Yeh (2009) argues that ecological projects in China must be examined form a political ecology perspective, in which certain state-sponsored projects are seen to be damaging to many of the citizens immediately affected by the ecological pursuits. While this author certainly has a political point to make, it is hardly an ecological one, and ultimately seems to argue for continuing ecological harm out of a sense of political fairness that would ultimately lead to much greater inequalities for the disadvantaged who will, out of sheer political reality, always reap the worst of any situation. That is, of the projects sponsored by the Chinese government were not allowed to go forth in order to provide short-term economic and political benefit to the populous, the resulting ecological damage would impact these people in far worse ways within a generation.
Conclusion
The political ecology perspective is a political perspective on ecological issues, and not some grand unification of the two theories. While this is not immediately clear in the research perspective itself, its application to real world issues such as the problem of clean drinking water in China, as well as other
These examples from China and research conducted therein are only a small representation of the political ecology perspective; its damage is far more widespread than this research suggests.
References
Ho, K.; Chow, Y. & Yau, J. (2003). "Chemical and microbiological qualities of the East River (Dongjiang) water, with particular reference to drinking water supply in Hong Kong." Chemosphere 52, pp. 1441-50.
Ma, C. (2010). "Who bears the environmental burden in China -- an
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Qin, B.; Zhu, G.; Gao, G.; Zhang, Y.; Li, W.; Pearl, H. & Carmichael, W. (2010). "A Drinking Water Crisis in Lake Taihu, China: Linkage to Climatic Variability and Lake Management." Environmental management 45, pp. 105-12.
Tilt, B. (2007). "The political ecology of pollution enforcement in China." China quarterly 192, pp. 915-32.
Walker, P. (2005). "Political ecology: where is the ecology?" Progress in Human Geography 29(1), pp. 73-82.
Yeh, E. (2009). "Greening western China:…
