Jiang Bixin, vice president of the Supreme People's Court, has expressed that Chinese courts have to prioritize ecological restoration when judging environmental disputes and make it easier for public-interest litigation so that ecological damage may be reduced, according to a report by state-authorized Web portal, China Internet Information Center.
In recent years, there have been increasing protests against environmental damage. The spike in environmental disputes has resulted in new requirements for environmental case hearings.
"It is urgent for Chinese courts to learn to remediate the environment through trials," said Jiang during a seminar in Fujian held for courts that deal with environmental cases.
According to the court, Chinese courts heard over 230,000 environmental cases by the end of 2014, with 27,552 of those considered criminal disputes.
The Chinese justice system has become stricter against those who cause serious damage to the environment amid increasing environmental case load.
A week before the seminar in Fujian, environmental organizations won their lawsuit against four men in Nanping, Fujian Province, who were found guilty of environmental damage. It marked the first public-interest litigation since the revised Environmental Protection Law came into effect on Jan. 1.
The four defendants were found guilty of damaging 1.89 hectares of woodland. They were ordered to pay 1.27 million yuan (around $200,000) toward ecological restoration within 10 days by the Nanping Intermediate People's Court.
Jiang said that the case was a good example for other courts in Fujian to make it easier for public-interest litigation.
"Ecological remediation is the priority in dealing with environmental cases--the protection and restoration of the environment is the goal of our verdicts," said Jiang. "We should give defendants a deadline to restore the environment and explore a system to verify that the judgments have been carried out."
Since the revised law came into effect, there have been 36 public-interest lawsuits filed, with two of these cases having concluded, said Jiang.
During the seminar, there were 15 courts selected as models for handling cases that dealt with the environment, and among them was Zhangzhou Intermediate People's Court in Fujian, as the judges of the coastal city with vast woodlands hear over 300 cases a year.