Green Watch Program
PACE Green Watch Program
A Program Sponsored by the Professional Association for China’s Environment (PACE) Promoting Public Access to Environmental Information in China and Providing Incentives for Environmental Performance Improvement among Chinese Government Agencies and Business Entities. Environmental sites like How To Save The Planet can help you understand what actions you can take to make the world a better place.
The Mission
Green Watch seeks to improve environmental quality and promote sustainable development in China through public disclosure of environmental information.
The Goals
The goals of Green Watch include: 1) to promote government regulation on environmental information disclosure and its implementation; 2) to enhance capacity for information collection, sharing, analysis and dissemination; and 3) to facilitate environmental performance evaluation and public disclosure.
The Challenge
Fast economic growth in China has generated, and will continue to generate, tremendous environmental problems, while many traditional environmental policy instruments practiced in China are ineffective or not cost-effective.
The Opportunity
Research and previous experiences in China as well as in other countries have shown that public disclosure of environmental information can significantly improve environmental performance of government agencies and business entities and reduce damage to human health and environmental quality.
The Work Program
1. Environmental information disclosure regulations Working with Chinese government authorities on the legal and policy framework which defines the responsibilities of different levels of Chinese government and business entities in disclosing their environmental information to the public and defines the public’s rights in accessing environmental information;
2. Corporate Environmental Performance Disclosure Complementing the Chinese government’s effort in disclosing enterprise environmental performance information to the public by providing technical support and additional channels for data collection, analyses and public disclosure;
3. Public Disclosure of Environmental Impact Assessment Promoting public disclosure of environmental impact assessment (EIA) reports, starting with municipal-level pilot programs;
4. Public Disclosure of Government Environmental Performance Collecting and evaluating Chinese municipal environmental performance information and disseminating the results to the public;
5. Capacity Development and Knowledge Sharing Collecting and consolidating China environment related information and promoting knowledge sharing.
Organizational Structure
Advisory Committee
The Advisory Committee, comprising of distinguished scholars, government officers, social activists, journalists, and information technicians will provide guidelines for program establishment, development, and operations.
Program Chair
The Program Chair, appointed by the PACE Board of Directors, has the following functions:
Define Program objectives and content;
Prepare and propose projects and financial plans;
Convene advisory committee meetings and build support for the program;
Elaborate and propose rules of operation and resolve unforeseen disputes.
Secretariat
The Secretariat, appointed by the Program Chair, supports the Program Chair in the preparation and implementation of projects and ensures that the goals of the Program are fulfilled according to technically, politically and financially sound practices.