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 Thousands of protesters in Guangdong province forced the local government to soften its push to build a new chemical plant this month. Emboldened by extensive social media involvement, the protesters confronted the Maoming government on its plan, and won.

The victory didn’t come cheap: dozens of protesters were arrested, and there are rumours of injuries and even deaths, although those are denied by the government. But the hard-won battles are proving effective. This is the fifth time a proposal to build a paraxylene (PX) plant has been derailed by environmental protests, and building on that success environmental protests are estimated to be increasing by 29 per cent per year.

Environmentalism in the West is often tied to civil disobedience and anti-establishment principles, so it’s unthinkable that China’s authoritarian government would allow anything of the sort. After all, the government is known to imprison human rights and democracy activists – so why not environmentalists?

The Chinese government knows how serious the problem is. In March, Prime Minister Li Keqiang announced a “war on pollution,” promising to shut down some polluting industries, and a new environmental protection law has finally been passed after years of debate. The new law gives some selected local NGOs the power to sue the government in the public interest, and gives regulators more power to punish polluters. Serious offenders can even be arrested.