This new volume of Chinese Research Perspectives on the Environment (formerly the China Environment Yearbook) includes selected articles from the 2013 annual environmental report compiled by Friends of Nature, a leading environmental protection NGO in China, with contributions from academics, environmental protection activists, public service activists, and the media.

In this volume, readers are brought up to date on the main environmental issues and events of 2012, including environmental health, dams and cross-border water issues, a rise in environmental awareness and public action in China, sustainable consumption, and heavy metal pollution. Air pollution control has continued to attract attention from the public, media, academics, and government. This volume also discusses the controversy of the revision of the Environmental Protection Law. Like other volumes in the Chinese Research Perspectives on the Environment series, this one aims to record, evaluate, and reflect on China’s current environmental conditions.