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The Paradox of Small Hydropower: Local Government and Environmental Governance in China |
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| Authors: | Jenn-Hwan Wang Sheng-Wen Tseng Huan Zheng |
| Institution: | 1. Graduate Institute of Development Studies, National Chengchi University, Taipei City, Taiwan, R.O.C.;2. Department of Leisure Management, Yu Da University of Science and Technology, Miaoli County, Taiwan, R.O.C.;3. Center for World Party Politics, Party School of the Central Committee of C.P.C., Beijing City, P.R.C |
| Abstract: | Small Hydropower is regarded by the Chinese state as a method for both poverty alleviation and environmental protection in rural areas. This paper finds that local government officials develop an ‘environmentally bundled economic interests’ approach that simultaneously fulfills the central state’s new political mission and local economic development demand. The small hydropower plants however have paradoxically become the destroyer of the environment as local government at different levels develop the plants in an un-coordinated manner. We use the growth of small hydropower in Yunnan province as an exemplar to show the new tendency and problems of China’s environmental governance. |
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