NGOs win landmark case against quarry
Print Edition
TWO NGOs yesterday won an environmental damage lawsuit against a quarry in the southeast China’s Fujian Province.
The case, filed by Friends of Nature and Fujian Green Home, opened several months ago at the Nanping Intermediate People’s Court. It was made possible by China’s strengthened environmental law.
The two organizations accused four people of severely damaging vegetation on a hillside in the city of Nanping. The court ordered the defendants to clear work sheds, machinery and waste at a quarry within five months, and to restore vegetation they had damaged by planting trees over the next three years.
They were also ordered to pay 1.3 million yuan (US$204,000) in compensation.
According to the court, defendant Li Mingshuo in 2008 transferred possession of his quarry to the other three defendants, who expanded the mining area, illegally occupied forest and damaged local vegetation.
The total area of vegetation damaged by the four defendants, including land damaged by Li before the transfer, was about 1.9 hectares, the court said.
“This is the first case filed by NGOs over non-pollution-related environmental damage since the amended Environmental Protection Law took effect on January 1, 2015. It offers a good example for future cases,” said Lin Dongbo, deputy head of the court.
The law allows any NGO of sufficient size specializing in environmental protection for more than five years to file civil cases over pollution and environmental damage for the good of the general public.
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