Water SOS online

Since May 2006, the Institute of Environmental and Public Affairs, a Beijing-based environmental NGO founded by Ma Jun, embarked on a formidable project of mapping out levels of water pollution in various parts of China and naming companies whose sewage discharges exceed statutory levels. The number of offending companies marked out in the online map had climbed from less than 2,600 at its launch to 3,012 in three months, due to day-to-day information updates.

To ensure the reliability of the map, the figures come mostly from government agencies such as environmental protection agencies, water resources agencies, and land and resources agencies; the remaining come from mainstream media news reports. Ma once doubted public enthusiasm for a map of this kind, but his fears were quickly allayed after nearly 100 website visitors across the country wrote to offer geographical adjustments to rivers in their hometowns on the map, in the first week of its operation.

"By presenting figures in a clear and comprehensive way, people can feel more direct and real about pollution around them," said Wang Yongchen, founding director of Beijing-based environmental NGO Green Earth Volunteers. Her organization has helped to provide GPS positioning for the 20-odd offending factories and industrial parks in Beijing on Ma Jun's map.

Ma said a major goal of his website is to encourage public participation in environmental affairs, which is in line with government strategies. In Ma's recent article titled A Path to Environmental Harmony, he wrote about the emergence of an "orderly participation" governance model, which was advocated in a proposal on building harmonious socialist society adopted by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party in October 2006. The same document calls for "expansion at all levels of citizenry" orderly participation in politics, ensuring the people's legal management of national affairs, the economy, culture and social affairs.

Ma said the legal foundation for public participation in environmental affairs was laid down by the 2003 Environmental Assessment Law stipulating "the state encourages organizations, experts and the public to participate in appropriate ways in environmental impact assessments." The State Environmental Protection Administration publicized Provisional Guidelines on Public Participation in Environmental Impact Assessments in February 2006, which put forth detailed requirements on information disclosure for project builders.

Won't back down

Ma said the inspiration of launching this website derives partly from his working experience as a consultant at Sinosphere Corp., which specializes in environmental management consultancy for multinationals operating in China. When a client said it would be very useful to have a search engine to screen Chinese companies with bad environmental records and remove them from the company's supply chain, Ma knew he had started to make a difference. But he also felt disturbed.