Influence Mechanism And Effect Analysis Of Local Government Environmental Governance Attention Allocation

To some extent,the allocation of government attention to a particular issue can be measured by the level of energy that government leaders devote to that area.The change of attention allocation of higher government leaders can affect the change of decision-making of lower government departments,and then affect the behavior of staff in lower government departments,and finally reach the new policy goal.The government work report is the baton for the lower government departments to allocate resources and invest energy,as well as an important carrier of the government’s attention allocation.It can intuitively present the government’s attention allocation in environmental governance in a certain period.Therefore,based on the theory of attention,this study analyzes the text of the Guangdong Provincial Government work report from 1990 to 2021,and discusses the characteristics of the allocation of environmental governance attention of local governments in Guangdong and the mechanism of the influence of government attention on the actions and effects of environmental governance.This study suggests that the more words and phrases in the government work report refer to environmental governance,the more resources and energy the government has invested in environmental governance,and the higher the government’s attention will be allocated to this aspect.However,this will not directly lead to the improvement of environmental quality.Only when the attention allocation increases and triggers the motivation of lower-level government departments,so as to integrate environmental governance practices,can the environmental quality be significantly improved.This study finds that when the attention of government work report on environmental governance is further allocated to specific areas such as green development concept,environmental pollution control strategy and environmental regulatory measures,a series of motivations such as establishing achievements,promoting positions and avoiding accountability will be triggered by lower-level government departments,which will make them actively integrate environmental governance practices.For example,they should vigorously promote the green development mode of energy conservation and emission reduction,further strengthen environmental supervision,and constantly improve the environmental governance mode and related legal system construction.Only when environmental governance actions are carried out continuously under the government’s attention can environmental quality be significantly improved and the overall level of environmental governance be enhanced.