国际社会对世界环境问题关注度的不断提高绝不是历史的偶然。人类在20世纪对地球资源进行了彻底的开发，结果使得大气、海洋、土壤、气候、动植物分布等生命圈的主要构成要素发生了巨大变化，自然环境的负担不断加重，甚至威胁到了人类后代的发展和存续。在过去的10年间，自然科学已经弄清了大部分的全球性环境问题的原因，然而，这并没有帮助国家在治理环境问题上取得多大的成果。一方面是社会经济和人类生活因为环境破坏而遭受巨大的损失，另一方面却是国家虽然单方面的做出一些应对，但却没有从本质上解决任何问题。为了制止环境的继续恶化，以及修复已经被破坏的环境，我们开始探寻环境全球治理这一新的出路。正是由于环境问题在国家政治层面的地位日益突出，各个国家也认识到与其零和博弈，不如携手共赢，更加积极的去探寻解决问题的方法。环境问题开始成为了国际政治中的重要议题。环境问题的全球化发展，客观上提出环境“全球治理”的必要性。环境全球治理是国家、国际组织、各国公民为最大限度的解决全球环境问题而进行的民主协商与合作，目的在于建立起一套以平等互利为基础的全球规制与制度。虽然全球环境治理是解决环境问题的途径之一，但它也面临着许多结构上和现实制约因素。从民族国家的层面看，全球治理本来就是大国为了实现自己的价值和利益而构建的体系，因为大国拥有构建的能力，所以它总是为大国服务，而无视其他弱小国家的价值和利益。另一方面，环境全球治理本身包含较强的全球性和跨国性，国家主权在全球环境治理中的作用被弱化，这有可能为先进国家和跨国公司干涉他国内政，推行霸权政策提供借口。在这样一个环境价值不断被重新认识的历史时期，中国国内环境破坏的恶果开始凸现。国际环境负荷不断向中国集中，同时 “中国环境威胁论” 时有出现，美国等发达国家不断借环境问题向中国施压，国际回旋余地不断压缩……中国需要认真思考，沉稳应对，以一个负责任的积极的环境保护参与者的角色在国际环境政治博弈中展示自己的形象，表达环境关切。同时积极参与国际环境合作与交流，坚持平等、合作、共赢的理念，推行多边主义，促进国际环境合作的民主化与制度化，推动建立公平合理的国际环境秩序，坚持服务于中国的环境与发展，兼顾人类环境共同利益，推动和谐世界的最终建立。

The international community’s increase awareness of the world environmental problems is not a historical accident. The thorough exploitation of global resources in the twentieth century caused the radical changes to the major components of our environment such as air, sea, soil, climate, plants and animals. The ever growing burden on natural environment poses a serious threat to the future development and even the survival of humankind. In the past decade, scientists managed to identify the causes of most global environmental problems, but that has not translated into big progress in solving these problems on the part of governments. Confronted with social-economic damage caused by environmental destruction, many countries made the effort to tackle the problem unilaterally but failed to achieve any concrete result. To stop the further deterioration of the environment and restore the damaged ecological system, attempts are made to cope with the problem under “global governance”. With environmental issues taking an increasingly urgent position in national politics, more and more governments have realized that full cooperation among nations will create a win-win situation where more effective solutions to the environmental problems will be found. And thus the environmental issues have become an important part of the international politics.Now it is recognized that there are three major causes of global environmental problems: the consumption of ecological resources, ecological overload (pollution), and the uneven distribution of the environmental assets. With further globalization of environmental resources, awareness and protection, environmental problems have become increasingly interconnected and therefore are part of international affairs. And the emergence and solution of environmental problems are more and more closely related to and have a unique impact on politics. It can be argued that it is impossible to disentangle environmental issues from politics, as they have become a significant part of it. The globalization of the environmental problems makes it necessary to implement “global governance” which is composed of democratic negotiations and cooperation carried out by nations, international organizations and citizens so as to solve the environmental problems as thoroughly as possible. One of its missions is to establish a series of global regulations and rules on the basis of equality and reciprocity. Although the global governance is an effective tool, it also faces some structural and practical obstacles. Global governance is a system built and can be only built by major powers; it is a means to protect and promote their own interests, sometimes at the expense of the interests and welfare of lesser players. On the other hand, as the global governance is carried out on a global and international scale, the national sovereignty will sometimes be weakened in the process. Some advanced countries and international companies are likely to abuse the system in order to interfere in other countries’ internal affairs and achieve hegemony. As for NGO, some of them represent the interests of Western countries and specific social groups; sometimes they go too far in environmental protection and fail to take into account the economic needs of the developing countries. Besides, the irrational and radical opinions and protests of some civil groups also have negative effects on the cause of environmental protection. The value of environment has been constantly reassessed and how should China cope? China is facing critical environmental problems. Environmental legislations need to be reinforced and specified; there are problems in fully implementing environmental policies and the environmental protection awareness of the public has to be raised. Faced with global environmental challenges and ecological load transferred from the developed nations, China lacks initiatives in international environmental diplomacy and cooperation. China does not have many core environmental technologies. The international media sometimes tend to exaggerate the impact on the other countries caused by China’s environmental pollution and energy consumption. Developed countries like US keep pressuring China on environmental issues, leaving Chinese government less and less maneuvering space in international politics.China need to think carefully and act calmly, and present in international politics an image of a responsible and active player in environmental protection. China should participate actively in international cooperation, promote an international environmental politics based on equality and multilateralism, help to create a democratic and institutionalized international environmental collaboration, and establish a fair order of global environment, which serves the interests of china’s development, the well-being of the global environment, and a harmonious world order.