appear to influence policy making, or is it more likely to follow government
officials’ plans?
China
It is difficult to compare responses to these questions of publics in China and
Taiwan, because of the differences in what is known about public opinion in
the two jurisdictions. In China, survey research on the environment is
relatively recent, dating only from 1990. One sees a variety of survey research
products: some are commissioned by government agencies, such as the State
Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), some by universities or
NGOs; many use samples of convenience. Ultimately, the data are non-
comparable. Finally, we lack longitudinal data that would indicate change in
public opinion over time. Nevertheless, several dozen reports provide
sufficient information to make a few preliminary observations.^42
First, there is a growing awareness of environmental problems. Among the
list of problems for which respondents have been asked to make assessments,
items affecting species and ecosystem degradation (for example, desertifica-
tion, chemical pollution, reduction in biodiversity) are regarded as equal or
greater in seriousness to the pollution of air, water and land.^43 The greatest
concern in 2005, though, is sufficiency of clean drinking water, which follows
reports of water shortages and pollution throughout China.^44 The various
reports, however, indicate that the consciousness of environmental degrada-
tion may be superficial, given the lack of uniform treatment of environmental
issues in schools. Awareness also varies by region (rural versus urban) and
expresses the not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) phenomenon: people are more
likely to be aware if they have direct experience of an environmental problem.
Second, most respondents assign a lower priority to environmental
problems than to other issues such as unemployment, overcrowding, and
educational quality – with the exception of young people who give
environmental protection a greater value than the middle-aged or old.^45
Moreover, survey research indicates an unwillingness of respondents to make
the trade-offs necessary to improve environmental conditions, by, for example,
slowing economic growth. Reasons for this lack of commitment have not been
specified through intensive field research, but one plausible explanation is
‘lack of trust in government officials’commitment on matters pertaining to the
environment’.^46
The research to date fails to document a strong influence of public opinion
on governmental performance. One commentator notes: ‘Instead of policies
being informed or influenced by public opinion, it is the public’s own
environmental perceptions of the environment that are being shaped by state
policies propagated by the media’.^47 We take a slightly different view of the
32 Governance of biodiversity conservation in China and Taiwan