1. Policy background of my country’s current environmental protection policy

Environmental issues are not a single social issue, they are closely related to the political and economic development of human society. Environmental problems are to a large extent the inevitable product of the development of human society, especially the kind of development that comes at the expense of the environment. Western countries have entered industrialized societies, and they are already repaying the debt they owed to the environment since the initial stage of industrialization. Our country is undergoing socialist modernization and is undergoing a transition from an agricultural society to an industrial society. We must not follow the old path of Western countries of "pollution first, treatment later", but should put environmental protection in an important position in advance. This is not only a lesson from history, but also an inevitable choice we face, a passive choice in the context of the deepening environmental crisis. Because environmental problems have become an important factor that endangers people's health and restricts economic development and social stability.

1. Environmental pollution problem is serious

Pollution problem is the main environmental problem faced by human society, and it is also an inevitable product of human social activities. Although after years of governance, the trend of increasing environmental pollution in our country has basically been controlled, the environmental pollution problem is still quite serious. According to statistics, in 2004, the national sulfur dioxide emissions were 22.549 million tons, an increase of 15% from 2000. Among the country's seven major river systems, according to 413 water quality monitoring section records, only 41.6% meet the national surface water level III standards, a decrease of 16.1% from 2000. The Yangtze River and Pearl River have better water quality, while the Haihe, Yellow, Huaihe, and Liaohe rivers have better water quality. The water quality of the Songhua River is poor, and major freshwater lakes and urban lakes are polluted to varying degrees. In 2004, 41.4% of urban air quality met the second-level standard, down 22.1% from 63.5% in 2000.* Acid rain pollution is a serious problem. It is common for urban noise to disturb residents, with 7.3% of cities experiencing severe or moderate pollution levels. Major pollution accidents occur from time to time, and our country has entered a period of high incidence of environmental pollution accidents. These problems have seriously affected people's production and life, and have become obstacles to my country's sustainable development.

2. The trend of ecological deterioration is intensifying

The ecological environment is the sum of natural factors that are related to human production and life. Human activities will inevitably cause more or less impact on these factors. Impact. At present, the scope of ecological environment damage in our country is expanding, the degree is intensifying, and the harm is getting worse. Land degradation is serious. The country's water and soil erosion area reaches 3.67 million square kilometers, accounting for about 38% of the country's land area. The average new water and soil erosion area is 10,000 square kilometers every year. The desertified land area has reached 2.62 million square kilometers, and 2,460 square kilometers are added every year. Kilometer speed expansion. The country’s forest area is 174.91 million hectares, with a forest coverage rate of 18.21%, ranking 130th in the world, and the per capita forest area ranks 134th in the world. The five northwest provinces (autonomous regions), which account for 32.19% of the land area, have a forest coverage rate of only 5.86%, and they are deforestation. Indiscriminate logging continues to occur. The area of ​​grassland degradation, desertification and alkalization reaches 135 million hectares, accounting for about one-third of the total grassland area, and is increasing at a rate of 2 million hectares every year. The water ecosystem is out of balance. In 2004, 79 cities across the country were short of water, with a population of 23.4 million and 13 million large livestock experiencing temporary drinking water difficulties. *Biological diversity has declined sharply, the area of ​​areas rich in wild animals and plants has continued to decrease, and indiscriminate hunting and excavation have been repeatedly prohibited. The deterioration of the ecological environment has seriously affected the coordinated development of my country's economy and society and the security of the national ecological environment.

3. China’s accession to the WTO has brought new challenges to my country’s environmental protection.

my country joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, which is commonly known as accession to the WTO. After joining the WTO, while enjoying our rights, we must also fulfill corresponding obligations. Developed countries will demand the same high environmental standards from us. [1] Therefore, some green provisions of the WTO may have an impact on my country’s commodity exports and restrict domestic export trade of goods that do not meet environmental standards. This requires domestic enterprises to improve their environmental protection awareness, increase investment in environmental protection, establish environmental management systems, and continuously improve environmental behaviors to enhance the international competitiveness of their products. However, high environmental standards will increase product costs, reduce product competitiveness, and hinder the smooth entry of its products into the international market. Therefore, how to coordinate the relationship between high-quality environmental protection standards and product costs has become a new challenge for my country's environmental protection policy after joining the WTO.

