Research On Issues Of Governmental Environmental Responsibility

Environmental responsibility constitutes one of the compulsory social responsibilities that the whole society should generally take, covering widely from states, legal persons, organizations to individuals. Among all, the government should take the charge of environmental responsibility in view of its leading position in the modern society, which has already become a common acknowledgement. Accompanied with the progress of Chinese environmental legislation, the significance of the governmental environmental responsibility becomes more and more noticeable. At present, relatively large as the quantity of environmental legislation is in China, there exists an obvious deficiency in the legislation of government's liability to the environment. According to Environmental Protection Law and other related laws and regulations in general, the government's power on the environment is highlighted while its responsibility is neglected; the government's leading role is highly emphasized while the public participation is ignored; the investigation for the private party's responsibility is strengthened while the accountability of the government is overlooked. Under such circumstances, the implementation of the environmental protection has been severely affected and China's modernization and sustainable development have also been restricted. Considering the government's decrease of credibility that is resulted from the deficiency of its environmental responsibility, as well as the inextricable problem of the environmental pollution, the study of governmental environmental responsibility is believed to have theoretical value and practical significance.Primarily employing empirical analysis and the method of comparative study, this dissertation attempts to analyze the government's environmental responsibility system in China and its actual implementation on the basis of the national political system and fundamental realities. A comparison of both legislation and practice between western countries and China will be carried out, so as to search out the existing problems of the current governmental environmental responsibility system in China. The dissertation will propose several ways to improve the system, with the intention to supply some helpful reference to the national legislation in the fields concerned and in the actual judicial practice.This dissertation consists of four chapters, apart from the preface and conclusion.Chapter One, entitled as Environmental Responsibility and Governmental Environmental Responsibility, firstly introduces the concept of environmental responsibility, elaborating it from two perspectives as positive responsibility and negative responsibility. The theory of responsible government and the concept of governmental environmental responsibility will be explained next, with the emphasis on the significance of the implementation of government's responsibility in the environmental protection. Following that is the explanation of the reasons why the government's environmental responsibility should be highlighted, which lies in the environment's feature as public property and the government's possessive responsibility.Chapter Two, entitled as Current Condition of Our Government's Environmental Responsibility, describes the current implementing condition of environment protection in our country and explores the profound causes that, when the environmental responsibility has not been perfectly taken, bring on the phenomenon of Government Failure, which embodies the legal failure on the part of environmental responsibility, and resultingly circumscribes the protection of the environment. At the end of this chapter, the author points out the problems that exist in the management system and legislation idea through the detailed analysis of the existing problems in our national legislation.Chapter Three, entitled as Legislation and Practice of Governmental Environmental Responsibility Abroad, aims to analyze the world-wide legislative trend of the environmental protection, focusing on the legislation and practice of America, Japan and Russia. This chapter proposes that the key to fulfill the government's environmental responsibility lies in the restriction of regulations and rules, and our country should learn from the experience of developed countries with the consideration of the specific situations in China.Chapter Four, entitled as Improvement of Governmental Environmental Responsibility, is the most important part of the whole dissertation. With the national fundamental realities considered, this chapter suggests that the perfection of the governmental environmental responsibility relies on the shift of the idea of environmental responsibility, the improvement of environmental legislation, and the setting-up of the environmental administrative accountability system.