Environment minister Zhou Shengxian yesterday blamed poor management by local authorities for the rising tide of protests against big industrial projects over the past year.
Zhou said the central government would seek to improve transparency and expand public participation when making decisions about industrial projects and would require assessments on their risks to social stability.
"The phenomenon of 'not in my backyard' movements is coming to China … as the country is in a very sensitive period regarding environmental issues," Zhou said in Beijing.
His remarks came days after street protests forced the government in the Zhejiang seaport of Ningbo to suspend a petrochemical project.
In July, similar protests led Shifang city in Sichuan province to abandon a heavy-metals processing plant and Qidong city in Jiangsu to strip a waste-water pipeline from a paper making-facility.
Zhou blamed poor transparency and weak governance by some local administrations, adding that some unpopular projects were proceeding without central government approval.