The influence of public awareness on public participation in environmental governance: empirical evidence in China

Abstract Public participation in environmental governance is conducive to alleviating environmental pollution. To mobilize the enthusiasm of the public to participate in environmental governance, using nationwide Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) samples on China, we analyse the influence of public awareness on four kinds of public participation in environmental governance: conscious participation, induced participation, input participation and ex-post participation. The results show that awareness of environmental risk and media usage positively affect the four kinds of public participation behaviours. Public members with a frugal lifestyle tend to be induced to participate. Awareness of governmental interactions promotes public participation, especially input participation behaviour, in environmental governance. Public members with positive legal awareness tend to opt for ex-post participation. Unobstructed channels of environmental rights protection and higher levels of environmental cognition are important factors in promoting public participation in environmental governance. However, the public’s low evaluation of government environmental governance and the public’s pursuit of short-term economic interests reduces enthusiasm for participation. The results passed the endogeneity and robustness tests. As real local environmental governance is not always consistent with the public’s evaluation of it, the inconsistency may influence public participation in environmental governance.