ABSTRACT
This paper outlines the main environmental issues facing China in its current phase of development, and analyses the environmental laws, regulations, control and monitoring systems that have been developed to deal with these issues. It examines the ways in which comprehensive legal and monitoring systems co-exist with increasing degradation of the urban environment, and asks how means can be found to improve policies in an ongoing context of financial and resource constraint. These problems are addressed through an investigation of environmental policies in one of China's largest industrial cities—Wuhan. It is argued that changes can be made in the city's environmental monitoring and control, and that these can provide reasonably simple, cost-effective ways of improving air quality in the city. Whilst substantial and widespread environmental improvements await industrial restructuring and a secure access to alternative sources of energy, the changes suggested could lead to more immediate alleviation, whilst also providing a framework within which longer-term changes can be implemented.
