高速經濟發展給改革開放後的中國帶來嚴重的環境污染,不僅對內經常導致大規模群體事件,對外也面臨許多來自國際的壓力,成為中國政府治理的主要難題之一。中央環保部門為了因應這個危機,不斷嘗試採取生態現代化的治理模式,在制度中納入更多治理主體。2008年中國出台「政府信息公開條例」,同年環保部根據此條例訂定「環境信息公開辦法」(試行),成為中國第一個針對專門領域的信息公開行政法規,一般公民與組織可依法向相關單位獲取資訊,象徵環境知情權的提升。 經深度訪談中國環保組織工作者,本研究發現,中央政策逐步健全信息公開規範和具體化公眾參與機制,讓草根環保組織得以開展各種策略,監督地方政府行為,或者改善企業的環保表現。另一方面,碎裂威權的政治現實,使中央環保部推行政策往往受到阻礙,因此環保組織順理成章成為中央的同盟者,在地方層次監督環保單位履行信息公開責任。 「信息公開」於是成為環保組織的策略性論述,將中央宣示性的政策進一步賦予進步意涵,讓部分地方政府從抵觸到配合,並意外推動部分跨國品牌正視中國供應鏈的汙染問題。不過,環保組織的行動仍受限於法令模糊、國家機密與實質參與決策機制缺乏的限制。雖然環境信息公開制度部分提高了政府部門的透明度,以及提升公民組織參涉入公共事務的能力,然而,有限的環境公民權,仍無法有效抑制污染事件的出現。
While China was going through rapid economic growth, serious pollution and emerging environment protests have become the dark side of development. Facing these problems, the Chinese government has been trying to establish a governance model that is more open to the public and involves more citizens’ participation to enhance accountability. The promotion of environment information disclosure policy by the Ministry of Environmental Protection in recent years can be seen as a big step toward ecological modernization. With the legitimacy given by the state, there have been some cases in which ENGOs successfully hold local governments accountable for transparency, or pressurized multinational corporations into greening their supply chain through various strategies. By taking advantage of the additional political spaces created by fragmented authoritarianism, ENGOs can be more active in monitoring pollution. However, due to political and institutional constraints, the influence of ENGOs over the state and corporations still remains limited.