Guangming Daily: “Vertical management” helps to strengthen environmental protection enforcement

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The **Recommendations of the Central Committee on Formulating the 13th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development** (hereinafter referred to as the \"Recommendations\") propose the implementation of a vertical management system for environmental protection agencies at the level below the provincial level, which has drawn public attention. Following the conclusion of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, \"vertical management\" became an increasingly hot topic in the field of environmental protection. At present, the monitoring, supervision, and enforcement activities carried out by environmental protection agencies in our country are managed on a local basis, and the numerous problems resulting from this practice have been criticized by all sectors of society. “Implementing a vertical management system for monitoring, supervision, and law enforcement by environmental protection agencies at the level below the provincial government is aimed at breaking down local protectionism and strengthening law enforcement; this is one of the manifestations of increased efforts in environmental governance during the 13th Five-Year Plan period. ”Wu Shunze, deputy director of the Environmental Planning Institute under the Ministry of Environmental Protection, explained. Local authorities **do not want to see poor monitoring figures cited as a reason for major reforms in the environmental protection system.» Wang Jin, director of the Peking University Center for Resources, Energy and Environmental Law, believes that the \"vertical management\" system has its own background for being introduced. The first is the uncertain legal status of environmental supervision agencies. Although environmental protection laws allow environmental agencies to delegate law enforcement tasks to inspection agencies, the status of environmental inspections at the local level remains unclear and inconsistent; environmental inspection departments are merely one of the various internal departments within environmental protection agencies. In some places, despite significant achievements in environmental supervision and law enforcement, it is still difficult to resist local **pressure. Secondly, some local leaders lack an adequate understanding of the issue of economic transformation. “In some provinces and regions, after the environmental impact assessments were delegated from the provincial level to the local authorities, more than 20 thermal power plants were approved in one go. Such an approach and mindset on the part of the local authorities is clearly contrary to the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session. ”In Wang Jin’s view, the explicit call in these Recommendations for vertical management carries two implications: first, the central government believes it is necessary to establish environmental supervision agencies ； Secondly, from the Environmental Inspection Corps to the lowest-level teams and squadrons, as well as the environmental inspection units at the county level, all shall be under the jurisdiction of the provincial level, thereby being separated from the leadership of local authorities and environmental protection departments. “If environmental monitoring is under the responsibility of environmental protection agencies, and those agencies are in turn under the control of local authorities, then local authorities certainly do not want to see poor figures related to environmental monitoring. ”Wang Jin said. Major reforms to the environmental management system: In line with the requirements of these adjustments, in the future, tasks related to **critical environmental quality monitoring** will be handled by specialized teams, while all minor monitoring tasks will be entrusted to the private sector; cities and counties will no longer be responsible for environmental quality monitoring ； At the same time, all oversight powers were centralized at the provincial level, with the provinces responsible for organizing local law enforcement teams. The environmental protection bureaus at the city and county levels were mainly in charge of assigning tasks related to pollution control, while the provinces or higher authorities were responsible for evaluating how well enterprises and counties performed. According to Li Zuojun, deputy director of the Institute for Resources and Environment Policy at the Development Research Center of the State Council, previously **environmental protection agencies only provided operational guidance for local monitoring, supervision, and law enforcement; in practice, environmental monitoring, supervision, and law enforcement at the county level were primarily carried out under local **management. After the implementation of vertical management, the powers transferred to provincial environmental protection agencies include not only the authority to appoint the key leaders of municipal and county-level environmental protection agencies, but also oversight over finance, fund utilization, and auditing. “The centralization of powers related to environmental quality monitoring and oversight will, in the long run, help reduce arbitrary and improper interference by local party and government agencies, thereby enhancing the authenticity and accuracy of monitoring data and facilitating higher-level environmental protection authorities in assessing changes in local environmental quality ； At the same time, it also enables better identification of local problems, facilitating accountability for local environmental protection departments and officials. ”Wang Jin pointed out. “But this does not mean denying environmental regulatory powers at the city and county levels. ”Chang Jiwen, deputy director of the Institute for Resources and Environmental Policy at the Development Research Center of the State Council, believes that the \"Provisional Measures for Holding Party and Government Leaders Accountable for Ecological and Environmental Damage\" still uphold the principle of local responsibility for environmental protection, and thus local regulatory and enforcement efforts cannot be simply dismissed. Li Zuojun also said that even with vertical management, it is difficult to completely eliminate local protectionism. “Due to the re allocation of responsibilities and rights, implementing this system effectively will be a systematic task. ”