Abstract

The People's Republic of China is facing very severe environmental problems. The first part of this study is explaining this situation and the most important reasons for this. Beginning in 1989/90 the Chinese Government has recognized the danger of ecological devastation. The development and the limitations of environmental politics in Chinaare characterized in the second part. In this phase the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development made a important contribution defining the principles of Chinas environmental politics. Very fruitful has been the concrete Chinese-German Cooperation on Environment. Public awareness is a decisive precondition for solving the environmental problems. Forthis reason the final part of the study is discussing the change of the Chinese society, the development of the civil society and the situation of human rights in China