Research on issues of public participation in environmental protection in China

Public participation is an important principle of environmental protection. Public participation in environmental protection is an significant way of environmental protection as well as an indispensable social force in the environmental protection field. Environmental non-governmental organization plays a very important and irreplaceable role in the environmental protection. Basic connotation, main principles and purposes of public participation are explained; current status and issues of public participation in environmental protection in China are introduced in this paper. Causes of insufficient public participation in environmental protection in China are analyzed; countermeasures and suggestions are put forward from the aspects like legal safeguard, development of non-governmental environmental groups, expansion of public participation channels, improvement of environmental protection awareness of the public and system of environmental information disclosure and so on.