Governance of Biodiversity Conservation in China And Taiwan

‘We thought this process was not transparent. We had many discussions and formed

joint audit teams and engaged the local population. A PetroChina/Shell team did

audits of compensation/resettlement in each affected province. There were

problems at the start, but PetroChina adopted it. It was a documented process, so

you could return to it in the future if there were problems. This brought about a

change in mind set.’^48

In the process of evaluating social impacts from pipeline construction, Shell
established the Shell Foundation in China to ‘find sustainable solutions to
social and environmental problems linked to energy production and
consumption, as well as to harness the potential of globalization to enhance the
development prospects of vulnerable communities’.^49 Shell worked with the
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the establishment of this
foundation, which is the first of its kind in China.
For a variety of commercial reasons, Shell did not participate in the
construction of the West-East pipeline. An environmental officer summarized
Shell’s experience:

‘Shell worked through and balanced a myriad of arrangements, including building

the case to go beyond mere regulatory compliance; justifying broader approaches to

stake-holder consultation; undertaking an environmental and social impact

assessment (ESIA) (not required under Chinese law); and putting in place health,

safety, environmental, and social standards and sustainable development principles

that would be followed and that met all potential partners’ needs.’^50

Shell also introduced new environmental standards in the construction of its
US$4.3 billion Nanhai Petrochemicals Project. It initiated a resettlement
action plan to provide for the resettlement of over 8000 people, which
included monitoring the resettlement process every six months.^51 This plan
was based on World Bank guidelines on resettlement, used the first time in
China for this project. Finally, Shell helped form and sits on the steering
committee of the China Business Council for Sustainable Development. Shell
has received an award for environmental best practices from SEPA, which
burnishes a corporate image tarnished by projects elsewhere in the world with
adverse environmental consequences.^52

EDAW

EDAW is an American design and engineering firm, which markets architec-
ture, planning/urban design, and ecological planning services, including the
design of wetlands parks, to Chinese provincial and local governments.
EDAW is the only firm of its kind in China; one of its model projects, based
on the firm’s experience in both Australia and the US, is reconstruction work
in the Yancheng Wetlands National Ecological Park. This coastal zone of the

148 Governance of biodiversity conservation in China and Taiwan