The Environmental Protection Administration conducted three surveys in 2012 to evaluate and understand the following from the public: their impressions about the current environmental quality, identification extent with the environmental protection measures, and satisfaction of nuisance petition. The findings of the surveys are to be used as reference for EPA policies of the future. EPA conducted the two surveys about the policy perception to the citizen aged 20 and above. The first second of this series was undertaken by use of phone calls during the period from April 20 October 8 to May 9 October 27, 2012. A total of 5,880 5,676 valid samples were collected, using a stratified random sampling method, under a confidence interval of 95%, with a sampling error within 1.3 percentage point.
The first of this series was concerned with the public’s reception. It was to understand the feelings of satisfaction to comply with the policy the residents. The Findings of the Surveys:
1. Over the last year, 33.8% of the public reported having been bothered by air pollution, with the main source coming from exhaust gas or white smoke emissions released by motor vehicle (41.4%) and from exhaust gas discharged from factories (21.3%). About 31.1% respondents they had been annoyed by noise over the last year, with the main source from traffic (33.8%). In addition, 25.6% respondents a feeling that the water quality of rivers been improved.
2. The public held the view that the use or marketing of six items – plastic bags, single-use drinking cups, paper tableware, single-use washroom supplies, excessive packing of products, and moving advertisements -- exerted negative effects on the environment, with the severity of the problem falling between 3.3 and 3.9 (with 5 being the most serious and 1 the least serious). Among the six, the single-use drinking cups were regarded as the greatest burdens on the environment.
3. The public were of the opinion that the improvement level of five environmental sanitation problems – disorderly dumping of garbage, discarding of garbage bags, posting or painting advertisements against regulations, outdoor dog waste being not cleared away, and filthy public lavatories – fell between 3.4 and 3.7 (5 representing the highest while 1 the lowest in the improvement degree). Among the five, conditions of the discarding of garbage bags and the posting or painting advertisements against regulations had improved most noticeably.
4. Compared with the previous year, 75.2% of the public expressed greater concern about global warming. At least 88.6% of them indicated willingness to help reduce emissions of CO2 by eating seasonal local vegetables instead of meat one day per week.
5. About half of the public said they realized the fact that the owner of the land had to take responsibility for recovery and renovation once the soil or underwater was contaminated. They also acknowledged that they should check soil quality and groundwater pollution prior to land purchase.
6. Concerning achievements in the following seven environmental protection areas: – resources recycling, garbage disposal, comfortable residential environments, adequate sanitation, including greenery and beautification, quality of drinking water, quality of outdoor air, and energy conservation, including carbon emission reduction – resource recycling were given the highest satisfaction level at 91.3%, respectively. The lowest satisfaction level went to energy conservation (including carbon emission reduction) at 55.9%.
7. 62.4% of the public expressed satisfaction with the performance of the EPA over the last year. In comparison with the result produced in October 2011, the latest satisfaction rate went down by 1.7 percentage points but went up by 4.7 percentage points compared with the outcome yielded in April-May 2011.
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The second of this series is about the policy perception of environmental protection. It aims to assess the approval level and degree of desire for support from citizens of environmental protection measures under way or to be introduced. The Findings of the Surveys:
1. The average level of identification of the public with the idea of environmental sustainability in six categories stood at 4.43 points, with the category advocating responsibility for all in environmental protection gaining the highest score, registering at 4.67 points.
2. The average awareness rate of the 15 environmental protection measures undertaken by the Environmental Protection Administration was 66.2%. Of the 15, the highest rate, 86.2%, went to these two items -- promotion of the use of low pollution vehicles as well as encouragement to recycle water for daily life uses and to use products with water conservation logo. The average approval rate of the 15 measures was 94.1%, with the highest rate of 97.1% going to the item calling for the public to actively protect the household environment and inform against environmental disorders.
3. As for the nine environmental protection policies under planning, the average approval rate was 90.6%, with the three highly favorable items going respectively to promotion of clean and green beautification for the environment (97.4%), development of method for measuring greenhouse gas reduction (94.5%), and designation of large hospitals as the site for making public ways to control indoor air quality (94.3%).
4. About 73% of the public expressed satisfaction with the cleanliness of the current living environment near home.
5. About 57% of the public expressed satisfaction with the performance of the Environmental Protection Administration over the past year in pushing forward the environmental protection work.
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This nuisance petition survey aims to understand from October 2011 to September 2012, the environmental protection authorities at all levels of pollution in cases of pollution to petition the public, on the petition dealing with the satisfaction. Telephone polls were conducted from June 10 to June 17 and from October 15 to October 22, 2012. A total of 3,146 valid samples were collected, using a stratified random sampling method, under a confidence level of 95%, with a sampling error within 1.7 percentage points. Findings of the survey:
1. Among the public nuisances stated by the public, 32.3% fell into the category of “noise,”higher in percentage point in comparison with other items. Most of the complaints, or 73.0%, were made during the daytime (6 am to 8 pm), and were concerned about pollution sites (98.7%), with 89.9% being lodged through phone calls.
2. About 90% of the people voicing the complaints expressed satisfaction with the courtesy shown by those responsible for answering phone calls of annoyance reports .Nearly 82.1% of the people making the complaints expressed satisfaction with the courtesy shown by those responsible for handling online annoyance reports.
3. About 74% of the people filing the complaints said that representatives of environmental protection agencies would go to the sites of the reported public nuisances in accordance with the information they received. And 20% of the complaint makers would accompany the representatives to the sites for inspection, among whom 78% said they were happy about the courtesy demonstrated by the environmental protection officials and 68% said they were satisfied with the professional skills the official possessed in dealing with the complaints.
4. More than 40% of the people bring the complaints asked environmental protection agencies to reply as to how they had handled the complaints. Among the 76%, 88% said they were happy. For those who had requested the agencies to respond, 60% said they received reports of the results through phone calls from the agencies. As a whole, 80% of the complaint makers expressed satisfaction with the number of dates the agencies spent on answering the complaints.
5. At least 42% of the people lodging the complaints said they were satisfied with the results t of their reports being handled, with the highest dissatisfaction degree, or 53%, went to the pollution they reported being not properly reduced.
6. More than 46% said they would re-lodge the complaints again and again to the authorities concerned.
7. They also listed the following items for the environmental protection organizations to improve: Handling complaints in accordance with law and enhancing the enforcement of government authority, the highest at 37.8%; continuing to re-exam the complaints on an irregular basis , the second highest in percentage point 37.7%; and continuing to track the reported complaintsat at 36.6%.