4. Important measures to implement the Scientific Outlook on Development

2. The main content and analysis of my country’s current environmental protection policies

For a considerable period after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, we did not Be aware of the importance of environmental issues, but environmental issues are not subject to human will. If we ignore environmental protection, human society will pay the price for its own development. As environmental problems emerged, the State Council established an environmental protection leading group and its office in 1973 to start "three wastes" management and environmental education across the country. This was the beginning of my country's environmental protection work.

After more than 20 years of development, my country's environmental protection policy has formed a complete system, which specifically includes three major policies and eight systems,[2] namely "prevention first, combining prevention and control", "who pollutes, who controls", The three policies of "Strengthening Environmental Management" and "Environmental Impact Assessment", "Three Simultaneities", "Pollution Charges", "Environmental Protection Target Responsibility", "Quantitative Assessment of Comprehensive Urban Environmental Improvement", "Pollution Application Registration and Permit" , "limited time management", "centralized control" and other eight systems.

1. Prevention first, combined with prevention and control policies

Environmental protection policy is to control environmental pollution within a certain range and achieve efficient pollution levels through various methods. [3] Therefore, taking measures in advance to avoid or reduce pollution and damage to the environment is the most efficient way to solve environmental problems. The main goal of China's environmental protection is to prevent the occurrence and spread of environmental pollution in the process of economic development. Its main measures are: incorporating environmental protection into national and local mid- to long-term and annual national economic and social development plans; implementing an environmental impact assessment system and a "three simultaneities" system for development and construction projects.

2. Who pollutes, who controls the policy

From the perspective of environmental economics, the environment is a scarce resource and a rare resource. In order to avoid The “land tragedy of the world” must be borne by environmental destroyers. This is also a manifestation of the internationally accepted polluter pays principle, that is, the polluter bears the responsibility and costs of its pollution. Its main measures include: levying excessive emission fees on enterprises and institutions that discharge pollutants into the atmosphere and water bodies in excess of emission standards, specifically for the prevention and control of pollution; implementing time-limited treatment on enterprises and institutions that cause serious pollution; and combining technological transformation of enterprises to prevent and control industrial pollution. .

3. Strengthen environmental management policies

Due to the existence of transaction costs, externalities cannot be resolved through private market coordination. [4] Solving externality problems requires relying on the role of the government. Pollution is a typical external behavior. Therefore, the government must intervene in environmental protection, play the role of regulator and supervisor, and work with enterprises to carry out environmental governance. The main purpose of strengthening environmental management policies is to control and reduce environmental pollution and damage caused by poor management by strengthening the environmental governance responsibilities of governments and enterprises. Its main measures include: gradually establishing and improving the system of environmental protection laws and standards, establishing and improving environmental protection agencies and national and local monitoring networks at all levels of government; implementing an environmental target responsibility system for local governments at all levels; and implementing quantitative comprehensive environmental improvements in important cities. Assessment.

3. Analysis of my country’s environmental protection policy from the perspective of policy science

my country’s environmental protection policy is not a specific policy, but a complete policy system. Below, the author will make a detailed analysis of my country's current environmental protection policies from the perspective of policy science.

