Public Participation and the Effect of Environmental Governance in China: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Lin Dong, Zuobao Wang () and Yuxiang Zhou
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Lin Dong: School of Humanities and Law, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110169, China
Zuobao Wang: School of Humanities and Law, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110169, China
Yuxiang Zhou: School of Humanities and Law, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110169, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 5, 1-16

Abstract: The public plays a key role in environmental governance systems. Many studies have discussed the effects of public participation on environmental governance in China from different perspectives. However, there has been no systematic integrated analysis of the effects of public participation on environmental governance and the causes of its heterogeneity. To help fill this gap, we developed a comprehensive analysis framework of the regional differences–participation method–pollution type, and 85 effect sizes were tested by the meta-analysis method. The results showed that there was a weak positive correlation between public environmental participation and the environmental governance effect ( ES = 0.044, p < 0.001). The correlation between the two was regulated by regional space and pollution type. The promotion effect of public participation on waste and noise was significantly higher than that of central and western areas. However, there was no significant difference between the different participation methods. Taken together, these results have important significance for increasing public participation and optimizing the effect of environmental governance.

Keywords: public participation; environmental governance; meta-analysis; China’s local government (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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