许多官员、专家、国际组织、观察者都努力推动国家环保总局升级为环保部的时候,非常需要关注环保局内部的权力分配和工作机制。县级环保局的资源和能力不足就是很重要的基层问题。在有的县环保局，编制只有5个人，可以想象，除了局长、副局长，除了应付每天日常的文书工作，还能有几个人能真正起到环境监督的作用。因此，目前实际上的工作人员（包括聘用人员）是远远比编制所列的多。 那么，文中作者最后落脚的建议 —— 垂直管理 —— 就能药到病除吗？也许不仅仅如此。而怎样的垂直管理才能最有效呢？）垂直管理确实可以在一定程度上保障环保政令畅通，打破地方保护。由于环保局长不再向地方首脑负责，也就是说环保局长的任命和环保局的行政经费由上一级环保部门负责，环保局长也许可以放手工作；而且垂直管理对有些地方的基层环保部门是一个提高行政级别的好时机，这也就意味着工作人员的地位和待遇的相应提高，这是垂直管理被屡屡提起的原因之一。

何美文

Vertical management will not solve the problem.

Many officials, experts, international organizations and observers are very concerned about the power distribution and working mechanism within the SEPA and are working hard to have it promoted to be a ministrial department in China.

Shortage of resources and being understaffed are problems facing the environmental departments at the county level in China.

It is hard to imagine the work quantity as there are usually only five people working in the environment department at the county level, including the director and deputy director. This means there are not enough staff to take on the environmental supervison work.

Is the vertical management suggested by the author really instrumental in solving the problem?

Surely, the vertical management can ensure the environmental protection orders by the Central government can be implemented locally without being ignored and infringed by local governments.
Thus, local environmental officials can fulfill their tasks without being required to follow the wills of local governments to put GDP ahead of the environment.

Also, the vertical management offers a good chance to uplift the administrative status of local envirnomental departments. As a result, local environment officials will be treated better and obtain more respect. This is one of the reasons to promote the vertical management.

By He Meiwen

垂直管理不会药到病除 【何美文】
但是垂直管理并不能解决环保部门执法难的根本问题，其工作效率和成败除了地方保护，还有赖于和其他政府部门的充分协调。比如当需要给排污企业停水停电以 “逼迫”其整改时；当需要财政的资金支持，以鼓励守法企业时；当同级政府都发在年节时分发些福利、年货，因为环保局是一个被上级领导，但又不像其他同级工商、税务等同样垂直管理的机构能给当地政府带来好处，环保局会被有意的“疏忽”掉，而在一定程度上挫败了工作人员的积极性。另外，环保局参与当地宏观决策的可能性更小，因为县政府开会，可能不会通知环保局长，因为“人家是市里的人，咱们管不着。” 更重要的是，目前的减排工作（十一五实现主要污染物减排10%的目标）是地方行政长官负责。各地都将中央指标层层分解，并签订了《责任书》，如果环保局不属于当地政府的组成部门，环保局又该承担什么责任？其实垂直管理一是要解决当地政府不重视和地方保护的问题，二是要强化环境监督。目前在中国，环境保护，应该说是污染物减排，已经被提高到前所未有的政治高度（生态文明），即使还存在许多地方负责人对环保工作认识不够的情况，假以时日，当地方长官的乌纱帽和污染物排放、环境质量挂钩时，地方政府不得不提高重视，地方保护在一定程度上就能消除，有没有垂直管理都能如此。但第二个问题就比较微妙。环境保护越是成为地方官员政治生涯生死攸关的因素，环境监督则成为一个博弈的核心，环保局会受到更大来自地方政府的压力，而可能导致更严重的“数字游戏”。垂直管理在此显得尤为重要。

However, vertical mangement could not solve the essential problem environmental sectors face, whose efficiency and success rely on the coordination with other local government departments. For instance, it needs to suspend water supply and electric power to force the pollution factories to change, or it requires sufficient financial support to encourage factories to obey the laws;

Moreover, when other departments are granted welfares, environmental department is always ignored as it is under higher authority and could not benefit local governments as the industry, commerce and taxation departments do. This, to some extent, discourages and defeats the initiatives of environment staff.

