Accuracy of Environmental Monitoring in China: Exploring the Influence of Institutional, Political and Ideological Factors
Department of Asian and North African Studies, University Ca’ Foscari Venice, 30123 Venice, Italy
Academic Editor: Marc A. Rosen
Sustainability 2017, 9(3), 324; https://doi.org/10.3390/su9030324
Received: 21 March 2016 / Revised: 25 November 2016 / Accepted: 5 December 2016 / Published: 23 February 2017
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Energy and Environmental Protection: The Role of Science in Society)
Environmental monitoring data are essential to informing decision-making processes relevant to the management of the environment. Their accuracy is therefore of extreme importance. The credibility of Chinese environmental data has been long questioned by domestic and foreign observers. This paper explores the potential impact of institutional, political, and ideological factors on the accuracy of China’s environmental monitoring data. It contends that the bureaucratic incentive system, conflicting agency goals, particular interests, and ideological structures constitute potential sources of bias in processes of environmental monitoring in China. The current leadership has acknowledged the issue, implementing new measures to strengthen administrative coordination and reinforce the oversight of the central government over local authorities. However, the failure to address the deeper political roots of the problem and the ambivalence over the desirability of public participation to enhance transparency might jeopardize Beijing’s strive for environmental data accuracy.
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Keywords:
China; environmental monitoring; accuracy; decision making; institutions; politics; ideology
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MDPI and ACS Style
Brombal, D. Accuracy of Environmental Monitoring in China: Exploring the Influence of Institutional, Political and Ideological Factors. Sustainability 2017, 9, 324. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9030324
AMA Style
Brombal D. Accuracy of Environmental Monitoring in China: Exploring the Influence of Institutional, Political and Ideological Factors. Sustainability. 2017; 9(3):324. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9030324
Chicago/Turabian StyleBrombal, Daniele. 2017. "Accuracy of Environmental Monitoring in China: Exploring the Influence of Institutional, Political and Ideological Factors" Sustainability 9, no. 3: 324. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9030324
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