China's management of environmental crises

As the crisis events of the last several years remind us, China is a nation of risks. Serious floods, deadly landslides, chemical spills, industrial accidents, drought, and catastrophic earthquakes all point to China's vulnerability to natural and human-created hazards. In an average year, thousands of people die as result of natural hazards and millions more are otherwise affected by injury and the loss of homes and property. ¹ Environmental pollution and industrial accidents kill and maim additional thousands. The risks are diverse, are widely distributed around the country, occur with relatively high frequency, and typically involve high losses. ² Ongoing urbanization, increasing inter-regional interdependencies, and the deployment of more demanding and powerful technologies increase the likelihood that the magnitude of catastrophic incidents will increase. The management of crises resulting from these risks poses serious governance challenges for the Party-state. It must both devise effective emergency responses to the multiple crises which a society of risks engenders while also meeting the increasingly pressing need for risk-reduction measures, a challenge which ultimately involves a reconfiguration of incentives and patterns of responsibility in both state and society. ³