Day 3 Final Report: We Cannot Undermine the Importance of NGOs in China
The third and final day of the conference was titled “Pondering Gaps and Needs of Stakeholders in Taihu Basin. How to Build New Clean Water Networks?”
Jun Bi, the local organizer from Nanjing University was the first to speak. In his presentation, he noted that NGOs in China are very weak and that they need to work with researchers and governments more. He also stated that NGOs often lack funding and the necessary knowledge to be effective. He acknowledged that he also belongs to an NGO called PACE, whose members are mostly Ph.Ds, and have access to governmental officials. He indicated that no matter how hard an environmental NGO tries, there is no single comment that could be made in front of governor of Jiangsu province that would actually influence a government’s decision making.
Jun Bi made the point that most people in the Lake Tai region seem to care more about their own interests than collective interests such as environmental improvements. And, that like it or not, the economy of Lake Tai region would have to first double to keep up with the demand of the people’s wishes to develop their economy; and, that similarly, China, would have to develop first even if to some extent at the price of the environment.
Here is how I responded:
Most Chinese people are kind and know what is better for themselves and for their country. For instance, let’s take a Chinese family whose parents think in the long term and invest in their children’s education. And if a university, a city, a province and a country can also think in the long term, and view Chinese people and China as one family, they would then think long term as well. They would know that they should not destroy the environment that their children and future generations will need to survive in. We need to foster such a love of land, people and the country as if it was one family, so they would not make bad decisions and do things to destroy their environment.
We cannot undermine the importance of NGOs. If a governor would only listen to one comment from an individual, even if the person might be right, and then the government then makes a decision based on that one recommendation, then we should just as well question such a process. For an environmental concerned policy advisor, it might be a good thing that a governor would only listen to a good recommendation. However, there might also be other recommendations that could cause negative environmental and health impacts. And for economic benefits sake, these recommendations such as having more chemical factories, which are perceived to be good for the local economy, might and would be too aggressive. It ultimately is better that a governor would listen to its people and have a transparent, fair and public consultation process.
Tags: China, Coalitions, community partners, government agency, Water
