The latest volume in the series Chinese Research Perspectives on the Environment is a timely publication. It features a selection of articles translated from the original Chinese volume Zhongguo huanjing fazhan baogao (known in English as The China Environment Yearbook) and includes some of the most prominent voices among civil society activists and Chinese academics working on environmental issues. The focus on public action and government accountability is important given the recent rise in both NGO activity and direct action by concerned citizens, particularly in 2012. The book is prefaced by a useful overview by Li Bo, former director of Friends of Nature, which is China's oldest environmental NGO and is responsible for compiling the yearbooks. It contextualizes environmental problems within China's rapid urbanization and provides a useful backdrop for the more specific topics tackled by each chapter.

The volume is then divided into ten parts. Part one, on public action, includes a chapter by Wu Fengshi and Peng Lin which describes recent mobilizations against pollution as a signal of a more mature civil society. It suggests that the increase in public protests in 2012 was met with faster response by local government and with more “rational and professional” (p. 33) action by NGOs, shifting from violent protests to demands for better monitoring and for policy change. The following chapter, by Huo Weiya, is an example of these developments, documenting the use of portable equipment for environmental testing (made famous by the controversy around PM2.5).

Part two covers government accountability and good governance. Economist Zhang Shiqiu advocates combining government, market and societal forces in environmental protection. Guo Weiqing similarly emphasizes the importance of social and political aspects in managing China's water crisis and the need to establish new institutions to enhance governance. Part three, on government policies, includes chapters on strengthening national standards for drinking water and policies controlling pollution (Song Guojun and Zhang Zhen) and on the controversy over revisions to the environmental protection law which legalized environmental public interest litigation (Qie Jianrong).

Part four, on livability, includes a chapter by journalist Yang Changjiang which documents the rapid increase of incineration plants and the resultant public concern, and calls for the replacement of incineration with carbonization, gasification and anaerobic fermentation. In chapter eight, Gao Shengke critiques the lack of regulation and transparency in land development during the process of fast urbanization, which entailed the development of brownfield land without adequate remediation. The following chapter (by Cheng Cunwang and Shi Yan) examines a related topic – food safety – and the rise of community-supported agriculture and urban organic farming as a civil society response to food safety fears. Part five, on sustainable consumption, argues for further adjustments to electricity pricing for residential use in order to curb wasteful use (Yu Jie), advocates the use of reclaimed water for car washing (Hu Kanping) and documents progress in restricting excessive packaging through legislation, law enforcement and public participation (Mao Da).

Part six, on ecological protection, contains a chapter on protecting the Yangtze, Yellow and Mekong Rivers in the region known as Sanjiangyuan, China's second largest national natural reserve. It argues that the long-standing local tradition of pastoralism should be respected and local knowledge and practices should be enlisted in ecological protection. Looking at the same questions from a policy angle, in the following chapter Xie Yan puts forward proposals to revise the natural heritage protection law to include a clearer definition of protected natural areas, more personnel, funding and law enforcement power, a comprehensive supervision system and local community participation.

Part seven, on dams, includes a discussion of different cases: the upper reaches of the Yangtze river (Bao Zhiheng), the Xiaonanhai hydropower station (Liu Yiman and Ding Zhouyang) and dams on international rivers (Yi Yimin). It argues against putting profit before the environment and in favour of a closer examination of ecological and social risks. Part eight, on pollution, covers soil pollution and food contamination, particularly from heavy metals (Ma Tianjie), and argues that marine pollution and oil spills have been largely overlooked (Feng Jie and Tu Fanjing). The final substantive part (part nine) includes two investigative reports on introducing public bicycles in cities (Meng Si) and on air quality information transparency (Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs). A useful appendix (part ten) provides a list of major environmental events in 2012 and an annual index for air quality, water quality, solid waste, and urban environments in 2011.

As a whole, the book emphasizes the importance of the public's contribution to environmental protection. This is done from several angles and with diverse sets of data – original academic research, NGO investigations, official data, media reports, reviews of public incidents, and a combination or some or all of the above. The tone of the book is more descriptive and prescriptive than academic, and understandably so, given its focus and the background of its contributors. Overall the book, like others in the series, is hugely informative and a vital resource for scholars of China's environment. It serves as a valuable source of data on China's environmental challenges and a useful repository of some official statistics which students and scholars can use, critique and question.

This volume certainly offers insights on the recent developments in China's environmentalism, not only by virtue of the data and observation it provides but also in terms of the various perspectives it encompasses. There is much food for thought for any reflexive reader interested in comparing the stance taken by different authors and reflecting on the decisions they made in the way they position themselves vis-à-vis the government and civil society. The book is suitable for both undergraduate and graduate social science courses on contemporary China, environmentalism and civil society. It is a valuable resource for researchers and scholars as well as for policy analysts beyond academia.