Editor's note

• Author: ZHU Xiao
• Pages: 1-2

FRONTIERS OF LAW IN CHINA

VOL. 12 MARCH 2017 NO. 1

DOI 10.3868/s050-006-017-0001-2

FOCUS

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

EDITOR’S NOTE

ZHU Xiao*

Environmental rights are considered to be a fundamental theory of environmental law.

However, environmental rights are complex issues, and each environmental law scholar

has different interpretations of environmental rights. In fact, the theory of environmental

rights originated in the Western developed countries. In the 1960’s and 1970’s, with the

emergence of environmental problems, Western countries have successively carried out a

series of environmental movements, fighting for clean air, water, and a healthy

environment. During this period, environmental scholars focused on the study of

substantive environmental rights. However, after the 1980’s, scholars began to focus on

procedural environmental rights research based on environmental information disclosure.

More and more procedural environmental rights are being discussed and scrutinized, such

as rights to public participation and judicial relief. To understand the reasons for this shift

and the development of procedural environmental rights, three articles discuss this issue

from different perspectives.

Professor ZHU Xiao, from School of Law, Renmin University of China, explains

reasons for changes of focus of environmental rights research in his article “Development

of Environmental Rights in China: Substantive Environmental Rights or Procedural

Environmental Rights.” Firstly, this article summarizes the development of environmental

rights theory in China. Then, the author discusses the dilemma of substantive

environmental rights research in Western countries and China respectively, and the

reasons why scholars turn to the study of procedural environmental rights. Finally, the

article summarizes the achievements of research and legislation of procedural

environment rights in China, and makes a prospect of the future research direction of

environmental rights in China.

Professor Hans Petter Graver, from Faculty of Law, University of Oslo, authored

* (竺效) Ph.D. in Environmental Law, School of Law, Renmin University of China, Beijing,

China; Professor in Environmental Law, School of Law, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China.

Contact: x.zhu@ruc.edu.cn