With serious environmental lawsuits becoming more frequent, courts are being urged to become instrumental in ecological restoration. (Photo : Reuters)
Chinese non-government organizations (NGOs) fighting against pollution are given a new hope with the decision of the Supreme People's Court (SPC), released on Dec. 3, to deliberate an NGO's appeal for a retrial of public interest litigation against polluters in the Tengger Desert.
The petition, filed by the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF), asked for a retrial of their case against eight firms who allegedly polluted the said desert located in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
The foundation claims that the firms have been discharging huge amounts of toxic liquids into the desert since 2007, as cited by a Global Times report.
The report added that in September last year, one of the owners of the firms received a penalty of one-and-a-half years' imprisonment for illegal pollution. Another owner was fined 3 million yuan and was ordered to close his factory.
Nonetheless, the NGO's lawsuit was rejected by the city and regional intermediate courts, stating that the group was not qualified to file a case. The courts argued that environmental protection is not included in the mission the foundation submitted when it was established.
According to Xia Jun, a lawyer with the Environment and Resources Law Committee of the All China Lawyers Association, the SPC can now assign the case's retrial to an intermediate court should it consider the previous court judgment as incorrect.
"It is clear that the CBCGDF has been dedicated to environmental protection. Judicial authorities should not look at the NGO's description written in its registration forms [at the civil affairs departments] only, but what they've been doing," Xia remarked.
A CBCGDF employee shared that their group hopes for a fair treatment on this matter and a solution to the qualification issue, which has also been a problem to other NGOs.
Zhao Liang, one of the founders of the NGO Tianjin Binhai Environmental Advisory Service Center, said that the recent SPC decision is significant "not only to future environmental lawsuits but also to the nation's rule of law," the report said.
