| The ecological environment is closely related to the destiny of mankind.A series of severe global ecological problems,such as continuous warming of the climate,rising sea levels,rapid population growth,frequent occurrence of ecological disasters,and accelerated biological extinction,have caused people to pay attention to and find ways to balance the relationship between human economic development and natural ecological protection..Countries have found that relying only on traditional administrative methods to maintain the ecological environment can no longer meet the current needs of environmental protection.The increasingly severe contradiction between development and protection has brought judicial methods that were originally hidden behind the scenes to the front.However,traditional judicial methods cannot meet the needs of comprehensive management of complex environmental disputes.As a trend,environmental judicial specialization has gradually become a judicial reform activity generally recognized by various countries to strengthen the judicial function and contain environmental problems.In November 2007,Guizhou Province established the first environmental protection court in Qingzhen City,which means China began to explore the path to specialization in environmental justice.In June 2014,the Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China established Adjudication Tribunal for Environment and Resources to focus on advancing the construction of specialized judicial institutions,the systematic reform of specialized environmental resources trials began in China.In March 2020,the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council,PRC issued the "Guiding Opinions on Building a Modern Environmental Governance System".The specialized reform of environmental justice in China has become an important part of the construction of a modern environmental governance system,and has entered a new stage of development in the new era.Along with the construction of environmental law,China’s environmental justice and its specialized reforms have made great progress.However,due to inadequate legislative norms,lagging in theoretical research,different developments in different regions,and different specific practices,it affects and restricts the orderly construction of the environmental judicial system and the effective performance of the environmental judicial function.Therefore,it is of great significance to summarize and analyze on the basis of existing practical exploration and combine the practice of different countries to demonstrate measures to further reform the specialization of environmental justice.This article starts with the analysis of concepts such as environmental and environmental justice,judicial reform and environmental judicial reform,judicial specialization and environmental judicial specialization,and adopts historical research,comparative research,empirical analysis and other methods,based on the combination of theory and practice,and focuses on experience summarization and reflecting on innovation,based on combing the development process of the specialization of environmental justice at home and abroad,starting with the problems that need to be solved urgently in China,and discussing the construction of a specialization system for environmental justice.The author maintains that the so-called specialization of environmental justice means that specialized environmental judges,in specialized environmental adjudication agencies,and in accordance with special procedural rules,concentrate on hearing ecological and environmental cases with professional requirements.Its core elements are specialization of adjudication institutions,specialization of adjudicators,specialization of adjudication mechanisms,and specialization of adjudication procedures.These four aspects are not only important arrangements for the exploration and innovation of judicial practice,but also the basic normal form for theoretical research on environmental judicial specialization.Throughout the past 14 years of reform,the specialization of environmental justice in my country can be said to have distinctive features:the reform track has changed from bottom-up to top-down,presenting a reform model of "local-central";the overall layout starts with the establishment of environmental courts,then evolved into a "five-in-one" environmental adjudication specialization mechanism;its functional role has expanded from passive response to environmental pollution control to active thinking about changes in the overall situation.It is actually very simple the specialization of environmental justice reforms in various places are all based on the actual needs of legal settlement of various environmental disputes caused by local environmental pollution and ecological damage.With the development of China’s economy and society and the modernization process of ecological environmental governance,especially under the overall promotion of the Supreme People’s Court,the purpose and connotation of the environmental judicial specialization reform has become increasingly rich.It has gone through a process from simply pursuing the resolution of environmental disputes to the pursuit of comprehensive values that both address disputes,strengthen order,and improve efficiency.On the basis of resolving environmental disputes in accordance with the law,environmental justice has paid more and more attention to its functional role in strengthening the order of environmental governance and improving the efficiency of environmental protection.Judging from the basic content of China’s environmental judicial specialization