Protect Ecological Environment, Define Obligations and Liabilities 

The civil public-interest case of Hainan Provincial People’s Procuratorate First Branch vs. Zeng X, Ji Xwu and co., (nine persons in all) over ecological destruction

[Core values]

ecological protection, human-nature harmony

[Basic Facts]

Hainan Provincial People’s Procuratorate First Branch brought to the court a public-interest action against Zeng X and co., (nine persons in all) for having illegally felled in the core area of the national reserves Dacrydium pectinatum trees that had naturally grown there for many years and seriously hurt the public interest in ecological environment. From April to June, 2019, Zeng X, defendant, paid money to Ji Xwu and Ji Xdan, defendants, for the latter to hire labors to fell trees in Mt. Diaoluo National Reserves (“Mt. Diaoluo Reserves”), process and sell coffin planks for profits. Defendants Ji Xwu and Ji Xdan then engaged the other defendants involved in this case and went together into Mt. Diaoluo Reserves, where they felled nine Dacrydium pectinatum trees ranging from 73.9cm to 136cm in ground diameter.

It was evaluated that the nine illegally felled trees were of 99,369.94 yuan in terms of total annual ecological functions (51,804.14 yuan for water conservation, 10,779.66 yuan for soil conservation, 2,832.11 yuan for carbon sequestration and oxygen generation, 146.86 yuan for the accumulation of nutrients, 1,724.93 yuan for air purification, 7,507.20 yuan for forest preservation, 18,240 yuan for biodiversity protection, and 6,335.04 yuan for forest tourism).

[Judgement]

The court considers it a public-interest case where the people’s procuratorate prosecutes the malefactors for having destructed the ecological environment. Zeng X and co., (nine persons in all) violated the state regulations on forest, felled trees without the permission of the forest administration in national reserves for illegal possession, and destroyed the natural forest vegetation, which is an act that breached the criminal law and the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Nature Reserves, Article 26, destroyed the ecological service functions of the felled Dacrydium pectinatum trees, damaged the ecological resources and natural ecological environment, hurt the public interests, violated the law and constituted a tort. As the act of the nine defendants illegally felling trees took place before the Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China came into force, and according to the Several Provisions of the Supreme People’s Court on the Time Effectiveness in Applying the Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China, Article 1 (2), “For cases of civil disputes arising from any legal facts before the Code took effect, the laws and judicial interpretations of the time shall apply, unless otherwise provided by the laws and judicial interpretations”, the following stipulations that were not nullified at the time should apply: the Tort Law of the People’s Republic of China, Article 4 (1), “Where a tortfeasor should bear administrative or criminal liabilities for the same act, the tort liabilities that he should bear according to the law is not exempted”, Article 8, “Where two or more persons have jointly committed the tort resulting in damage to others, they should bear joint and several liability”, and the Interpretations of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in Handling Environment-Related Civil Public-Interest Cases, Article 18, “Where an act has polluted the environment, destructed the ecology, and hurt the public interest or posed a major threat to the public interests, the plaintiff may request the defendant to bear the civil liabilities of ceasing the tort, removing obstacles, dissolving the peril, restoring the ecological environment, recompensing the losses, apologizing to the public, etc.”, the nine defendants who bear the corresponding criminal liabilities for illegally felling trees together are not exempted from bearing tort liabilities.

According to the Interpretations of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in Handling Environment-Related Civil Public-Interest Cases, Article 21, “Where the plaintiff claims damages from the defendant for the loss of service functions from the destruction to the restoration of the ecological environment, the people’s court may afford its support as per the law.” Therefore, in the determination of the amount of damages that the defendant should bear, the loss of service functions from the destruction to the restoration of the ecological environment should be considered. The nine defendants felled nine Dacrydium pectinatum trees from April to June 2019, destructing the ecological environment in Mt. Diaoluo Reserves, and were sentenced on September 16, 2020, to three years and two months to five years of imprisonment for illegally felling trees, an act of violating the criminal law. For approximately five years from the trees being felled to the release from the prison of the defendants, the ecological environment was destroyed and not restored. Therefore, the prosecutor’s claim of five-year loss in ecological service functions is well-grounded in fact and law and supported by the people’s court.

The nine defendants should bear the joint and several tort liabilities according to their involvement in the illegal felling of trees and the number of Dacrydium pectinatum trees they felled. Defendants Zeng X, Ji Xwu, Ji Xdan, Chen X and Huang Xjiang should bear the joint and several tort liabilities of 110,411 yuan (11,041.1 yuan x 2 trees x 5 years) for the loss in the ecological service functions of two Dacrydium pectinatum trees; Defendants Zeng X, Ji Xwu, Ji Xdan, Chen X, Huang Xjiang, Ji Xzhan and Wang Xwei should bear the joint and several tort liabilities of 55,205.5 yuan (11,041.1 yuan x 1 tree x 5 years) for the loss in the ecological service functions of one Dacrydium pectinatum tree; and Defendants Zeng X, Ji Xwu, Ji Xdan, Chen X, Huang Xjiang, Ji Xzhan, Wang Xwei, Wang Xlong and Ji Xsheng should bear the joint and several liabilities of 331,233 yuan (11,041.1 yuan x 6 trees x 5 years) for the loss in the ecological service functions of six Dacrydium pectinatum trees.

And according to the provisions of the Interpretations of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in Handling Environment-Related Civil Public-Interest Cases, Article 18, the plaintiff may at the same time request the defendant to bear the civil liabilities of restoring the ecological environment, recompensing the losses and apologizing to the public. Therefore, the prosecutor’s request that the defendants plant the corresponding number of trees within their respective liabilities to restore the ecology according to the restoration plan drafted by the competent authorities should be supported by the people’s court.

The court thus ruled that Defendants Zeng X, Ji Xwu, Ji Xdan, Chen X and Huang Xjiang bear the joint and several tort liabilities of 110,411 yuan for the loss in the ecological service functions of two Dacrydium pectinatum trees, and plant ten Dacrydium pectinatum trees for ex-situ ecological restoration, Defendants Zeng X, Ji Xwu, Ji Xdan, Chen X, Huang Xjiang, Ji Xzhan and Wang Xwei bear the joint and several tort liabilities of 55,205.5 yuan for the loss in the ecological service functions of one Dacrydium pectinatum tree, and plant five Dacrydium pectinatum trees for ex-situ ecological restoration, and Defendants Zeng X, Ji Xwu, Ji Xdan, Chen X, Huang Xjiang, Ji Xzhan, Wang Xwei, Wang Xlong and Ji Xsheng bear the joint and several liabilities of 331,233 yuan for the loss in the ecological service functions of six Dacrydium pectinatum trees, and plant 30 Dacrydium pectinatum trees for ex-situ ecological restoration; that Defendants Zeng X, Ji Xwu, Ji Xdan, Chen X, Huang Xjiang, Ji Xzhan, Wang Xwei, Wang Xlong and Ji Xsheng jointly bear the 30,000 yuan of ecological service function loss evaluation fees and 30,000 yuan of tree age evaluation fees; and that Defendants Zeng X, Ji Xwu, Ji Xdan, Chen X, Huang Xjiang, Ji Xzhan, Wang Xwei, Wang Xlong and Ji Xsheng apologize to the public on national-level media for their act of having hurt the public interests.

[Significance]