NEW YORK - Three experts from the fields of
academic research, NGO development, and Chinese litigation presented
their perspectives on the policy challenges of environmental law
enforcement in China at a talk held at the Asia Society.

Benjamin van Rooij, senior lecturer at The Van Vollenhoven Institute of Leiden University, Zhang Jingjing, director of litigation at the Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims, and Alex Wang,
director of the China Environmental Law project at the National
Resources Defense Council, also engaged in a debate during the
discussion moderated by Jerome Cohen, co-director of the NYU Law School U.S.-Asia Law Institute.

For
van Rooij, the main barrier to efficient environmental regulation is
the lack of communication and accountability between the Chinese
central government and local governments. In recent years, he said, the
central government has embraced “coercion, rather than legal formalism
to implement desired change.” Yet the question remains as to whether
this method will produce consistent regulation or create more
adversarial relationships between the government, government-favored
companies and other private corporations.

Wang,
on the other hand, stressed the need for a readjustment of the norms in
environmental regulation. In particular, he emphasized the need for
increased transparency and compliance between the government and the
regulated. “The penalties for polluters are too low,” Wang said. “Even
a modest-sized company would incorporate those fines in the cost of
doing businesses.”

Zhang offered firsthand
accounts of her experience litigating on behalf of pollution victims in
China. Zhang’s cases target a clearly defined, single polluter (what
she calls point-pollution cases). “Air pollution in Beijing is almost
impossible to file litigation for since it is non-point pollution,” she
said. “There are lots of potential polluters and we cannot identify a
single defendant.” For Zhang, winning a modest compensation for her
clients is considered a victory, regardless of the court’s final
verdict, illustrating the difficulties of strengthening the role of the
judiciary and lawyers in improving environmental regulation
enforcement.

Listen to the complete program (1 hr, 37 min.)

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