reform,local courts are actively exploring and innovating in the four aspects of specialized agencies,personnel,trial mechanisms,and procedural rules based on the characteristics of the local ecological environment and on the basis of strengthening specialized theoretical research.In terms of specialized agencies,as of December 2019,a total of 1,353 specialized environmental adjudication agencies of various types have been established at all levels.In terms of the staff,it has established the concept of environmental justice,and explored work measures such as the selection of judges,professional training,and expert participation that suit the needs of environmental case trials.In terms of the trial mechanism,explore cross-administrative divisions of centralized jurisdiction over environmental cases based on ecological systems such as river basins and lakes,or ecological functional areas such as national parks and nature reserves;break the tradition of separating civil,administrative,and criminal cases,and try environmental civil and administrative cases,even criminal cases get together,so called "two in one" or"three in one" centralized trial mode.In terms of procedural rules,along with changes in case jurisdiction,trial methods,and scope of cases,there have also been new changes in the way of assuming environmental legal liabilities;continuous improvement of litigation procedures,refinement of various environmental public interest litigation procedural rules,and green transformation of traditional litigation procedures,and at the same time innovate multiple trial execution methods.After comparative analysis,foreign environmental judicial specialization also focuses on reforms in the aspects of institutions,jurisdictions,judges,experts,procedures,and concepts.The background and purpose of setting up environmental adjudication agencies in different countries are different.Some are to deal with an increasing number of environmental cases,some are to unify environmental law enforcement,and some are to ensure the implementation of certain laws,but their original intention is to resolve environmental disputes and protect the ecological environment.The establishment of specialized environmental adjudication agencies to centrally administer environmental cases and break the boundaries of traditional case trials is the consensus of all countries in the development of environmental judicial specialization.In the trial process of environmental cases in various countries,not only judges,lawyers and other legal practitioners dominate,but also technical experts with illegal science backgrounds participate.It does not stick to traditional litigation methods to resolve environmental cases,but applies a diversified environmental dispute resolution mechanism.In addition,the expert witness system of the National Green Court of India,the Expert Witness System of the Canadian Environmental Court,and the Rules of Procedure for Environmental Cases of the Philippines have outstanding achievements in specialized agencies,specialized personnel,specialized mechanisms,and specialized procedures,which can provide important references for discussions and solutions to China-related issues.Countermeasure research is the top priority of this article.On the basis of retrospective summary and comparative research,the author believes that there are six problems that need to be urgently solved in the current environmental judicial practice in China:about specialized agencies,involving how to establish a systematic environmental trial agency;about specialized personnel,involving the selection and appointment of judges,and the role of technical experts.The special mechanism mainly involves two issues:how to standardize the centralized jurisdiction system for environmental cases,and promote the "three-in-one" centralized trial mode for environmental cases.There are also two main problems in the special procedures,namely how to innovate the way of assuming environmental legal liabilities and how to construct a system of environmental special litigation procedures.In response to the six outstanding issues in the above four categories,the author believes that it is necessary to build an environmental justice system with Chinese characteristics and further promote the reform of environmental justice specialization.For this reason,the specialization of environmental justice in the new development stage should be based on specialized agencies,based on the quality of judges,by means of case concentration,and guaranteed by procedural rules.It is necessary to take system construction and system governance as the goal orientation of the environmental judicial specialization reform,standardize the construction of specialized institutions,improve the professionalism of judges,clarify the scope of case concentration,and refine the rules of adjudication procedures.1.In terms of institutional specialization,different regions have different understandings and practices.The established environmental judicial institutions have not yet formed a system.It is necessary to further firmly promote environmental judicial specialization on the basis of research and exchanges and consensus.In accordance with the requirements of judicial system reform and the actual needs of case trials,legislation regulates the basic conditions and configuration standards for the establishment of specialized environmental trial agencies.Demonstrate the necessity and feasibility of establishing a cross-administrative divisional environmental trial mechanism,and provide theoretical support for the establishment of a cross-administrative divisional special