Something @Kris* mentions, it is something that you should always have in the back of your mind when considering information. @Kris* said,
"But that's just what i was told, and it was either true, either in favour of my employers to say that, or they simply had no idea and needed to say something." You cannot always trust what is said to verbally, you need to try and verify what is said with another source.
Information from company literature may also be less reliable than you are used to seeing.
@Kris*, I agree that urban planning design is not a national secret, but environmental data could be, even if published in government reports (that might be considered for domestic consumption). I would avoid trying to collect my own primary data, unless agreed with the university first. I would consider this part of due diligence rather than paranoia. Applying the research principle that you do not do anything that might cause barriers to future research.
My friend works for a local NGO called Green Kunming. Their work is about water and air pollution. You should check the website www.greenkm.org.
Thank you all for the responses! I will check it out!
The PhD student of the local university didn't found real plans, so it could be that the government isn't very much concerned about the environmental problems or it isn't made public. But it's good to know that there is a NGO for it!
@virtue
For the sake of academic rigour required for your degree, assumptions like, “"it could be that the government isn't very much concerned about the environmental problems…" should be avoided. There is plenty of evidence that central government is very concerned and that will have trickled down through policy. Environmental concerns were high on the agenda at the CPCC conference last year.
In the public sector things don’t get done for specific reasons. The most common one is that the department does not have a remit to do something; it does not mean that they are not concerned. Reasons for no remit/mandate include budgetary, policy, and political concerns, or there might not even be a policy yet as it could still be work in progress. Work might also fall under the remit of another department. No matter how concerned government officers are, if they do not have a mandate to do something, their hands are tied.
Regarding who does what, don’t assume government structures will be the same as in your home country and that things are done the same way by the same people/department. I can give you some examples. In the UK most people would be surprised to know that in most cities in the USA the fire department runs the paramedic teams. In China the fire service is part of the Army. I have seen a police vehicle drive past a road accident, moments after it happened, they were not traffic police; perhaps helping would be crossing jurisdictions.
Who does what? Is a question for your supervisors, NGOs and other interviewees. If someone says to you that, ‘No one is interested’, then cite your source in your work and perhaps you could question if that is the case, if you have no other source to corroborate it.
There are lots of online sources that can help you plan your research. Good luck with it.
The government always talks about its determination to tackle environmental problems but it is difficult to seriously implement it under a system superior to corruption and nepotism. They are the major causes of inefficiency. In addition, many companies have relationships with local government which only care about GDP, the key factor to appraise the achievement of local officials. About 10 years ago, it was rumored that the company which managed the project of Dianchi pollution belonged to the daughter of a high official. If that was true, one could imagine how much of government investment went to the project and how much went to the personal account.
@AdwoaAbokoma: Seems have completed your thesis. You have got your answers. Well done.
Next you can do research on climate change. I suspect you have the answers there too.
Environment is also now a key factor in a local governments performance evaluation. This changed last year after the environmental figures for China were published.