1. In terms of policy goal orientation, we should pay attention to the coordinated development of the economy and society. Policy objectives are the results or tasks that the policy hopes to achieve. The goal orientation of the policy determines the value choices in the process of formulating policy plans. Environmental protection is a specific requirement of my country's sustainable development strategy and an important way to achieve coordinated economic and social development. Our country's environmental protection policies not only consider the needs of environmental protection goals, but also pay attention to the possible burden that the environment may cause on the economic system. Generally speaking, the overall strategy of my country's environmental policy is "environment and economic coordination" rather than "environment priority". This feature is consistent with the policy background of my country's environmental policy. my country is in the primary stage of socialism with "economic construction as the center". Under the national conditions where people's living standards are not high, it is unrealistic to pursue the policy orientation of "environmental priority" of.

2. In terms of policy subjects, the government is the main body of policy formulation and implementation. Policy subjects refer to those individuals or organizations that directly or indirectly participate in the policy formulation and implementation process. Due to differences in the social and political systems, economic development status, cultural traditions and other aspects of each country, the policy-making entities of each country are also different. In our country's government-oriented reality, the government is the main body in governing social and public affairs. Our government is responsible for environmental governance. Although some social groups and enterprises are also involved in environmental protection, their role is limited because environmental protection policies have basically delegated power to the government. The lack of a governance system with diverse participation is an important reason for the unsatisfactory implementation of my country's environmental protection policies. Because government rationality is limited, the government has limitations in formulating and implementing environmental protection policies, and will face the dilemma of decision-making errors and poor implementation. It is these limitations that provide space for social groups and individuals to participate in environmental protection.

3. In terms of policy action, we should focus on prevention from the root and governance from the consequences. my country's policy of "combination of prevention and control, focusing on prevention" shows that environmental protection policies must not only deal with the consequences that have already occurred, but also take measures to prevent new environmental problems. Preventing the emergence of new pollution sources can control the losses caused by environmental pollution to a minimum. The control of environmental pollution is a remedial measure. Therefore, in specific environmental protection work, we must persist in combining prevention and governance, better play the role of environmental protection policies, and pursue ideal policy effects.

4. In terms of policy implementation mechanism, regulatory means and inductive means are combined.

The regulatory means is that the government directly uses policies to intervene in environmental protection, while the inductive means is that the government uses market mechanisms to induce companies to protect the environment because it is in their own interests. At present, regulatory means still dominate in our country, and some economic means that play an inductive role, such as prices and taxes, are used less frequently. However, regulatory measures will be "softened" due to the self-interested behavior of government departments and officials, and will not be able to play their due role. Therefore, in the long run, it is an inevitable trend to use economic means to promote the marketization process of pollution control.

IV. Problems and policy suggestions in the implementation of my country's environmental protection policies

my country's various environmental protection policies have been implemented in practical work and have achieved great results. At present, my country's environmental pollution has been basically under control, and the trend of ecological environment deterioration has also been curbed to a certain extent. This is inseparable from the role of various policies, which have become effective tools for national environmental protection departments to carry out supervision and management. Taking 2004 as an example, according to statistics from the State Environmental Protection Administration, 80,079 environmental administrative penalty cases were implemented throughout the year, 733,000 units were determined to pay sewage fees, 9.42 billion yuan in sewage fees were collected, and environmental establishment projects were handled that year 323,264, the environmental impact assessment system implementation rate was 99.3%, the "Three Simultaneities" system actually implemented 78,907 projects, 76,038 qualified projects, the implementation pass rate was 95.7%, the number of time-limited governance projects was completed in the year 22,649, and 13,338 enterprises were closed down and transferred . *Since 2005, a number of projects such as the Yuanmingyuan Lake Bottom Anti-seepage Project and the Henan Institute of Metallurgical Research’s Jiaozuo Dongfang Gold and Aluminum Company’s Electrolytic Aluminum Technical Transformation Project have been stopped due to non-compliance with the Environmental Impact Assessment Law and ordered to make rectifications within a time limit. Recently, Xie Zhenhua, director of the State Environmental Protection Administration, resigned due to the Songhua River pollution accident, setting off a new "environmental protection storm."

