A recently released report shows that China’s grassroot non-governmental organizations (NGO) dedicated to environment protection have doubled their numbers in the past three years.

There are 508 grassroot-level environment NGOs in China as of October this year.This has increased by nearly 300 from 2005, the All-China Environment Federation said in an environment report here, which it took eight months to finish beginning January this year.

In total, there are 3,539 environment NGOs in the country, including government-sponsored ones, grassroot ones, branches of international organizations as well as school environment societies. The figure jumped by 771 from three years ago, the federation said.

According to the report, 55.2 percent of the NGOs now have their own offices, up 15.2 percent from 2005; while 26 percent have fixed source of investment, up 2.1 percent. However, most environment NGOs still face problems including difficulty in raising money, shortage in personnel and weak organization ability in their development process, the report said.

Interesting stuff. 58.6% were involved in energy saving and emissions reductions, and 11% participated in protecting people’s rights concerning environmental protection. No doubt this is a trend that will continue. Especially interesting that the survey categorised NGOs in this way as we have seen a tremendous growth in Environmental NGOs involved in legal cases, involved in utilising existing information to affect change, and in those trying to increase transparency as a way to overcome corruption and punish irresponsible companies.In all cases we have seen all levels of government work with, and against, such organisations in different circumstances!