Improving public access to environmental information in China

Providing public access to environmental information is a relatively new approach to environmental management that can improve the quality of environmental decision-making and pollution control. China is currently exploring ways to disclose this environmental information, and has found that many aspects of providing information need to be improved. In particular, work still needs to be done to strengthen the laws and regulations that govern public access to environmental information. to expand environmental disclosure among enterprises, to increase disclosure of environmental information in rural areas and enforce the collection of this information, and to investigate and manage environmental information. In this paper, we review the current situation in China discuss the problems related to this situation, and present recommendations for improvement. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.