National, Beijing ENGOs
This second type of environmental organization is country-wide with respect
to its objectives, but because the registration system does not permit umbrella
groups with branches throughout China, they are registered and physically
located in the national capital, Beijing. They have short histories; the oldest,
Friends of Nature (FON), was established just in 1994. Although they have
relationships with INGOs and have received funding from them, they defray
most operational expenses through membership dues or out of the pockets of
directors. An exception to this generalization is the Alxa Social Entrepreneurs
Ecology (ALXA SEE) Ecological Association, founded in 2004 by nearly 100
entrepreneurs and enterprises. Its broad purposes are to improve and restore
the ecology of the Alxa area of Inner Mongolia (the origin of sandstorm
activity in China), particularly to reduce the severity and frequency of
sandstorms. Also, it seeks to imbue China’s businesspersons with greater
ecological and social responsibility.^48
Friends of Nature is the best-known of China’s ENGOs. It was established
by Liang Congjie, a former history professor, member of the Chinese Political
Consultative Conference, and grandson of the early Republican China
luminary Liang Qichao. Those last two credentials explain perhaps why it was
possible to establish FON, although as the founder mentions, it was a difficult
course nonetheless. The State Environment Administration (SEPA) rejected
his application for second-tier affiliation because it already sponsored a
cultural association called the ‘Green Cultural Association’, and so Liang
sought affiliation with the China Academy for Chinese Culture, a grouping of
distinguished professors and intellectuals, to which Liang belonged. Its
official, Chinese name is ‘Green Cultural Academy’, but the ENGO uses its
English name, Friends of Nature.
Friends of Nature has the largest membership of any indigenous environ-
mental NGO – approximately 2000, half in Beijing and half in other locales.
A council of 25 develops its strategy and directs the activities of a staff of 10
with a budget of RMB$1.2 million (about US$150000). The main activity of
the association is environmental education. It publishes a monthly newsletter
and operates a mobile environmental education van outside Beijing. It has
focused on solid waste pollution, water quality and sufficiency issues, and it
has directed attention to several endangered species problems. It sought a
protected area in the Yunnan province for the preservation of the snub-nosed
monkey, which was established there. It has participated in the revision of
environmental legislation and regulations, and engages in advocacy as well.
The FON has benefited from the recent liberalization of the Chinese press,
which increasingly carries articles on environmental problems and turns to
organizations like FON to supply information.^49
A third example of a Beijing-based ENGO is the Global Village of Beijing
176 Governance of biodiversity conservation in China and Taiwan