The Civil Public-Interest Litigation of Hainan People’s Procuratorate First Branch Suing Qionghai XX Building Materials Co., Ltd. for Ecological Damages
The Civil Public-Interest Litigation of Hainan People’s Procuratorate First Branch Suing Qionghai XX Building Materials Co., Ltd. for Ecological Damages
[Keywords]
civil public-interest litigation, forestry carbon sequestration, ecological remediation
[Case summary]
Qionghai XX Building Materials Co., Ltd. is an enterprise with lawful mining rights. To build an office building, it felled and destroyed 32.33 mu of vegetation in rented plot without obtaining licenses for temporary use of forest land and for felling trees, constituting environment tort, and shall bear the liability to compensate ecological damages and repair the environment accordingly. As the Company owned the valid mining rights and had obtained the permit for the temporary use of the forest land, in-situ restoration of the vegetation became impossible. The Company offered to subscribe forestry carbon sequestration to bear its liability of compensation and remediation of past damage to the environment.
[Verdict]
After court mediation, Qionghai XX Building Materials Co., Ltd. subscribed more than 2,500 tons of forestry carbon sequestration to bear its compensation liabilities for the service function loss in ecological environment due to its destruction of forests, and paid expenses for the remediation and evaluation of the damaged environment. Qionghai XX Building Materials Co., Ltd. has already performed its duty as specified in mediation above.
[Significance]
This case is the first civil public-interest litigation concerning forestry carbon sequestration in Hainan Province. Forestry carbon sequestration means the processes, activities and mechanisms that make use of the forest to store carbon, carry out such activities as planting trees, strengthening forest management, reducing forest destruction, and conserving and restoring forests to absorb and fix carbon dioxide in the air, and conduct carbon transactions by the relevant rules. To substitute direct performance of restoration obligations by forestry carbon sequestration reflects our philosophy of taking a holistic and systematic approach to the conservation and improvement of mountains, waters, forests, farmlands, grasslands and deserts. It helps combine ecological remediation with afforestation, rural revitalization, green development, etc., and suits best China’s requirements for the construction of ecological civilization. By solving the case through mediation, the court not only realized close of both the case and dispute, the smooth administration and the harmony of the people, but also ensures the effective remediation of the damaged ecology, achieving both legal and ecological effects.
