A Questionnaire Case Study to Investigate Public Awareness of Smog Pollution in China’s Rural Areas

Jiang, Li; Hiltunen, Erkki; He, Xiaohua; Zhu, Linna

doi:10.3390/su8111111

Cited by 16 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Effective public participation is strongly encouraged for environmental supervision. To promote public participation, environmental education among the public is essential, since public awareness can facilitate positive public participation [62]. In the meantime, channels of public participation need to be widened in this Internet epoch.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of Public Participation on Environmental Governance in China–Based on the Analysis of Pollutants Emissions Employing a Provincial Quantification

Zhang

Chen

2018

Sustainability

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For a long time, governments and enterprises have been the two main subjects for environmental governance in China. With the growing complexities of environmental issues and the improvement of public environmental awareness, public participation is gradually playing an important role in the process of China's environmental governance. This paper aims to explore the necessity, the rationale, and the specific effect of public participation on environmental governance in China. A theoretical model is first proposed to illustrate the significance of public participation. Then, an empirical model is built to investigate the impact of public participation on pollutant emissions of the four main pollutants SO 2 , NO x , COD, and NH 4 , based on the panel data of 30 provinces from 2011 to 2015 in China. The results and main findings are: (1) public environmental complaints exert a noticeable and positive impact on the reductions of pollutants; (2) this impact varies according to different pollutants, among which reducing SO 2 emissions shows the most efficiency; and (3) the impact of public participation on the reduction of pollutants shows the characteristics of hysteresis and regional difference. We find that when the rate of public participation of lagging one period increases by 1%, the reduction of SO 2 is 5.03 tons per capita, 1.54 tons per capita, and 0.94 tons per capita in the region of middle, east, and west China, respectively. Therefore, the status of public participation should be strengthened and effective public participation is urgently needed in environmental governance. A systematic cooperative governance among the public, governments, and enterprises needs to be established in the long run.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of Public Participation on Environmental Governance in China–Based on the Analysis of Pollutants Emissions Employing a Provincial Quantification

Zhang

Chen

2018

Sustainability

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“…Column (1), (2) and (3) report the regression results of the direct path, mediation path, and indirect path, respectively. Results in column (1) and (2) show that Disasters have significant effects on both citizens' political trust and environmental awareness. In column (3), both Awareness and Disasters are included in the regression.…”

Section: Possible Mechanismsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…China has achieved great success in economic development in the past 30 years; the average growth rate of the GDP is higher than9% [1,2]. However, there are numerous studies that state that China's rapid growth is at the cost of resource consumption and environmental pollution, which cause serious economic losses, social conflicts and health costs in China [3,4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Not Only Health: Environmental Pollution Disasters and Political Trust

2017

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Over the past 30 years, the economy of China has sustained rapid growth. However, the extensive development pattern severely deteriorates the ecological environment, which has been recognized as adverse effects on citizens' physical and mental health. Simultaneously, the political trust in China has been in decline after staying at a high level for a long time. In this paper, we state that, in addition to health issues, environmental pollution can also lead to important political consequences. Using statistics on the occurrence of environmental pollution disasters and a nationally representative survey database in China, we find that environmental pollution disasters can negatively affect citizens' trust of the government. This relationship persists after a series of endogenous tests and robustness checks. Path analysis indicates that this relationship can be partially mediated by the increase in citizens' environmental awareness. The cross-sectional analyses on individual characteristics demonstrate that the negative effect of environmental pollution disasters on political trust is less pronounced for female citizens and citizens who are communist party members. Finally, we report that the government's positive attitudes and activities in resolving environmental pollution problems can partially offset the negative effect of environmental pollution disasters on political trust.

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“…(3) public awareness of smog pollution in China [12][13][14][15][16]; (4) the public's willingness to pay (WTP) for reducing or tracking haze pollution [17][18][19][20][21][22]; (5) the public's adaptive behavior responses to haze pollution in urban China [23,24]; (6) personal protection strategies from haze pollution [23,25]; and (7) consumers' purchase intentions related to products that deal with haze pollution [26].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This project aims to fill this knowledge gap. While several studies have been conducted to evaluate the government's performance in responding to and controlling haze pollution [12,19], these were limited to either local areas (e.g., Xinjie, a rural area in central China) or specific populations (e.g., skilled workers). We revisit this question here by exposing it to more general populations with various demographic backgrounds (i.e., gender, age, child status, educational background, occupation, living area (rural, suburban, and urban), and living region in China).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Questionnaire Case Study of Chinese Opinions on the Haze Pollution and Economic Growth

Qiu

Wang²,

Fan³

et al. 2018

Sustainability

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Haze pollution in China has reshaped daily life for the Chinese and led to serious health issues. At the same time, the Chinese have enjoyed the rapid economic growth that has contributed to this pollution. While questionnaire-based studies have been conducted within certain regions of China to learn the public's opinions of haze pollution, little work has been done to understand how Chinese citizens value haze treatment in relation to their nation's economic growth at a nationwide scale. To fill this knowledge gap, this project conducted a nationwide investigation of Chinese opinions on the benefits of economic growth versus the disadvantages of haze pollution, as well as their responses to efforts by the Chinese government to combat haze and to the influence of haze on Chinese daily life and on personal health. The study also sought suggestions for combatting haze. In particular, an anonymous questionnaire consisting of 29 questions was given in the summer and fall of 2017 to 1233 people of different genders, ages, child statuses, educational backgrounds, occupations, living areas (rural, suburban, and urban), and living regions. The statistical Chi squared test was then used to identify the demographic group of respondents supporting the economic slowdown policy or requesting more efforts from the Chinese government to combat haze pollution. A multivariate statistical approach-principal component analysis-was further applied to visualize respondents' feedback on the impact of haze on their daily life and personal health, as well as the change of environment and economic conditions in the last 10 years. The results show that more than 50% of respondents, especially those with children, those between the ages of 31 to 50, and those living in high-pollution regions, supported the economic slowdown policy. Totally 40.63% of the entire group of respondents believed the government's efforts to control haze were small or very small. Only 27.84% of respondents held the opposite opinions. In total, 72.91% of respondents believed the environment in China became worse or much worse in the past 10 years; however, most responded positively to the idea of resolving the haze issue within 15 or more years. Haze has caused health issues in and around half of the respondents and has significantly reshaped their outdoor activities.

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A Questionnaire Case Study to Investigate Public Awareness of Smog Pollution in China’s Rural Areas

Cited by 16 publications

References 21 publications

The Effect of Public Participation on Environmental Governance in China–Based on the Analysis of Pollutants Emissions Employing a Provincial Quantification

The Effect of Public Participation on Environmental Governance in China–Based on the Analysis of Pollutants Emissions Employing a Provincial Quantification

Not Only Health: Environmental Pollution Disasters and Political Trust

A Questionnaire Case Study of Chinese Opinions on the Haze Pollution and Economic Growth

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