Let More Environmental Disputes Be Resolved in Court

In a seminar of the National People’s Congress held on October 26, the deputy director of the China Society for Environmental Science, Yang Chaofei, told the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress that, since 1996, mass incidents concerning the environment have on average been increasing by 29% per annum. However, only 1% of such incidents were resolved through litigations in court.

Mass incidents concerning the environment occurred in Shifang city of Sichuan province and Qidong city of Jiangsu province, both in July 2012.

For a long time in China, the court has played a minimum role in environmental disputes. This is because, on the one hand, a fully-fledged legal system on environmental protection is absent in China, which results in difficulties in resolving environmental disputes through litigations. For instance, the low statutory compensation for environmental pollution leads to inability to obtain enough compensation for environmental recovery work. In addition, it is very difficult to adduce evidence against defendants in environmental litigations. Such litigations are also very hard to initiate because only limited persons or bodies are eligible to initiate them. Yuxi city in Yunnan province and other places have actually established environmental tribunals; however, those tribunals have no case to try.

Another reason why...

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