On Environmental Justice And The Environment Protection In Rural China

This dissertation is about environmental justice and the environment protection in rural china. Environmental justice is a composite concept which includes distributive justice, equal participation and the politics of recognition. It implies that the disadvantage social groups command to share environmental rights and commit environmental duties equally and call for distributing environmental good and evil justly. This dissertation attempts to analyze the environmental problems in rural china from the perspective of environmental justice. It points out that there are three main reasons for environmental degradation in rural china. They are the urban-rural dual structure, the global order regulated by developed countries and unsustainable and unjust intergenerational relation. Due to these reasons, we claim that the integration of environment protection in urban and rural china, reasonable and just global institutions of environmental governance and harmonious and sustainable development between human beings and the nature are effective measures to resolve the dilemma of how to protect the environment in rural china. The dissertation will be divided into four sections in addition to introduction and conclusion.In the introduction, I firstly introduce the research background, the research perspective and the research status of this topic at home and abroad. Finally, I outline the significance of this dissertation in Chinese context.Chapter one is focused on the analysis of environmental justice. Firstly, I point out the concept of justice in western political and moral philosophy has three meanings, which are distributive justice, participation justice and cultural recognition. Then I analyze the circumstances of justice and the problem of environment as a kind of social primary good. Secondly, I outline the rise and significance of American environmental justice movement, the concept of environmental justice and some dimensions of this concept. Environmental justice represents the appeal of disadvantage social groups to maintaining their environmental rights in the whole world. They need to understand domestic, international and intergenerational environmental justice from three meanings of the concept of justice I present above. Finally, I point out the concept of environmental justice is beyond the limits of anthropocentrism and non-anthropocentrism.Chapter two is to discuss the environment protection in rural china from the point of domestic environmental justice. Firstly, I simply introduce the meaning, the features and the historical development of the urban-rural dual structure. Secondly, I think this structure has to be responsible for the lack of environmental justice in rural china. Because of this structure, the environment resources in rural china suffer the fate of the tragedy of the commons. The rural area bears the burden of environment pollution produced by the development of cities and industries. The peasants suffer the unjust distribution of environmental good and evil, the lack of participation in environment decisions making and the lack of respect and recognition in cultural identity. Finally, I points out that elimination of this structure is a fundamental approach to resolve the environment pollution in rural china. We have to integrate the different household registration systems, land systems and financial management systems in rural and urban china.Chapter three is to discuss the environmental protection in rural china from the point of international environmental justice. Firstly, I introduce the background and the ethical foundation of international environmental justice. I point out the current unjust global order worsens the poverty and the environmental burden of developing countries. The global justice principles based on the idea of cosmopolitanism human rights requires the developed countries to take the obligation of realizing international environmental justice. Secondly, I illustrate some facts about china who endures the environmental injustice in economic globalization, the environment pollution situation in rural china continues to worsen and the peasants suffer more and more environmental harm from unjust global order. Finally, I point out peaceful rising China are urging the global order to develop justly and reasonably. Only if China positively joins in global environmental governance, it can realize the international justice in the environment protection in rural china.Chapter four is focused on the environment protection in rural china from the perspective of intergenerational justice. I deal with the non-identity problem, which is a philosophical challenge to intergenerational justice. I think this challenge is not successful, for it regards the posterity as abstract and non-existent future persons. I argue the relations between different generations are overlapped and Rawls's family model is good one to understand intergenerational relation, so the care for kids and women is necessary for intergenerational justice. Finally, I point out intergenerational justice calls for the sustainable development of resources, environment and population in rural china. Especially, I claim the importance of protecting the kids and women in rural china from the harm of environment pollution and provide some effective measures. In the conclusion, I confirm the importance of rethinking the problem of environment protection in rural china from the perspective of environmental justice. I point out all of us should take active actions to resolve the problem of environment pollution in rural china under the guidance of the idea of environmental justice.