On The Legal System Of Compensation For Transboundary Water Environment

In 2005,at the fifth Plenary Session of the 16 th CPC Central Committee,the principle of environmental compensation was put forward for the first time,that is,"whoever develops,protects,benefits and compensates".China has carried out theoretical and practical research on environmental compensation.Transboundary water environmental compensation is an important part of environmental compensation and an inevitable choice to realize the healthy long-term and sustainable development of national economy.Under such background and conditions,this paper discusses the construction and improvement of China’s transboundary water environmental compensation legal system.To compensate the transboundary water environment,the institutional connotation of the transboundary water environment should be clarified first.The main practice in China is to achieve the purpose of compensating the transboundary water environment by standardizing the water resources.By determining the national ownership of water resources,establishing the property right system and use right system of water resources(assets),and separating the ownership and usufruct of water resources,the government and the market can cooperate to give full play to the resource value and ecological value under the condition that water resources are owned by the whole people.Establishing the system of paid use of water resources not only ensures the source of water environment compensation fund in China,but also encourages water conservation in production and life.In China,the compensation for transboundary water environment is stipulated from the national and local legislation levels.The national provisions are relatively general,while the local legislation level focuses on the compensation for the region or a specific water environment,with more specific and detailed provisions.In the current local legislative practice,Xin ’an River in Anhui and Zhejiang has formed a mature compensation system as the country’s first cross-border water environment compensation pilot,while the compensation for Dongjiang River basin in Guangdong and Jiangxi focuses on consultation and active legislation.Based on the analysis of the conditions of the compensation for the transboundary water environment in China,the theoretical basis of the compensation for the transboundary water environment and the compensation should adhere to the principles of fairness,environmental responsibility compensation,scientific rationality and public participation.It is clear that the main body of transboundary water environment compensation in China includes vertical compensation from the higher government to the lower government and horizontal compensation between the governments at the same level.The compensation standard should consider both the cost of environmental reconstruction and the degree of benefit of the beneficiary.The compensation for the transboundary water environment includes both government-led and market-led methods.China is actively exploring the compensation for the transboundary water environment by means of the market.At present,one of the major problems of transboundary water environment compensation is that the legal system is not perfect,the boundary between the government and the market is unclear,and the legal responsibility for the violation of transboundary water environment is lacking.Therefore,we need to perfect the relevant laws and regulations,the border of government and market management,give full play to the market adjustment and government supervision and management of the role,responsibility for violations of the law of transboundary water environment should not only includes civil responsibility,administrative responsibility and criminal responsibility also to be included,as well as the actor’s illegal punishment,more to restore the damaged water environment.