The Chongming Court team helps clear the water and green the banks, often dealing with rice and corn in their work, carrying the national emblem to the village for court sessions. Resources | Environment | Chongming Court
"The circuit court is here!" I saw Judge He Yuhong and the clerk walking into the report hall of the community party and mass service center with a national emblem with a diameter of less than half a meter. The villagers of Xianghua Town in Chongming District rushed around to announce it. On August 15th, the Chongming Court held a circuit hearing in Xianghua Town to hear a case of illegal fishing of aquatic products.
In February of this year, Chen illegally caught aquatic products while driving a boat during the fishing ban period, and was caught with 25 kilograms of fish. After trial, Chen was sentenced in accordance with the law. "As soon as the national emblem is hung, a sense of authority comes up, and many villagers come to listen. This is the most vivid ecological protection legal education class," He Yuhong said.
"Fishing 50 pounds of fish doesn't seem like a big deal, does it?" After the trial, some villagers muttered softly. He Yuhong walked up and said, "The harm is great! Some people like illegal electric fishing. Although they only catch a few, the fish in the entire water area will die in large numbers after electric fishing. Even if they don't die, they can easily become deformed, which is a very damaging thing." The villagers nodded repeatedly.
One of the tasks of Judge He Yuhong of Chongming Court is to make more people aware of the dangers of illegal fishing. The reporter learned that the Chongming Court has established an environmental resource case trial team to provide guarantees for the construction of a world-class ecological island in Chongming, the protection of aquatic organisms in the Yangtze River, and the restoration of aquatic ecology.
Pay attention to the conflict between humans and the Earth
In the eastern part of Chongming Island, near the Xijiagang Watergate Bridge in Chenjia Town, the majestic embankment cannot be seen at a glance. Outside the dam, a grassy mudflat is quite conspicuous. Dragonflies fly low on the mudflat. Half man tall water grass rustles in the wind. White egrets fly out of the metasequoia forest in the distance from time to time.
"There used to be cement silos, sand and gravel yards, and concrete mixing stations here. We and other departments made great efforts to get rid of relevant building materials companies, so that the mudflat can recover its original appearance." He Yuhong led reporters down the embankment and walked along the dirt road beside the mudflat to introduce.
In 2003, a building materials company leased the mudflat. By the end of the contract in 2019, the company had built temporary cement silos and sand yards on the mudflat to engage in concrete production. After the expiration of the contract, the construction materials company was unwilling to return the mudflat, causing disputes.
He Yuhong told reporters that unlike other civil, criminal, and administrative cases, environmental resource cases not only involve conflicts of rights between the plaintiff and defendant, but also "conflicts between humans and the earth.". "The defendant's production in this case does not meet the requirements of the 'Great Protection of the Yangtze River', nor has it obtained the permission for the land use right of mudflat, which has a negative impact on mudflat biodiversity and wetland ecological service functions."
After mediation, the involved enterprise vacated nearly three-quarters of the leased area, but still retained cement silos and enclosed storage yards. After the peripheral area was vacated, the collegiate bench made a decisive decision and made a judgment in accordance with the law on the part of the enterprise that refused to vacate, urging the enterprise to vacate within a specified period of time. Finally, the enterprise lifted the entire cement silo and other structures away.
Huang Feifei, the presiding judge of Chen Jiazhen Court and the head of the environmental resource case trial team at Chongming Court, told reporters that the regional characteristics of environmental resource cases are very obvious. "Before the hunting ban in Chongming, many gourmands knew that there was game in the east of Chongming Island: some people would catch birds with silk nets, fish near the mudflat, and then sell the 'loot' to a nearby restaurant for profit. In order to protect wild animals, team members did a lot of work."
For example, a group of people once caught a large number of jumping fish with their bare hands on the mudflat in the east of Chongming Island. Later, the procuratorial organ filed a criminal incidental civil public interest lawsuit, and the court ruled that in addition to requiring relevant personnel to perform their criminal responsibilities, they would also pay a fine of millions of yuan. In July 2020, Wang and 9 others sailed out to sea during the marine fishing ban period, catching over 17 tons of aquatic products such as swimming crabs, pedal fish, and shrimp. After being tried by the Chongming Court, all 9 people involved in the case were sentenced to prison, and the nets and all catch in the case were confiscated.
Ecological restoration is more important than judgment
What should the losing party do after the court ruling takes effect? In addition to serving sentences, fines, apologies, etc., in Chongming, relevant personnel may also be required to cut harmful weeds such as Canada's yellow flower.
