The Ministry of Ecology and Environment is an executive-department of the

State Council of the People's Republic of China The State Council of the People's Republic of China, also known as the Central People's Government, is the chief administrative authority and national cabinet. It is constitutionally the highest administrative organ of the country and the e ...

, responsible for the ecological and environmental affairs. It is the 15th-ranked department in the State Council. The Ministry is the nation's environmental protection department charged with the task of protecting China's air, water, and land from pollution and contamination. Directly under the

State Council State Council may refer to: Government * State Council of the People's Republic of China, the national cabinet and chief administrative authority of China, headed by the Premier * State Council of the Republic of Korea, the national cabinet of S ...

, it is empowered and required by law to implement environmental policies and enforce environmental laws and regulations. Complementing its regulatory role, it funds and organizes research and development.

History

In 1972, Chinese representatives attended the First

United Nations Conference on the Human Environment The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment was held in Stockholm, Sweden, during June 5–16, 1972. When the United Nations General Assembly decided to convene the 1972 Stockholm Conference, taking up the offer of the Government of S ...

, held in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. The next year, 1973, saw the establishment of the Environmental Protection Leadership Group. In 1983, the Chinese government announced that environmental protection would become a state policy. In 1998, China went through a disastrous year of serious flooding, and the Chinese government upgraded the Leading Group to a ministry-level agency, which then became the State Environmental Protection Administration. In March 2008, the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) was established, replacing the State Environmental Protection Administration. During 2016–2017, the MEP temporarily shut down approximately 40% of all Chinese factories as part of an environmental protection campaign. Pollutant trading programs were administered under the MEP and local Environmental Protection Bureaus until 2018. In 2018, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) was established as part of the

deepening the reform of the Party and state institutions The deepening the reform of the Party and state institutions ( zh, , p=Shēnhuà dǎng hé guójiā jīgòu gǎigé, s=深化党和国家机构改革) was a large-scale reform of the institutions of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Peopl ...

, replacing the MEP. A number of environmental policy functions were merged from other ministries into the MEE, including climate policy previously under the

National Development and Reform Commission The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) is the third-ranked executive department of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, which functions as a macroeconomic management agency. Established as the State Planning C ...

(NDRC) and a number of environmental policy functions previously under the Ministry of Water Resources and the

State Oceanic Administration The State Oceanic Administration (SOA; ) was an administrative agency subordinate to the Ministry of Land and Resources, responsible for the supervision and management of sea area in the People's Republic of China and coastal environmental pro ...

. Pollutant and carbon emissions trading programs, which had previously been under the MEP's jurisdiction, were also placed within the MEE's control. In 2019, the MEE established the BRI International Green Development Coalition as a joint project with the environmental agencies of twenty-five other countries.

Role

According to regulations concerning the Ministry, the MEE is responsible for protecting, regulating, and monitoring the environment, as well as enforcing environmental policies. It is responsible for pollution control, conserving the ecosystem, formulating environmental standards, conducting environmental impact assessments, environmental protection inspections, addressing climate change, supervising emissions reduction targets, supervising nuclear safety, as well as international environmental cooperation. It also has jurisdiction over China's

nuclear safety Nuclear safety is defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as "The achievement of proper operating conditions, prevention of accidents or mitigation of accident consequences, resulting in protection of workers, the public and the ...

agency. MEE regulates water quality, ambient air quality, solid waste, soil, noise, radioactivity. In the area of R&D activities, MEE's predecessor MEP has funded a series of "Key Laboratories" in different parts of the country, including: Laboratory for Urban Air Particles Pollution Prevention and Control for Environmental Protection, Laboratory on Environment and Health, Laboratory on

Industrial Ecology Industrial ecology (IE) is the study of material and energy flows through industrial systems. The global industrial economy can be modelled as a network of industrial processes that extract resources from the Earth and transform those resource ...

, Laboratory on Wetland Ecology and Vegetation Recovery, and Laboratory on Biosafety.
In addition, MEE also administers engineering and technical research centers related to environmental protection, including: Center for Non-ferrous Metal Industrial Pollution Control, Center for Clean Coal and Ecological Recovery of Mines, Center for Industrial Waste Water Pollution Control, Center for Industrial Flue gas, Flue Gas Control, Center for

Hazardous Waste Hazardous waste is waste that must be handled properly to avoid damaging human health or the environment. Waste can be hazardous because it is Toxicity, toxic, Chemical reaction, reacts violently with other chemicals, or is Corrosion, corrosive, ...

Treatment, and Center for

Solid Waste Municipal solid waste (MSW), commonly known as trash or garbage in the United States and rubbish in Britain, is a waste type consisting of everyday items that are discarded by the public. "Garbage" can also refer specifically to food waste, ...

Treatment and Disposal of Mines. China is experiencing an increase in environmental complaints: In 2005, there were 51,000 disputes over environmental pollution, according to SEPA minister Zhou Shengxian. From 2001 to 2005, Chinese environmental authorities received more than 2.53 million letters and 430,000 visits by 597,000 petitioners seeking environmental redress.

Organization

There are 12 offices and departments under MEE, all at the ''si'' (司) level in the government ranking system. They carry out regulatory tasks in different areas and make sure that the agency is functioning accordingly. The MEE is the administrative home of the ministerial-level Special Envoy for Climate Change Affairs, China's top envoy on international climate change negotiations. The Special Envoy is supported by the MEE's Office of Climate Change Affairs, headed by a vice minister.

Department structure

Leadership

Regional centers

In 2006, SEPA opened five regional centers to help with local inspections and enforcement. Today, the five centers are direct affiliates of MEE:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ministry Of Environmental Protection Of The People's Republic Of China

Environmental Protection Environmental protection, or environment protection, refers to the taking of measures to protecting the natural environment, prevent pollution and maintain ecological balance. Action may be taken by individuals, advocacy groups and governments. ...

Environmental policy in China China, Environmental Protection

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...