese government has generally adopted a positive attitude toward environmental NGOs, recognizing that they fill a critical gap in the state’s capacity to protect the environment effectively. Still, Beijing continues to exercise control over NGOs through a range of regulations and restrictions, remaining wary of the potential of environmental activism in China to transform into a force for much broader political change. China’s State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) has emerged as a strong supporter of NGO activity, and works very closely with NGOs— both publicly and behind the scenes— to achieve common goals. At the local level, however, some environmental protection bureaus remain wary of NGO activity, fearing the NGOs will expose their lackluster performance.