Book review: China's Environmental Challenges by Judith Shapiro
This is a well researched and balanced book about one of the great issues of our time - what the world's second-largest economy and biggest emitter of carbon dioxide is doing to its environment and that of the world.
by Judith Shapiro
Polity Press
This is a well researched and balanced book about one of the great issues of our time - what the world's second-largest economy and biggest emitter of carbon dioxide is doing to its environment and that of the world.
The answer is complex and contradictory, with responsibility lying with those abroad who consume goods made in China as well as with the government and people of the country.
Judith Shapiro, an American, is well qualified to write the book. She first came to China in 1979, the year her government established diplomatic relations. She has written two other books on the mainland. An academic, she teaches in the Global Environmental Politics programme at American University in Washington, DC.
She finds much to praise. "China is doing much more on climate change than it is required to do under international law and during 2011 negotiations in Durban took a pro-active and constructive position to pressure developed countries to do more."
But there is a wide gap between the good intentions and well-written legislation of Beijing and implementation in cities and towns which put GDP growth above every other goal.
