A Comparative Study On Environmental Protection System And Measures Of Chinese, Japanese, And Korean Government

Environmental protection is not only the most concerned and direct issue for the public but also a hotspot and difficult problem during the government structural transform. Since the protection of ecologic environment and natural resources is an important element of government’s social role, the government has implemented various measures to treat, regulate and control environment deterioration and resource destruction caused by economic growth and population explosion to ensure sustainable economic growth.Environment issue is commonly faced by governments around the world during their modernization process. China, Korea and Japan, three major countries in northeastern Asian region, are playing an increasingly important role in dealing with international issues. The close geographic location and similar cultural background offer chance of cooperation for the three countries in environment protection, and Japanese and Korean governments have take-home experiences in environmental protection management mechanism and measures for Chinese government. Japan once became the most polluted countries in the world after years of fast economic growth after World War Two. Since the 1970s, Japan has become more aware of environment protection, carried out major reforms and adopted a series of effective measures. Thanks to that, Japan has established an effective energy system, which ranks among the top countries around the world, and become one of the successful countries in environmental protection among developed countries. As for Korea, the year of 1987 is a divide in timeline thanks to the establishment of democratic system. Two decades before 1987, Korea kept high speed of growth while the public and media paid little attention to environment protection, which resulted in serious air pollution. The Korean government has carried out many new environment protection laws to tackle with the pollution, but they were not effective because of the lack of resources to implement these laws. After 1987, the democratic system was established and environment protection has been taken more seriously with better effect.This paper reviews the road of environment protection for Japanese and Korean governments, compares the environment protection mechanism and measures taken by two governments and discovers that the two countries has the similar experience of development, pollution and treatment. However the roles of two governments in this process are different:for Japan, local government played the key role and pushed the central government to improve laws and formulate strict regulations, which is a bottom up pattern; for Korea, with the rise of democratic movement, Korean environment groups began to lobby when government were formulating policies and helped to solve environment problems. Since then, the central government of South Korea began to accept supervision from civil organizations and the public on the environment, incorporate "environmental right" of the public into the Constitution, introduce adjustment mechanism on environmental disputes, so as to ensure people’s basic rights and interests and top-down harsh reform of the government influenced by the civil society.China is the world’s largest developing country. In the 21st century, environmental and resources problems become increasingly acute amid Chinese economic growth, the ecology deteriorates in many areas, environmental pollution becomes complex and more severe, resources fall short in all respects, and Chinese government has been improving the basic legal system on environmental protection. However, the legal efforts have not been rewarding accordingly, and China is still on the trodden path of damaging the public resources which was the case during Japanese and South Korean industrialization. Despite some measures, policies and projects in environmental protection-related administration, economy and technology, they have not been sufficiently effective and have not addressed the root causes. In fact China has not avoided the old path of "pollution coming before improvement" that were the practice of many developed countries, and some problems here are even more serious. It is a long and arduous task to achieve the strategic restructuring on environmental and economic improvement, and many challenges must be tackled. The thesis compares the environmental protection-related system and actions taken by Chinese government and Japanese and South Korean government, and illustrates the different ways adopted by three countries, from the perspective of government-market relations, government’s adjustment of industrial structure, roles by local governments, legal and lawsuit system and the degree of citizens’ participation. The thesis analyzes the effective measures and shortcomings of different governments protecting ecological environment, and puts forward the solutions that Chinese government should take in protecting its environment:improving the management on environment defining pollution prevention and ecological conservation, promoting the regional environmental cooperation and an integrated protection strategic package measures on political, economic, scientific and technological, and cultural fronts. Chinese government, faced with severe environmental status, should be fully aware of the sustainability of human existence on top of economic achievement; and of civil society beyond government and market. Sustainability entails that Chinese system building be creative and hit home.