China leads in environmental adjudication

2,813 specialized bodies have been set up nationwide to tackle cases

China had more than 2,800 environmental adjudication institutes by December, giving it the world's most intensive and complete such judicial system, an official from the country's top court said.

Data released by the Supreme People's Court on Monday, World Environmental Day, showed that by the end of last year, 2,813 environmental adjudication organizations, such as tribunals and judicial teams, had been set up nationwide, a year-on-year increase of nearly 16 percent.

Ninety new tribunals that specialize in tackling environmental cases were opened in Shaanxi province, with more environmental adjudication teams established to cover major river basins, nature reserves and national parks, the top court said.

"These institutions demonstrate that a specialized, extensive and complete system of environmental justice has been created in our country," said Yang Linping, vice-president of the Supreme People's Court.

While making the handling of environmental cases more professional, Chinese courts also launched a campaign last year to tackle third-party service agencies that falsify environmental quality monitoring and environmental assessment reports.

In a case disclosed by the top court on Monday, eight people in Jiangxi province were given prison terms, along with fines, after being found to have sought benefits through the purchase of fake environmental reports.

Those convicted were not only from a shell environmental technology company that sold the forged reports, but also those who bought the fake documents.

"The case indicates our judicial crackdown on the whole process of fraud in the environmental field," said Wu Zhaoxiang, chief judge of the top court's Adjudication Tribunal for Environment and Resources.

Chinese courts concluded 232,000 lawsuits against environmental violators last year, down 5.8 percent year-on-year. They covered many environmental aspects, such as air, noise or water pollution, illegal mining, smuggling of precious wildlife, and low-carbon development, the top court said.

Meanwhile, a series of judicial documents were issued last year, including ones on forests, minerals and the Yellow River, which had enriched China's legal system on the environment, it added.

Lyu Zhongmei, vice-president of the China Law Society, lauded the achievements made by courts nationwide in environmental protection, saying, "The professionalism and experience in case hearings are conducive to compiling a code on the environment and ecology".

She stressed the importance of summarizing trial practices in civil, criminal, administrative, public-interest and damage compensation cases related to the environment, calling for more research on judicial procedure rules in the environmental sector.

China is advancing the compilation of an environment and ecology code, with a senior legislator saying in April that the code is expected to be submitted for review this year by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the country's top legislature.