In the nation’s 13th Five-Year Plan, China should establish the principle that protection of the public’s health and the nation’s water, air and other natural resources has the same importance as economic prosperity. In addition to the Environment Law, there are more environmental measures that the 13th Five-Year Plan might include: a national coal cap, maximum daily pollution restrictions and strict limits on small particulate matter (PM 2.5) for all Chinese cities. Ultimately, citizen collaboration is the point to solve the nation’s water and air-pollution problems. Citizen engagement takes two forms: implementation and enforcement. To ensure implementation, the 13th Five-Year Plan should direct regional and local governments to maximise public participation in determining the best local anti-pollution measures to meet strict national standards. To ensure enforcement, the public is authorised to help the government identify violators in the community and help craft solutions to remedy violations. Moreover, the 13th Five-Year Plan should require that all polluting companies install real time pollution monitoring equipment and release monitoring data in a manner that’s easily accessible to the public. Regional and local governments are currently working on new clean air plans and they will be experimental attempts to identify how to clean up local air-pollution problems. Citizens' participation from the beginning would help ensure that the new plans and new policies include measures to ensure that they will actually be strongly enforced, and the public would be a critical ally to local government officials charged with redressing excessive pollution. The 13th Five-Year Plan should mandate an environmental protection system that ensures that local governments collaborate fully with the public they serve. The gLawcal Team POREEN project Thursday, 30 0ctober 2014 (Source: China Dialogue)