The interrelationship between environmental NGO development and environmental condition in China

Existing studies have extensively investigated the impact of environmental non-governmental organization (ENGO) on the environmental management and environmental condition. However, an often-ignored issue is how environmental condition inversely affects the ENGO development. Instead of unidirectional impact, ENGO development and environmental condition are affected by each other. Therefore, in order to reduce the bias in conventional research focusing on the unidirectional impact and advance the understanding of China’s state-NGO relationship, this paper empirically examines the mutual influences between the ENGO development and environmental condition in China, with simultaneous equations model and a newly built ENGO database during 2003–2017. The result shows that the development of ENGO could improve the environmental condition, while the deterioration of environmental condition would inhibit the development of ENGO. This indicates Chinese ENGO can made substantial contribution to the country’s environmental improvement, but when the environmental condition deteriorates, the state propensity for repressing the fermentation of negative information and public complaint still hinders the functioning of ENGO. Therefore, from the perspective of state-NGO relationship, for better environmental condition, a more inclusive polity for more invigorated ENGO development is suggested.