The California-based Ecolinx Foundation says it recently presented a program on civil society to a delegation of 15 Chinese officials visiting the U.S. to learn effective public participation techniques to support their environmental review process.

The program, held on November 17 at the Asia Foundation in San Francisco, featured presentations by environmental organizations and members of local media. It was part of a four-week fact-finding mission initiated by the Ecolinx Foundation and the Appraisal Center for Environmental Engineering, the training arm of China's EPA pursuant to a memorandum of understanding to promote public participation.

"Public participation is the key to improving the environment in China. It will drive badly needed improvements in compliance and enforcement," says Robert Jones, President and co-founder of the Ecolinx Foundation. "It will also generate a greater demand for clean technology."

The delegation consists of seven representatives from China's ACEE (three at the national and four at the provincial levels) as well as representatives from research institutes and academic institutions that provide environmental expertise and public participation to municipal, provincial and regional governmental entities.

Last March the Chinese government passed a law to promote and standardize public participation in Chinese environmental impact assessments. The emphasis on public participation also underscores efforts by the Chinese to deal with violent protests over environmental issues.

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