On The Legal System Of Community-Based Environmental Governance

Community-based environmental governance is the new method of environmental protection and the new access of public participation as well.It means that residents,community,government,NGOs,enterprises work together by negotiating and collaborating to manage the public environmental affairs in the community.By doing this,the autonomous right of residents provided in the Constitution and laws,and the right to participate in environmental affairs,the right to know and the right to supervise will be fully achieved.The legal system of community-based environmental governance is the combination of a series of rules making sure the governance functions well and under the rule of law.To understand this concept,some related concepts need to be explained.First one is “community”.The idea of community is originated from sociology,in the current law of China it means the prefecture of residents' committee in urban areas and the prefecture of villagers' committee in rural areas.But in the text community is a united concept combined both urban areas and rural areas which would help the research.Another one is “governance”.Governance means all the forces in society working together in solving public affairs.Governance,especially good governance,is becoming the goal of modernization reform for governments.The idea of governance has spread widely in all the categories of public affairs such as environmental governance and community governance.Community-based environmental governance is the intersection of environmental governance and community governance,which emphasize the autonomy of the community and the public participation in dealing with the environmental affairs of community.The legal system of community-based environmental governance has both the theoretical legitimacy and practical demands.For the theoretical reason,the legal system of community-based environmental governance indicates the four basic values of law,these are: liberty,justice,order and law.For the practical reason,there are four problems in China that calls for community-based environmental governance,these are: the environmental problems in both urban and rural areas are becoming serious;Using “command and control” strategy by the government alone to solve environmental problems is proved to be failure;Public participation in environmental protection needs to improve;and the scarcity of rules for community-based environmental governance to follow while the Party policy is promoting this idea.To build a robust legal system,first we have to choose a suitable legal mode and certain general principles to follow.Worldwide speaking,there are three typical modes for successful community governance: the community independent mode,government guiding mode and government-community collaborating mode.After comparison the pros and cons in these three modes and taking Chinese case into account,it is wise to choose government-community collaborating mode.As for the general principles,these are: overall planning,community independence,government guidance,public participation and the combination of “soft law” and “hard law”.The last but not least is the specific suggestions for how to build such a legal system.Since governance means all the stakeholders working together,this legal system must be a comprehensive one that making each stakeholder plays their role to the full.First,for government,it should play supporting role by making regulations and laws,providing financial and man-powered support.Second,for the autonomous organization of community which represents the community,the first task is to help it become more representative and effective,and some other institutions like drafting bylaws on environmental protection in community,establishing the environmental committee in community,holding the public roundtable meetings and hearings,and promoting environmental education in community.Thirdly,as to the residents in community,it's important to set the rights and duties.The residents have the right to know,the right to participate,the right to supervise and the right to claim in the process of environmental governance in community.They also have duties,these are: not to pollute the environment,handle garbage properly,live in a low-carbon and environmental friendly way,and to participate in the environmental governance in community.Fourthly,organizations plays important role in environmental governance.Laws shall be made to nurture the community-based organizations and build cooperative mechanism between NGOs,volunteers and community organizations.Finally,for the enterprises in community,they must take social responsibilities to the community like environmental information disclosure and participation in the environmental governance.Above all,legislation must play a supportive and active role in making these suggestions effective.