Environmental history in China

Question 1

The Golden Age

Answer 1

Archaic Eco-Logical period 2000BC 🡪 500BC

The ancestors of the Chinese in the second millennium BC lived in a narrow, fertile strip of wetlands along the middle and lower course of the Yellow River, close to extensive virgin forests full of rhinoceros, elephants, tapirs, bamboo-rats and other subtropical and tropical animals.

In ancient tines, the mountains, the rivers, and the wetlands were all shared with the people.

• Conservation of a”well-ordered nature”
• Human behavior should be consistent with natural cycles and assist regeneration of nature
• Natural disorder = symptoms of moral turpitude

Question 2

VI -V century BC

Answer 2

This is the developmental state period where the first signs of environmental degradation surface already:

• Intensified warfare
• increasing extraction of resources
• increasing tentatives of rationalizing the use of natural resources (based on State needs)

Major trends in this period where:

Economy: Agricultural, driven by a developmental State, large State- controlled market.

Technology & Infrastructures: large cities (100k inhabitants), large irrigation schemes and transportation waterways.

Environment: large deforestation starts (also for military purposes), drive towards maximum arablization, in part due to pressure to increase fiscal revenue and conscripts.

State: large estate owners conflict over land property
and extraction. State sometimes backup (instrumentally) common people in their access to land vs estate owners. Conservation vs social justice

Question 3

Premodern period AD 1000 - AD 1900

Answer 3

Economy: economic baricenter towards Yangtze, Expansion of market system, Rice + New crops (from America).

Technology & Infrastructures: expansion of irrigation systems, urban growth (middle size cities), Western technology (towards the end).

Environment: exacerbating scarcity of resources, exp. wood, negative effects of hydraulic control now evident, , ‘colonization’ of previously untouched environments for resources.

Expansion towards the North-West: Agriculture + deforestation, environmental degradation, Migrant and squatters & settlers opening up land for agriculture, Increased frequency (+50-100%) of inundations along the Yellow River Valley.

Question 4

Maoist China (1949-1976)

Answer 4

In Maoist China (1949-1976), human approach towards nature is generally portrayed as violent, the exact opposite compared with the moralizing stories from the archaic and premodern China. To a large extent true, but the environmental legacy of this period is actually ambivalent.

In 1949 - Socioeconomic conditions are very bad after decades of turmoil and the Japanese occupation. Avg. expectancy of life at birth = 30 years. infrastructures & industry largely destroyed, lacking of cultural and technical capital. On the plus side: stability + partnership with Soviet Union (until late 1950s).

1950: Political economic recipe: collectivization of agriculture. Scarce resources for investment directed to heavy industry & the defense sector.

Social & Environmental issues emerging in the late 1950s-early 1960s:

• Huge famine: 30-50 million deaths
• Environmental degradation due to land reclamation for agricultural production, soil and water pollution due to the use of chemical fertilizers (and then pesticides, DDT), deforestation to fuel backyard furnaces + industrial air and water pollution in some areas.

Cultural revolution of 1966-1967: War against spiritual and social-ecological alternatives, extension of human presence in remote areas.

Question 5

Emergence of Environmental Governance in China

Answer 5

First concerns and regulations 1950s (pollution control in heavy industries).

Early 1970s. Start of the debate on population -> Malthusian theories

Stockholm 1972 UN Conference on Human Environment -> First Chinese National Environment Conference 1973 Beijing.

1974 First Environmental Governance structure established Environmental Protection Leading Group under the State Council. Duties: guide environmental protection policy and regulatory development; define environmental protection planning; organize and supervise environmental protection of local governments and other departments/ministries

Question 6

Maoism and the environment

Answer 6

Political economy + ideology + repressive regime = huge negative consequences on social and environmental sustainability

Atmosphere: industrial pollution
Lithosphere: soil pollution, soil degradation
Hydrosphere: agricultural and industrial pollution; hydraulic works and reclamation of land -> misuse of water resources and increase in vulnerability to natural hazards
Biosphere: destruction of habitats; reduction of biodiversity
Cultural and ethical capital: definitive marginalization of alternatives (spiritual and socio-economic ones, such as those embodied by the minority groups

There are also elements of novelty, not consistent with the mainstream narrative of this period (applicable to this period):

• Technological advancements (not only voluntarism)
• First signs of environmental awareness in the leadership —> environmental governance structures

Question 7

Drivers of change emerging in the early 1970s

Answer 7

Domestic (China): awareness within part of the leadership of huge human and economic costs of Maoist policies (not much awareness of environmental costs at this point).

External (Int.l relations/Geopolitical): ideological tension due to Chruščëv denounce of Stalin’s cult of personality —> Sino-soviet split & clashes on the northern border. US: Vietnam War and limiting Soviet Union’s influence

Question 8

Establishing environmental governance structures

Answer 8

1950s sectorial policies first examples of pollution control
1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment
1974 National Leading Group under the State Council

Milestones:

• 1978 Constitution: the state protects the environment and natural resources and prevents and eliminates pollution and other hazards to the public.
• 1988. National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA)
• 1998. State Administration of Environmental Protection (SEPA)
• 2008. Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP)
• 2018. Ministry of Ecology and environment

Patterns:
Engagement in the international dialogue(s)
UN Earth Summit Rio 1992 —> China Agenda 2021
Incorporation of principles of integrated planning (i.e. economy/environment/society)

This translates into the integration since the mid-/late 1990s in the incorporation of environmental targets in major policy planning instruments (5 Year Plans for Social and EconomicDevelopment)

Question 9

Factors jeopardizing effectiveness so far?

Answer 9

Big country. Huge inertia. Not easy

Structural: overlaps/fragmentation in responsibilities; scarce public participation

Political: role of interest groups and local corporatism; scarce accountability
Ideological: limited space for radical alternatives

Technological: transitions take time