Also, it is even less likely that the environment bureau could participate in making local policies, because environment bureau is usually not invited to join local county government meeting for an allegedly reason that "they (environment staff) are under the administration of city government and beyond our control".

More importantly, the current pollution-reducing effort is under charge of local government officials. So if environment department is not under local government's control, what kind of responsiblity it should take?

Vertical management is supposed to solve the problems of local government neglecting and not protecting the environment. And it should also strengthen supervision. In China today, environment protection, more particularly pollution reduction, has already been hailed as a political mission (ecological civilization), though many local government officials still could not understand the importance of the task.

However, when local government officials' positions are linked to efforts in pollution reduction and environment quality improvement, they will have to make bigger efforts to do the job. So this also means that it makes no big difference whether vertical management is applied or not.

But the second problem seems more tricky. If environment protection achievement could have a great impact on officials' political careers, environment departments will be working under growing pressure from local governments. It will worsen, to some extent, the situation that only offering favorable statistics instead of achieving as good environment protection as the figures indicate locally. To tackle this problem, vertical mangement seems more effective and important.

垂直管理不会药到病除 【何美文】
说了这么多，我个人还是支持垂直管理，但应该是有限的垂直管理，是强调协调机制的垂直管理。首先要在法律层面厘清职责。《中华人民共和国环境保护法》第十六条规定：地方各级人民政府，应当对本辖区的环境质量负责，采取措施改善环境质量。如果实施垂直管理，环保局不再是同级政府的组成成员，政府和环保局分别应该承担什么责任？垂直管理最好是省级以下垂直管理，目前很多地方实施的是市级以下垂直管理，而国控、省控重点排污企业都在市、县级辖区，省以下直管很有必要。由于垂直管理需要很多地方协调，国家直管省级可能会增加许多地方沟通的工作量，影响效率。但省——市垂直管理需要国家环保总局和有关编制部门协同决定，因此，这样的改革决定需要中央政府的支持。垂直管理主要还是要强化环境监测、监督的有效性，除了省级以下垂直管理，目前建立的国家环保总局地区督察中心就是在不设立国家和省级垂直管理的情况下，针对环境监察对直管机制的很好补充。但是目前的区域督察中心，基本忙于应付上级交办的减排核查、环境事故、专项行动等的工作，缺乏和省级环保机构的常设协调机制。这一部分是机构设立时的职责划分使然，另外也有省及环保机构和区域办之间彼此存有并不完全友好的情绪和观望态度所致。建立区域中心和省级环保厅局的协调机制，包括环境监测数据的抄报，环境督办事务的处理意见汇报，以及定期沟通机制等。

I personally, support vertical management, although it must be a limited form of vertical management which emphasizes mechanism coordination. Above all, responsibility must be regulated on a legal level. Clause 16 of the PRC environmental protection law states: local government officials at all levels must take responsibility for environment quality in the area under their jurisdiction, and adopt measures to improve environment quality. If vertical managament is implemented, local environment bureaus will no longer be at the same level as local government, hence diminishing the responsibility of local government towards the environment.
Vertical management would be best applied at provincial or local level. Such systems are currently in place in many locations up to municipal level. As polluting enterprises, the focal point of national and provincial environmental control, are in the cities, sub-provincial management is essential.
As vertical management requires the coordination of a multitude of different locations, many provinces could benefit from increased connection and efficiency.
County and city-level vertical management requires coordinated implementation by the National Environmental Department. This in turn calls for support from central government.
Vertical management focuses on enforcing the efficiency of environmental monitoring and observation. Local research centres already established by the National Environmental Department would serve as an excellent complement to vertical management.
Currently, work in district research centres is predominantly dedicated to tasks assigned by higher government, such as pollution-reduction checks, recording of environmental accidents, and specialised action.
There is a lack of coordination between the centres and provincial-level environmental organizations. This is due to the way in which responsibility was divided when the organizations were established, the unfriendly relationship that exists between them and
local bureaus. Another cause is the 'wait and see' attitude of both the organizations and the bureaus. To achieve a coordinated mechanism between the two, opinions and environmental data must be shared, and regular communication established.

