Beyond Nuts and Bolts: How Organisational Factors Influence the Implementation of Environmental Technology Projects in China
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Beyond nuts and bolts: How organisational factors influence the implementation of environmental technology projects in China The case of China’s Agenda 21 Project 6–8, }Prevention and Control of Oil Pollution at Sea~, Yantai, Shandong Province Jørund Buen FNI Report 04/2002 FRIDTJOF NANSENS INSTITUTT THE FRIDTJOF NANSEN INSTITUTE Tittel/Title Sider/Pages Beyond nuts and bolts: How organisational factors influence the 177 implementation of environmental technology projects in China; The case of China’s Agenda 21 Project 6-8, "Prevention and Control of Oil Pollution at Sea", Yantai, Shandong Province Publikasjonstype/Publication Type Nummer/Number FNI report 4/2002 Forfatter(e)/Author(s) ISBN Buen, Jørund 82-7613-428-9 Program/Programme ISSN 0801-2431 Prosjekt/Project Sammendrag/Abstract This report examines how organisational framework conditions within the People’s Republic of China (P.R.C.) influence the implementation of environmental technology projects in the country. This is empirically documented and analysed through a case study of factors influencing the implementation status of a Sino-Norwegian technological co-operation project for prevention and control of oil spills, included in China’s Agenda 21 (CA21). The report's general argument is the following: the more horizontally and vertically fragmented authority is among the governmental actors involved in the implementation of an environmental technology project in China (in this case, China’s Agenda 21 Project 6-8, "Prevention and Control of Oil Pollution at Sea", Yantai, Shandong Province), the less likely it is that the implementation status of the case project will be positive. Furthermore, given that authority is fragmented horizontally and vertically: the weaker the agencies implementing the project are, compared to organisational opponents of the project, the less likely it is that the implementation status of the project will be positive. Stikkord/Key Words China, Norway, technology co-operation, technology transfer, China's Agenda 21, marine oil pollution Bestilling til/Orders to: Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Postboks 326, N-1326 Lysaker, Norway. Tel: (47) 6711 1900 Fax: (47) 6711 1910 Email: [email protected] 1 Preface and acknowledgements This report is a reworked and edited version of a post-graduate thesis submitted to the Department of Sociology and Political Science at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. I would like to thank the Fridtjof Nansen Institute (FNI) for offering me the opportunity to write parts of the thesis at the institute, as well as develop it into a research report. I hope this report makes a project-based contribution to FNI’s work on domestic organisational and institutional aspects of the implementation of international environmental regimes. Parts of the thesis work were also done while I worked at the Forum for Norwegian China Competence, also situated at the FNI. My main supervisor, associate professor Gunnar Fermann (Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NTNU), and my two co-supervisors Gørild Heggelund and Kristian Tangen (both at FNI), have provided constructive comments underway. Researchers at FNI have both helped me organise my fieldwork and commented on earlier parts of the report. G. Kristin Rosendal has always answered my questions, no matter how banal they have been. I could always trust that Regine Andersen would give me comments that were thorough and to the point. Øystein Thommessen, Stian Reklev, Gaudenz Assenza, Torill M. Våge, and Atle Chr. Christiansen have commented on parts of the thesis and given stimulating inputs through their own contributions. Kari Lorentzen at FNI’s library has provided very competent and rapid assistance whenever I have asked for it. I would also like to thank Ivar Liseter for valuable help with the final layout of the report. The co-ordinator of the Forum for Norwegian China Competence, Stein Hansen, has been very helpful and supportive, and has been a valuable discussion partner during the thesis work. So has Jan Tore Holvik, former Norwegian ambassador to China, and a warm supporter of Sino-Norwegian co- operation. During the first part of my stay at NTNU, colleagues at the Industrial Ecology Programme (NTNU) – especially Kjetil Røine, Elin Mathiassen, Ingvild V. Malvik, Helge Brattebø, Hilde Opoku, Martina Keitsch, Klaus Ole Vogstad and Arne Eik – have commented constructively on my work and provided lots of welcome excuses for doing something else than writing a thesis. In the final stages of writing the thesis, I have had the pleasure of being a part of the Centre for Technology and Society at the Institute for Cross-Disciplinary Cultural Studies, NTNU. Thanks to Knut Sørensen