Environmental Conservation or the Treadmill of Law: A Case Study of the Post-2014 Husbandry Waste Regulations in China

• DOI: 10.1177/0306624X20928024
• Date: 01 March 2022
• Author: Yu Hu,Shuqin Jin,KuoRay Mao,Liangjun Ye,Nefratiri Weeks
• Published date: 01 March 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X20928024

International Journal of

Offender Therapy and

Comparative Criminology

2022, Vol. 66(4) 296 –326

© The Author(s) 2020

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DOI: 10.1177/0306624X20928024

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Article

967945IJOXXX10.1177/0306624X20967945International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative CriminologyMao et al.

research-article2020

Environmental

Conservation or the

Treadmill of Law: A Case

Study of the Post-2014

Husbandry Waste

Regulations in China

KuoRay Mao

1

, Shuqin Jin

2

, Yu H u

2

,

Nefratiri Weeks

1

and Liangjun Ye

3

Abstract

As industrialized animal agriculture expanded rapidly in the last decade, the resultant

pollution has generated widespread despoliation of natural resources and environ-

mental victimization in rural China. This study examines the formulation and imple-

mentation of national environmental regulations from 2014 to 2019 and finds that

the juxtaposing ministerial and provincial jurisdictions resulted in conflicting inter-

pretations of the scale and evaluation criteria of the national policy. We argue that

the regulations are more than centralized conservation programs designed to reduce

environmental pollution caused by the expansion of animal husbandry. Instead, these

regulations are fundamentally state-led rural development initiatives that utilize the

designations of ecological protection zones to reconfigure land use and promote

scale-up production in agricultural structural adjustment initiatives. The enforcement

of these environmental regulations, therefore, constitutes a treadmill of law (ToL)

that accelerated the geographical specialization and function intensification of the

Chinese husbandry sector.

1

Colorado State University, Fort Collins, USA

2

Research Center for Rural Economy, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing, China

3

Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, China

Corresponding Author:

KuoRay Mao, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Colorado State University, B258 Clark, Fort

Collins, CO 80523-1019, USA.

Email: kuoray.mao@colostate.edu

Mao et al. 297

Keywords

husbandry waste control, agro-industrialization, treadmill of production, treadmill of

law, China

Introduction

The social and environmental harms generated by industrialized animal agricul-

ture in China have been extensive. Industrialized animal agriculture is an inten-

sif‌ied form of animal production linked with the spatial concentration of animals

that produces substantial pollution to the surrounding air, water, and land. The

emergence of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) represents more

than just a technological change in production; it is a political project that takes

place through a chain of accumulation. In the case of China, the central gov-

ernment has formally worked to transform its agricultural and animal husband-

ry sectors through “dragon-headed enterprises,” where the state and corporate

elites work together to “consolidate a robust domestic agribusiness sector”

(Schneider, 2017, p. 3). In China, the regulation of animal husbandry and

waste management is especially crucial due to China’s connection with the

global production and consumption of meat. In 2018, animal husbandry in

China achieved a total production value of 411 billion USD, accounting for

25.3% of the total production value of the agriculture and forestry sector

(National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2019). Pollution caused by intensif‌ied

hog production places enormous pressure on China’s environment. According to

the 12th Five Year Plan for National Husbandry Pollution Prevention, the total

estimated chemical oxygen demand (COD) and ammonia nitrogen discharges

from animal husbandry increased rapidly in the 2000s, reaching 11.48 million

ton and 0.65 million ton, respectively, in 2012, representing 45% of the national

COD and 25% of the ammonia nitrogen discharges. The expansion of industrial

animal agriculture in the last decade has signif‌icantly intensif‌ied water shortage

and soil pollution in northern China (Schneider, 2017).

The disproportionate impact of industrial animal agriculture on China’s rural

regions and the responding environmental social control mechanisms create a

particular case for green criminology as it is linked with social displacement and

injustice, the deterioration of habitats, extensive air and water pollution as well

as regulation formulation and enforcement in a centralized state. Existing

research in green criminology on industrialized animal agriculture has focused

primarily on the institutionalized practices of harm in the “animal industrial

complex,” while other studies that focus on Chinese rural development, envi-

ronmental protection, and rural governance examine the processes of metabolic

rift, agro-industrialization, and the impacts of the developmental state.

However, few studies critically examine the statecraft of environmental social

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