Mining violations, rent-seeking, and resource governance in China: Evidence from central environmental protection inspection

•Examining 368 pieces of mining-related violations, illegal coal mining in the Qilian Mountains and illegal river sand mining.•A demand for government accountability in environmental damage.•A change from nonenforcement to strict enforcement of the law.•CEPI reflects a move towards centralised resource governance. In China, many laws governing resource extraction have been loosely enforced due to a lack of local legitimacy attributable to stakeholders’ conflicting interests. Such nonenforcement has had severe environmental impacts and affected the livelihoods of local communities and ecosystems. The central environmental protection inspection has brought about changes to resource governance. By examining 368 mining-related instances, and cases of illegal coal mining in the Qilian Mountains and sand mining, this study demonstrates that new trends have appeared in contemporary resource governance, including a demand for government accountability in environmental damage and a change from nonenforcement to strict enforcement of the law. These changes reflect a move towards centralised resource governance. This has significant implications for resource and environmental governance in China.