and Margrethe Aune for making this possible. The participants at the Nordic Association for China Studies (NACS) Conference 4-6 June 1999, the International Sustainable Development Research Conference 13-14 April 2000, and the ASIA 2000 Conference 5-7 June 2000 have provided comments to earlier versions of some of the chapters in the report. So have the editorial panel of the journal Sinosphere; Robert Williams at the Center for Energy and Environmental Studies, Princeton University; Andrew Yager, IFE; and Lin Gan, CICERO, the University of Oslo (UiO). I would also like to thank the Network for Pacific Asia Studies (NPAS) at UiO for a grant that made it possible for me to attend a summer course in Chinese held at Beijing Normal University, and organised by Princeton University, in 1998. I would also like to thank the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (NIAS) for a Contact Scholarship. As a result of that, I was able conduct an extensive literature search early in the thesis work. I would especially like to thank Børge Bakken, as well as librarians Inga-Lill Blomkvist and Per Hansen. A travel grant from the Norwegian Research Council and the Faculty of Social Science and Technology Management at NTNU made the fieldwork during the summer of 1999 possible. During fieldwork in China in the summer of 1999, I received not only a warm welcome but also very valuable help from Associate Professor Liu Jian, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Furthermore, had it not been for the excellent assistance from Mr. Zhu Rong-fa (consultant, Yearbook of International Co- operation on Environment and Development, produced by FNI), I would not have been able to conduct some of the most important interviews during the fieldwork. He must be the only interpreter in the world speaking Norwegian, English and Chinese fluently while at the same time having decades of experience from interpretation within the field of Chinese environmental policy. The Norwegian Embassy in Beijing, especially Mr. Gunnar Mathisen and Jo Inge Bekkevold, were very helpful in organising practical (and social) matters related to the fieldwork as well as a few of the interviews. Mr. Zhong Xiaodong, SEPA, also deserves thanks for his accommodating attitude during my visits there. I also benefited greatly from the networks of – and inputs to my research from – a number of Norwegian business representatives and researchers, including Roald Wie, Erik Sørbye, Stein Erik Sørstrøm and two persons who wished to stay anonymous. Susan Hvalsoe Komori at the China Environment and Sustainable Development Reference and Research Centre at SEPA’s Sino-Japanese Friendship Environmental Protection Centre gave valuable help as well. Some notes to the text: The Chinese aphorisms introducing some of the chapters in the report are found in Gong and Yu (eds.) (1998), Chinese Maxims – Golden Sayings of Chinese Thinkers. A number of the newspaper articles cited in this study are not signed. As most of these articles are from one newspaper, namely China Daily, I have chosen to cite all newspaper articles in footnotes rather than in the text, as the latter solution would require a very time-consuming (and probably confusing for the reader) categorisation of the articles. This is also true for web addresses. Furthermore, if no publication year is provided at a web page, the year the page was first visited is cited. I have tried to write Chinese names with their family name first, as is the habit in China. However, this is not always easy. Several Chinese family names and given names are identical. Furthermore, many Chinese – especially those living in the English-speaking world – nowadays tend to write their name according to the standards associated with the Latin alphabet, starting with the given name, followed by the family name. I apologise for possible mistakes. Please also note that due to a major restructuring of the Chinese government starting from March 1998, a number of national-level ministries go by two different names in the text; one for the period before March 1998, and one for the period afterwards. See the list of abbreviations for details. Trondheim, 7 January 2002 Jørund Buen Abbreviations A21: Agenda 21 ACCA21: Administrative Centre for China’s Agenda 21 ADB: Asian Development Bank CA21: China’s Agenda 21 CBD: United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity CCICED: China Council for International Co-operation on Environment CCP: China’s Communist Party CESTT: Centre for Environmentally Sound Technology Transfer, ACCA21 CICETE: China International Centre for Economic and Technical Exchange CMSA: China Maritime Safety Administration CSD (or UNCSD): United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development CSDNP: China’s Sustainable Development Networking Program (also called SNDP) EIBC: Export-Import Bank of China ENB: Earth Negotiations Bulletin