Previously, six people in Chongming District were caught by the public security organs hunting wild birds such as ducks and turtledoves in the restricted hunting area. Subsequently, the six individuals voluntarily signed a consultation agreement on ecological and environmental damage compensation with the procuratorial organs. The Chongming Court, based on the application of the negotiating parties, confirmed the "dual combination model" of monetary compensation and labor compensation reached in the consultation agreement through judicial confirmation. In other words, these bird hunters will receive a certain degree of compensation through their labor.
"Labor compensation refers to transforming 'bird catchers' into' bird protectors' by participating in labor such as maintaining forests and grasslands, dredging rivers for a certain period of time, and effectively stimulating the environmental awareness of the actors. Punishing money and sentencing are not the purpose, but to some extent, ecological restoration is more important than sentencing." Huang Feifei said.
In this case, the deadline for labor compensation is 6 months, and the perpetrator also needs to pay a certain amount of performance bond. Huang Feifei told reporters that during that period, the relevant village committee happened to be concentrating on clearing a yellow flower and requested the involved personnel to participate in labor together. "The weeding site happens to be near the village road, which is the best way for villagers to come and go."
Zhu Haojie, Vice President of Chongming Court, told reporters that in judicial practice, land vacation cases face many difficulties. "What should we do if the land needs to be vacated and precious flowers and trees are planted on the ground? In specific cases, we actively introduced third-party enterprises to purchase the overall trees on the ground, achieving a win-win situation for villagers' land rights protection and environmental protection."
A few years ago, an engineering company signed a land contracting and management rights transfer contract with 11 village groups in Chongming District, leasing 468 acres of land. Later, the company defaulted on rent due to poor management, and 11 village groups filed a lawsuit with the court. The court ultimately ruled to terminate the contract, and the engineering company should return the land to cultivation, vacate and pay the rent in full.
"Returning farmland and then retreating", behind the simple five words, involves the disposal of 27 types of nearly 350000 trees, including cherry blossom trees, camphor trees, and beech trees. "If forcibly vacated, not only will the project amount be large, but the trees are also prone to death, which is really a pity." Huang Feifei told reporters that the Chongming Court and the relevant town government actively communicated, and finally introduced a third party to purchase these trees and signed land transfer contracts with the village group.
Environmental resource cases are decreasing year by year
In the journey of ecological development in Chongming, 2016 was a milestone year - in July of that year, Chongming was abolished from a county to a district; At the end of that year, the municipal government issued the "Thirteenth Five Year Plan" for the development of Chongming's world-class ecological island, which clearly stated that the city would make efforts to promote the construction of world-class ecological islands. Within the court system, the first environmental resources trial court in the city was also established in Chongming Court that year, to concentrate the trial of civil, administrative, criminal, and enforcement cases involving environmental resource factors.
Afterwards, after multiple rounds of jurisdictional adjustments and institutional reforms within the court system, Chongming Court merged the Environmental Protection and Management Division, but retained the Environmental Protection and Management Trial Team. Considering the special geographical location of Chenjia Town, starting from this year, the Chongming Court will include the environmental and financial trial work in the Chenjia Town People's Court. At present, there are a total of 5 members in the environmental and capital judgment team, including two judges, Huang Feifei and He Yuhong, as well as two judge assistants and one clerk.
"Before coming to Chongming, I never expected that the work in the court could be so down-to-earth, often involving dealing with rice and corn in the fields!" 28 year old judge assistant Zhao Meichen, from Northeast China, graduated from East China University of Political Science and Law and joined the Chongming Court as a member of the environmental resource case trial team. The cases she handles are often related to land, and she often needs to go to the scene to verify the four boundaries of the involved land and the growth of crops.
"Sometimes, the simple sentence 'considering the growth cycle of crops' in the judgment is the result of team members measuring the land with their feet: the growth time of rice is usually from June to October, and in the actual execution process, we will try to stagger this time to vacate the land and let a batch of rice be harvested. In some cases, the land is planted with saplings, and under normal circumstances, there can be profits for four to five years. When the trees grow to the third year, there is a land dispute between Party A and Party B. We will try our best to persuade both parties to continue to fulfill the contract and maximize the use of biological resources." Zhao Meichen said.
Huang Feifei told reporters that in recent years, the total number of environmental and resource cases accepted by Chongming Court has significantly decreased. In 2021, a total of 197 environmental and resource cases were accepted, which decreased to 176 last year. The number of cases accepted in the first half of this year was 68. "The more significant decline is in the number of criminal cases related to environmental protection. In the first half of this year, there were only three cases of illegal fishing, and the number of illegal hunting cases was zero, indicating that people's environmental awareness is becoming stronger. We hope that environmental protection cases will become fewer and fewer, and the ecological environment in Chongming, the Yangtze River Estuary, and even the Yangtze River Basin will become better."
