Government-led collaborative actions under China's environmental authoritarianism : a comparative study of two lake watersheds in Yunnan Province

Abstract

This study examines the mechanism and sustainability of environmental management in underdeveloped regions of China. Specifically, I have comparatively studied the management of Dianchi Lake Watershed and Erhai Lake Watershed in China’s Yunnan Province. Underdeveloped regions in China face three major challenges in environmental protection: shortfalls in human and financial resources, urge of seeking economic growth at all cost, and local public’s lack of environmental awareness. Examination of the cases of Dianchi Lake and Erhai Lake, however, reveals that government-led environmental actions can be environmentally effective and economically sustainable in underdeveloped regions. I combine the framework of collaborative governance and the insights from environmental authoritarianism to interpret and explain these government-led environmental actions.

Whether and to which extent collaborative actions exist under a non-democratic, underdeveloped context? If collaboration does not exist under China's authoritarian regime, could some elements that are helpful for collaboration make environmental actions effective and sustainable under an authoritarian context? By answering these questions, I contribute to the study of environmental politics in three aspects. Firstly, I explore the potential of collaboration under an authoritarian context. I propose and discuss the parameters that measure to which extent the elements of collaboration exist in these two sets of actions. Secondly, by combining theories of collaborative governance and environmental authoritarianism, I explain why and how government-led actions can be environmentally effective and economically sustainable in China’s underdeveloped regions, where local governments are limited in managerial resources. Lastly, existing literature on China’s environmental politics mainly focuses on coastal developed regions. A close look at environmental management in an underdeveloped province will contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of China’s environmental reality.

I examine the set of government-led environmental actions in each of the two lake watersheds to answer the raised questions. In Dianchi Lake Watershed, the local government partners with real estate developers and commercial interests to shape and finance environmental projects. In Erhai Lake Watershed, the local government broadly engages the public to develop traveling industry and transform agricultural industry while enforcing rigorous environmental regulations. I use four parameters to measure to which extent the elements of collaboration exist in these two sets of actions: sustainability of the livelihood and economic well-being of non-governmental stakeholders; broadness and intensity of non-governmental stakeholders’ participation; broadness and intensity of interactions between the government and non-governmental stakeholders; extent to which the benefits out of the actions form and strengthen the shared motivations for non-governmental stakeholders to engage in further actions. The set of actions taken in Erhai Lake Watershed is assessed to be more conducive to sustainable environmental management than that of Dianchi Lake Watershed. Examining the differences in the two sets of actions, I propose that the contextual factors that shaped such differences are: urbanization, the socio-economic significance of certain non-governmental stakeholder groups, and the local government’s financial capacity and policy intention. My findings suggest that the more government-led actions are shaped in a way that benefits a larger public by integrating economic development and environmental protection, the more they engage the elements of collaboration.