Research Of The Balance Of Citizen Participation In Environmental Decision-making

It is in United Nations Conference on Human Environment(abbr. UNCHE) held in 1972 that ‘environmental decision-making(hereinafter referred to as EDM) participation' was put forward. Following this purpose and trend, several international environmental agreements confirm the importance, necessity and rationality of public participation in environmental protections. Law of the People's Republic of China on Appraising of Environment Impacts in 2002 has specific provisions about the public participation in EIA(environmental impact assessment) of construction projects. Another is Interim Measures for Public Participation in Environmental Impact Assessment in 2006. And in 2015, Measures for Public Participation in Environmental Protection set one clause to regulate public participation in EDM specifically. Then, consultative draft of Measures for Public Participation in Environmental Impact Assessment of Construction Projects was announced. A team called social risk assessment group was established in 2012, nanjing, jiangsu province to evaluate the public programs and policy which have influences on social stability. This result will directly determine whether such programs or policy could be put into practice. All the above show that public participation in EDM is more and more common and effective. On the contrary, it worries us that irrational public participation exposed by environmental collective events. Moreover, domestic scholars have made some studies and researches about the limits of citizen participation in public decision-making, from system design to the regulation of process management.Logical organization of this paper is from explanations of concepts to interpretations of legal theories, then about questions and finally legal reconstructions. The body of this paper is divided into four parts: first is about the general explanations of public participation in EDM, which involves the definition of public participation, EDM and balance of the two and a research of the cause of such a topic briefly; second is the basic theories of the balance of public participation in EDM, focusing on reasonable limits of supply and demand of power, the cost-benefit analysis and interests measurement; third is to summarize unbalanced performances of public participation in EDM and discuss significant references from the following three countries-the United States, France, Japan; forth is to try to set legal constructions of public participation in EDM, combining with the balance of the legal basis and other countries' experience, including improving the configuration of the rights and obligations, reconstructing program rules and establishing the feedback and accountability systems, which enhance the effectiveness of public participation, the acceptability of EDM. And finally it helps realize the balance of citizen participation in EDM.