environmental resource court.It is not only the general trend to establish a complete system of specialized environmental adjudication institutions across the country,it is also required by China’s national conditions.Therefore,the author proposes to establish a special environmental adjudication agency system that is conducive to the protection and governance of the ecological environment system based on the distribution of China’s watersheds and lakes and the ecosystem.2.In terms of personnel specialization,the professionalism of Chinese environmental judges is generally not high.Through the establishment of an effective mechanism to encourage judges to conduct research related to environmental resource trials,so as to continuously improve the professional level of environmental trial teams.Aiming at the lack of technical knowledge of judges in the trial of environmental resource cases,the two-way exchanges and interactions between environmental law scholars,environmental scientists and judges will realize the organic combination of knowledge rationality and practical rationality.With the gradual deepening of the reform of environmental justice specialization,it is no longer sufficient to try environmental cases le d by a team of judges to solve the professional problems,so the role of technical experts has become more obvious.The environmental adjudication team in the new era is not only composed of high-quality environmental judges,but also requires the participation and support of environmental technology experts,as well as the guidance of modern environmental justice concepts.3.In terms of mechanism specialization,The legal basis of the centralized jurisdiction system for environmental cases is insufficient,and the level of development varies from place to place.It is necessary to clarify the thinking based on the overall situation,and systematically deepen the reform measures of the cross-regional centralized jurisdiction system for environmental resource cases.It is necessary to implement a centralized case jurisdiction system based on specialized environmental adjudication agencies,try to centrally administer environmental pollution and ecological damage cases across provinces,and pay attention to the collaboration between centralized jurisdiction and non-centralized jurisdiction.The overall implementation rate of the "three-in-one" centralized trial mode for environmental cases is not high,the scope of the environmental trial agencies is unclear,and the trial mode is not uniform.It is necessary to sort out the necessity of implementing centralized adjudication,and clarify the feasible path for perfecting the"three-in-one" centralized adjudication model.It is necessary to speed up the categorization of environmental resource cases in China and clarify the scope of cases accepted by specialized environmental adjudication agencies.Specialized environmental trial agencies should mainly hear environmental disputes involving two or three different types of responsibilities:civil,administrative,and criminal.This is not only conducive to the implementation of centralized jurisdiction for environmental cases,but also conducive to promoting the "three-in-one" centralized trial of environmental cases.4.In terms of procedural specialization,The existing environmental litigation procedures are scattered,lack of higher-level laws and regulations,and the different environmental litigation procedures are not smoothly connected.This requires straightening out the relationship between the various procedures in the existing regulations,and achieving an effective connection between the two in order to save judicial resources.In view of the professional and complex nature of environmental cases,on the basis of detailed research on typical environmental resource cases and guiding cases,combined with the application of existing procedural rules,we will discuss and put forward legislative suggestions and formulate the "Environmental Public Interest Litigation Special Procedure Law."In addition,from the perspective of modern environmental governance,the specialization of environmental justice has an endogenous motivation that extends to the outside of the courts,and its goal is to systematically multi-governance.From the perspective of expansion,the specialization of environmental justice is centered on specialized judicial institutions,and through different systems,it has contact with natural persons,legal persons,social organizations,procuratorial agencies,environmental administrative agencies,public security agencies and other environmental judicial participants.The systems are then connected through certain means and rules to form a complete chain of mechanisms to help build a modern environmental legal system with Chinese characteristics and multiple co-governance.Although this aspect is not in the scope of this article,it is worthy of the author’s yearning and in-depth observation and research in the future.From ’Liangshan’ ideology to Xi Jinping’s Thought on Ecological Civilization,then to modern environmental governance,environmental justice specialisation,step by step,embracing its maturity.Practice has proved that environmental justice specialisation meets the needs of the national conditions,and will continue to be one of the most vital part of the justice reform.Now,it is safe to say that the achievement of Chinese environmental justice specialisation is leading the world.In the future,China will build a system of environmental justice with great Chinese features,and will lead the future trend of environmental justice. |
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