Rethinking "Global China" and the environment: combating climate change through Great Green Walls

The world is divided when it comes to China’s role in global environmental governance. On one hand, we criticize China for overconsumption and environmental disregard. On the other hand, we increasingly look to China to fill a void left in the global arena as Western countries draw inward. In terms of climate change, for example, China is both the leading threat, but also the new leader. My research moves beyond China as a “bad” or “good” environmental player. Acknowledging that China will not simply fill a void in global governance but will fundamentally transform it, my research instead asks: what is unique about China’s approach to the environment and how is this unique approach “going global”?

China’s approach to the environment is fundamentally different than a Western approach with profound consequences for global governance. By prioritizing active building and large-scale ecological engineering over preserving natural ecosystems, China engages in a type of environmentalism that potentially conflicts with Western environmentalism that has dominated the 20th Century. Few scholars understand the difference between Chinese and Western approaches, let alone their consequences for global governance.

My research will examine China’s unique environmental approach through large-scale tree-planting to combat climate change – first domestically and then abroad. Through vast reforestation initiatives such as the Great Green Wall, China plants more trees than the rest of the world combined and is the leading contributor to global “greening” trends. Yet, China’s efforts remain highly controversial in the West. I contend that global environmentalism of the 21st Century – and any hope of avoiding climate catastrophe – will necessarily emerge through the negotiation and reconciliation of Chinese and Western approaches to the environment. My research examines the beginning of this process, as China’s arboreal approach to combating climate change “goes global.”