垂直管理不会药到病除 【何美文】
环境统计数据和环境监测数据的绝对垂直管理。环保数据不实早已是秃子头上的虱子——不言自明的，在目前减排目标的压力下，三大体系包括建立一个可靠的数据系统，而有的地方环保官员称“现在的环保局成了“计算局”，几乎所有的数据都要进行核查，有环保局官员说“统计局不给我数据，我没办法减排”。尽管这是在目前中国“信任缺乏”发展阶段的必然，而且核查有其存在的必要性，可以充分理解。但确实造成了一定程度的人力和行政资源的浪费和重复使用。一劳永逸的建立一个可靠的国家级的环境统计和环境监测数据体系非常必要。强化环境监测职能地位和能力。环境监测中心是进行环境质量检测和污染物检测的机构，目前属于环保局下属全额拨款机构，如果说机构级别升格，我个人认为最应该升格的是这个环保局的环境监测职能部门。目前国家环保总局的环境监测处放在科技司下面，因此许多省环保局的科技标准处承担了环境监测的职能，江苏省是单设了环境监测和信息处。然后均下设各级环境监测中心。许多环境事故已经提示我们环境监测是环保系统的重要职能之一。污染减排等尚需经济部门的配合才能得到贯彻，环境监测则是环保系统责无旁贷的基本功能。因此建立垂直管理、严格报告、技术力量雄厚和强有力的监测体系是一切环境问题解决的基础。中国的老百姓已经发现不时有这样的情况出现：明明是一个灰暗、阴霾的天空，空气质量报告却说达到了二级标准。中国环境管理机构的最根本职能应该是 —— 为老百姓需要的碧水蓝天负责，保障所有人享有不影响身体健康的生产、生活环境。 衷心希望所有环保官员能将此铭记在心。

Statistics fails to reflect the enviromental problems in China is a big issue.

China is in dire need of setting up a national system to offer reliable environmental statistics and monitor the environment. The country should attach more importance to monitoring the enviroment and promote the status of related departments.

Verticall managment,reliable information, technological support, as well as a functional and strong environment-monitoring system are key to tackling all environmental issues.

一谈到环保，大家都会认为是政府首当其冲应该牵头做的事情，尤其在中国这样一个官本位思想异常浓重的国度，民间的力量常常被视为政府的附庸。实际上，针对于中国的特殊国情，政府的能量和能力非常有限，一个很好的选择就是放手交给民间组织，大力扶持民间组织，坚决依靠民间组织，还是毛主席说过的话：要相信群众。只有这样，才能弥补政府的不足，现在的问题不是民间的能力不够，而是政府给予的信任不够，没有给予民间组织生存发展更好的空间。相对于其他事业， 环保是离老百姓最近，和人民大众最为贴近的一项事关你我，泽被千秋的大工程，应该也必须让民间来参与，这才是今后环保事业发展的趋向和目标。

When we talk about environmental protection, people usually think that it is the business of the government, especially in China, where NGOs are usually seen as a supplementary force of the government.

In fact, the energy and ability of the government are limited, so giving more power to NGOs and supporting them will help the government increase its work effectiveness in tackling environmental problems. This works in the same way suggested by Chairman that "we should rely on the public".

Currently the problem is not the capability of NGOs in China but the less confidence of the government in NGOs.

Environment protection is one of the key issues which matter most to the public, thus pubic participation is of great importance to it.

何美文的三部分评论非常棒，建议中外对话让她也写一篇来对话对话。

The three-part comments posted by He Meiwen are brilliant. I think chinadialogue should commission an article from her.