Reports
Discussion Papers
No.752 In and Beyond the Locality:Policy and Social Responses to Water Pollution Health Hazards in China
by Kenji Otsuka
March 2019
ABSTRACT
This article investigates the interaction process between policy and social responses to water pollution health hazards in China, focusing on the case of the Huai River Basin. Since the 1970s, rural communities in the basin have suffered from persistent water pollution health hazards. Through a critical review of the interactions between policy and practices, this article reveals how these two approaches coevolved in the cooperative sphere, that is, a quasi-public sphere under fragmented authoritarianism in China supported by the state, media and environmental non-governmental organizations to address the ecological disaster in and beyond the basin. Additionally, a disconnect between practices in the locality and the policy beyond it can be observed as another side of fragmentation in the field of environment and health issues. Grassroots "micropolitics" such as dialogue, negotiation, cooperation with polluters and local authorities, and innovation as an alternative to the official public work based on social and ecological knowledge are examined to overcome this fragmentation.
Keywords: water pollution, environmental health hazard, environmental policy in China, cooperative sphere, policy and practices, social and ecological knowledge
JEL classification: I14, L31, O44, P28, Q53, Q56, Q57, Q58
PDF available at http://hdl.handle.net/2344/00050803
Please note that discussion papers are works in various stages of progress and most have not been edited and proofread and may contain errors of fact or judgment. Revised versions of these papers may subsequently appear in more formal publication series. The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s). The IDE does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included and accepts no responsibility for any consequences arising from its use.