As can be seen from the above, the implementation of my country's environmental protection policies is relatively strong. Among them, this is closely related to the great importance attached by the party and the government to environmental protection work and the improvement of environmental awareness of all sectors of society. However, we should also see that the current policy has also encountered some difficulties in the implementation process. How to understand these problems and make corresponding adjustments to policies is the key to the role of environmental protection policies.

First of all, some policies cannot meet the needs of the development of the socialist market economy and can no longer solve practical problems. Any public policy is generated and takes effect in a certain social environment. If the policy environment changes, the policy will change accordingly. Our country is undergoing a transition from a planned economic system to a socialist market economic system, and this transition is the objective policy environment for our country's public policies. All public policies must adapt to this change, and environmental protection must also be in this way. Since my country began to implement environmental protection, it has formulated a large number of relevant laws and regulations, which provide objective legal basis for my country's environmental protection and play an indispensable role in my country's environmental protection cause. However, with the development of social economy, especially the basic establishment of my country's socialist market economic system, great changes have taken place in the operation mode of social economy, and the original environmental protection policies can no longer meet the needs of environmental protection work. For example, the "three simultaneous" system was originally an important measure to solve the pollution problem from the source. However, these regulatory measures have obvious planned economy characteristics. With the transformation of enterprise operating mechanisms, the hard budget constraint mechanism makes enterprises lack profit incentives to invest in pollution control facilities. Coupled with the impact of information asymmetry between government and enterprises, enterprises They will adopt opportunistic behavior, focus on maximizing short-term benefits, and reduce environmental investment as much as possible, so that the "three simultaneities" system will gradually lose its due effectiveness.

Secondly, some policies fail to fully reflect the requirements of the law of value and deviate from the original purpose during the implementation process. For example, the pollution discharge charging standard should be determined based on the cost of pollutant treatment and social loss costs, and should at least not be lower than the cost of pollution control. However, the current sewage discharge fee standards are low, only about 50% of the operating costs of treatment facilities, and some projects are even less than 10% of the pollution control costs. As a result, many companies would rather pay sewage discharge fees than carry out treatment.

Finally, the government’s role in environmental protection is unreasonable and weakens the responsibilities of other governance subjects. In my country's current environmental protection work, the government still plays the role of the main administrator. According to statistics, more than 70% of environmental protection investments are government or public investments, while nearly 60% of pollutant reduction and control investments in some Western market economy countries are directly paid by the private sector. A single investor has caused a serious shortage of funds for environmental governance in our country and insufficient resources for environmental protection policies, which has affected the implementation of environmental protection policies.

The "Sustainable Development Strategy" has been widely accepted and recognized by the international community.

The World Commission on Environment and Development published "Our Common Future" in 1987 on sustainable development. Sustainable development is defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. From a social perspective, sustainable development advocates fair distribution, including fair distribution of resources between developed and developing countries, and the harmonization of current generations. Fair distribution of resources for future generations; from an economic perspective, sustainable development advocates continued economic growth on the basis of protecting the natural systems on the earth; from a natural perspective, sustainable development advocates the harmonious development of man and nature.

Sustainable development mainly includes three aspects: sustainable development of natural resources and ecological environment, sustainable economic development, and sustainable social development. These three aspects are a complex of mutual influences. The implementation of sustainable development strategy is a systematic project. It is a challenge to the traditional development model. It seeks to establish a new development model and consumption model, which means that the economic development and social development process of a country or region must start from now on. The traditional model is transformed into a new model, which involves all aspects, all walks of life, and has intricate relationships.

Sustainable development is the only option for China to completely get rid of poverty, population, resources and environmental difficulties. After the World Conference on Environment and Development in 1992, the State Council organized the preparation of "China's Agenda 21 - White Paper on China's Population, Environment and Development in the 21st Century", which proposed an overall framework for coordinated and sustainable development of population, economy, society, resources and environment. strategies, countermeasures and action plans, and has started specific actions, which shows China’s determination to implement the sustainable development strategy.