ABSTRACT
This chapter gives a brief historical overview of China's environmental governance apparatus. The environmental damage associated with the rapid development that has occurred since the beginning of the reform era represents a significant threat to economic sustainability. The chapter analyses the challenges of enforcing environmental laws and the limitations of environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) respectively. This analysis reveals that prompt and effective reversal of China's environmental outcome has to rely on top-down directives in the short to medium term, and the chapter argues that Confucian principles are a means of achieving this. The chapter discusses the manner in which we believe the key Confucian principles of higher virtue, universal education, moderation and systematic approach to truth can overcome these issues. Confucian philosophy offers a sound framework and guidelines for addressing deficiencies in China's existing environmental governance, and can bring hope to China's environmental future and Chinese society as a whole.
