Case Analysis On The Public Interest Litigations Regarding Pollution Of Tengger Desert

The revision of Environmental Protection Law and the promulgation of the Interpretation on Public Interest Environmental Litigation mark the institutional construction of environmental public interest litigation brought by social organizations in China.In the perspective of the judicial practices in China,there are only a few of environmental public interest litigations brought by social organizations,far below the expectations for wide participation by social organizations.It mainly lies in social organizations’ lack of strong fund guarantee;unprofessional social organizations and employees;insufficient legislative guarantee.Specifically,some local courts put strict requirements on the review of the plaintiff qualification for social organizations due to their deviations to and misunderstanding of relevant laws and judicial interpretations.On August 13,2015,the public interest litigation cases regarding pollution of the Tengger Desert caused a great impact in the whole country.Their typicality and particularity reflect the subject qualification problems in the environmental public interest litigation filed by social organizations.The Intermediate People’s Court of Zhongwei City and High People’s Court of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region both held that China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation(CBCGDF)does not conform to the provisions of Article 58 in the Environmental Protection Law and Article 4 in the Interpretation on Public Interest Environmental Litigation,and is not qualified to initiate an environmental public interest litigation.Therefore,they finally ruled that the litigation would not be accepted.Fortunately,the Supreme People’s Court after accepting the application for retrial ruled that the plaintiff is qualified to be the subject of litigation.The erroneous law application by the courts at two levels in Ningxia should be corrected.From the public interest litigation cases regarding pollution of the Tengger Desert,we can see that the subject qualification system for social organizations to bring the environmental public interest litigation faces the following problems: the level of subject qualification registration is too high;the scope of application is not clearly defined by law;the minimum period for performing environmental protection activities is too long;the charge for bringing litigations is too much.Currently,although the plaintiff qualification of social organizations has been broadened in the judicial practices,objectively speaking,the fundamental causes for the litigation difficulties faced by the plaintiff have not been solved at the institutional design level.Therefore,it’s necessary to define the subject qualification here at the institutional level.As far as the social organizations bringing environmental public interest litigation are concerned,we can improve our systems by learning from the theoretical and practical experiences of overseas countries,on the premise of fully grasping the particularity of national conditions.Specifically,the systems should be improved by putting high requirements in registration system and lowering registration levels;clarifying the scope of "specialized in environmental protection and public welfare activities";reducing the time conditions for engaging in public welfare activities of environmental protection;establishing the financial support for social organizations to file lawsuits.To solve this problem thoroughly,we need to continuously explore in practice and improve relevant systems,encourage institutional and technological innovation,and develop in coordination with other environmental systems.