Judge!, Refusing to make improvements, the golf course being built in a nature reserve has caused damage to the ecological environment and golf course
The golf course was built in a nature reserve, and 323.1 acres of forest land were cut down and destroyed. Despite being ordered to rectify multiple times, they refused to comply. According to a civil public interest lawsuit filed by the Sanya Procuratorate in Hainan Province, the court ordered a company in Sanya, which destroyed forests and built a golf course, to compensate 32.4692 million yuan.
On June 6th, the Supreme People's Procuratorate released a typical case of collaborative promotion of central ecological environment protection supervision and rectification through public interest litigation, revealing the details of this case.
From 2007 to 2008, a company in Sanya constructed and operated a golf course project without obtaining land use planning permission, obtaining approval procedures for converting agricultural land into construction land, forest land, and environmental impact assessment. The total area covered was 1588.8 acres, and 323.1 acres of forest land were cut down and damaged.
After investigation, the project is located in the Ganshiling Provincial Nature Reserve in Hainan. During the construction process, the company was ordered three times to stop illegal activities and complete relevant procedures, but it refused to comply. From 2015 to 2017, the former Sanya Municipal Bureau of Land, Environment and Resources repeatedly ordered the company to suspend operations for rectification and ecological restoration, and imposed a cumulative fine of 26.707 million yuan as an administrative penalty. However, the company did not comply and continued to operate. In June 2019, the Ganshiling Nature Reserve Management Station completely closed the golf course.
After receiving feedback from the central ecological environment protection inspection, the Sanya Municipal Government ordered the Municipal Forestry Bureau to fully perform its duties in accordance with the law and carry out rectification work. However, the Forestry Bureau of Sanya City failed to timely fulfill its responsibilities of ordering replanting and recovering fees for proxy performance in response to the company's illegal deforestation and land occupation.
On August 26, 2020, the Sanya Procuratorate issued a prosecution recommendation to the Sanya Forestry Bureau. After receiving the prosecution's suggestion, the Sanya Forestry Bureau held two negotiations with the company on ecological and environmental damage compensation, but the negotiations were unsuccessful. The Forestry Bureau of Sanya City transferred the clues of the case to the Sanya City Prosecutor's Office on November 8, 2021. On November 16 of the same year, the procuratorial organs filed a civil public interest lawsuit and issued a pre litigation notice.
After appraisal and evaluation, the company's golf course project has caused damage to 323.1 acres of forest land and gardens, complete destruction of vegetation community biodiversity and species richness, basic loss of original ecological service functions, and damage to the regional ecological environment. The total value of ecological environment damage is about 32.0592 million yuan. On December 24th of the same year, the Sanya Procuratorate filed a civil public interest lawsuit with the Sanya Intermediate People's Court, requesting that the defendant, a certain company in Sanya, compensate a total of 32.4692 million yuan for the loss of forest resources, ecological restoration costs, loss of forest ecological environment services, appraisal and evaluation costs caused by illegal occupation of the Ganshiling Nature Reserve.
On March 14, 2022, the Intermediate People's Court of Sanya City made a judgment in support of all the litigation requests of the procuratorial organs. At present, the judgment is being executed, and the ecological restoration work of 323.1 acres of forest land related to golf course damage has been completed.
It is reported that the Supreme People's Procuratorate has made the following evaluation of the typical significance of the case: the procuratorial organs have investigated and verified the "persistent disease" of long-term damage to forest resources in nature reserves discovered by the central ecological environment protection inspection, and issued pre litigation procuratorial recommendations for administrative public interest litigation. When administrative agencies actively perform their duties and fail to negotiate ecological and environmental damage compensation with illegal entities multiple times, the procuratorial organs fully play the role of civil public interest litigation in filling the gap. At the same time as seeking compensation for the value of forest resources and paying ecological restoration fees, a lawsuit is filed to compensate for the damage to the ecological environment and the loss of service functions during the restoration period, in order to maximize the protection of the forest ecological environment.