What is the effectiveness of judicial power in protecting the Yellow River?

"The Yellow River is peaceful, and the world is peaceful." On May 29, the Supreme People's Court held a work promotion meeting on the implementation of the Yellow River Protection Law in Weinan City, Shaanxi Province. The people's courts of the nine provinces and regions along the Yellow River gathered together to exchange experiences and results in implementing the Yellow River Protection Law and study onXiJinpingthought of rule of law andXiJinpingUnder the guidance of the Thought of Ecological Civilization, how to better serve and ensure the national strategy of ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin. Typical cases of judicial services for ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin were also released at the meeting.

To protect the Yellow River, the Supreme People's Court held four work promotion meetings

The Yellow River Basin is an important ecological barrier and an important economic zone in my country, and plays a very important role in my country's economic and social development and ecological security. The Yellow River Protection Law, which was passed in October 2022 and will come into effect on April 1, 2023, is another landmark piece of legislation after the Yangtze River Protection Law to comprehensively promote the legalization of the national "river strategy."

The Yellow River Protection Law clearly stipulates that the state strengthens the construction of judicial guarantees in the Yellow River Basin, organizes judicial cooperation in the Yellow River Basin, and promotes coordination between administrative law enforcement agencies and judicial agencies.

The Supreme Law has always attached great importance to judicial protection in the Yellow River Basin. After ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin were elevated to national strategies, the Supreme Law specially issued opinions on providing judicial services and guarantees for ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin, and held the Yellow River Basin three times in 2020, 2021, and 2023. The trial work promotion meeting in the basin will build legal consensus, unify judicial concepts, and strengthen systematic governance.

In March 2023, at the third work promotion meeting held in Luliang, Shanxi, the high courts of nine provinces and autonomous regions in the Yellow River Basin adopted and signed the "Shanxi Initiative for Judicial Services to Ecological Protection and High-Quality Development of the Yellow River Basin", singing the "Yellow River Chorus" of judicial protection.

In June 2023, on the basis of extensive research and full demonstration, the Supreme Law issued opinions on the implementation of the Yellow River Protection Law, guiding courts at all levels in the basin to accurately implement the Yellow River Protection Law, and combining the judicial characteristics of the basin with comprehensive protection of mountains and rivers, continue to Strengthen ecological protection and restoration of the Yellow River Basin.

"This meeting in Weinan is an important meeting held at the critical period when the People's Court comprehensively promotes the implementation of the Yellow River Protection Law and uses high-quality judicial trials to promote ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin. It points out the direction and clarifies the tasks for the future trial of environmental resources in the Yellow River Basin courts." Yang Linping, member of the Party Leadership Group and Vice President of the Supreme People's Court, made the above remarks at the work promotion meeting.

The reporter learned from the work promotion meeting that since the implementation of the Yellow River Protection Law, the people's courts of the nine provinces and regions in the Yellow River Basin have upheld the five new era environmental resource trial concepts of dynamic performance, green development, systematic protection, strictest rule of law, and coordinated governance, and concluded a total of 73998 environmental resource cases in the first instance. Among them, there were 6848 criminal cases, 50592 civil cases, 15134 administrative cases, and 1424 environmental public interest litigation cases.

As of March 2024, a total of 424 environmental resource trial agencies and organizations have been established in the Yellow River Basin, including a number of special courts such as Sanjiangyuan Ecological Court in Qinghai, Wuliangsuhai Environmental Resources Court in Inner Mongolia, Pingyao Ancient City Cultural Protection Court in Shanxi, and Qinling Yellow River Ecological Protection Court in Shaanxi. Special courts have been established one after another.

Actively perform their duties, and judicial protection of the Yellow River has made positive progress

The Supreme Law Party Leadership Group has repeatedly emphasized that the people's courts must consciously shoulder the political responsibility, legal responsibility, and judicial responsibility to protect the safety of the Yellow River, and actively do a good job in the four major tasks of protecting, developing, culture, and governance of the Yellow River.

The people's courts of the nine provinces and autonomous regions in the Yellow River Basin actively perform their duties. From a systematic and overall perspective, they grasp the integrity and inherent laws of the river basin, and strive to implement the legislative purpose, basic principles and various systems of the Yellow River Protection Law.

At the work promotion meeting in Weinan, Han Deyang, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and President of Shaanxi High Court, Zhang Zejun, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and President of Qinghai High Court, and Feng Jun, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and President of Shanxi High Court, exchanged experiences. The high courts of Sichuan, Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Henan, Shandong and other provinces and autonomous regions in the Yellow River Basin submitted written experience exchange materials, and relevant responsible persons discussed judicial protection of ecological restoration and comprehensive prevention and control of desertification, judicial assistance in protection, inheritance and high-quality development, and environmental resources. Issues such as the substantive operation of the "three-in-one" trial were discussed.

Han Deyang introduced that since last year, a total of 78 environmental capital trial institutions have been improved and 91 environmental capital courts or circuit courts have been registered in 8 cities and 82 counties in the Yellow River Basin, achieving full coverage of environmental capital trial institutions in the Yellow River Basin; Tongguan Huangluowei Sanhekou, Heyang Yellow River Wetland and other ecological environment judicial protection, restoration, compensation, and education bases have been established; Actively build a cross-regional cooperation mechanism, form the Yellow River "Golden Triangle","Jiziwan" and "Da DC" collaborative protection brands, and jointly sing the "chorus" of Yellow River protection.

Zhang Zejun introduced that Qinghai has cracked down on illegal and criminal activities that destroy grassland resources and the ecological environment in key water conservation areas in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, and protected the ecological security of the Qinghai-Tibet High Court; Firmly grasp the particularity and focus of the Yellow River Protection Law that pays more attention to ecological protection and restoration of river basins, the trial of Wang and his unit for the crime of illegally occupying agricultural land, and actively explored diversified alternative restoration methods. The defendant unit used the judicial appraisal opinion to purchase and write off carbon sinks, achieving alternative restoration of the damaged ecological environment.

Feng Jun introduced that the Wanrong County Court in Yuncheng City gave full play to the role of the "Yellow River·Fenhe Ecological Environment Judicial Protection Base" and adopted centralized trials and other methods to promote the near elimination of illegal sand mining at the Yellow River entrance. The "protection base + professional court" model achieved good results; The Xiaoyi City court in Luliang sentenced Du Moujun and other 33 people to fixed-term imprisonment for privately mining in the Fenhe River Basin that damaged more than 30,000 tons of mineral resources and caused a flooding accident that killed two people, releasing a strong signal of severely punishing acts that destroyed the ecological environment of the Yellow River Basin.

In addition, courts at all levels in Sichuan Province have formulated corresponding protection measures for important ecosystems such as permafrost, alpine meadows, source glaciers, Zoige grassland wetlands, and natural forest protection in northwest Sichuan to ensure clear water flows out of the river. Courts at all levels in Gansu Province have done a good job in connecting administrative law enforcement and criminal judicial procedures in terms of fixed evidence collection, coordination and resolution of disputes, and supervision and execution of judgments, providing multi-dimensional and comprehensive solutions to various disputes in the Yellow River Basin. The Ningxia High Court coordinated with the Judicial Department of the Autonomous Region to issue implementation opinions on people's mediation and litigation source governance, and incorporated environmental resource civil disputes and administrative disputes into a "one-stop" diversified dispute resolution platform.

In addition, courts at all levels in Inner Mongolia issued interim provisions on pre-litigation prohibition orders for environmental protection, ordering cruise ships operating on the main stream of the Yellow River within their jurisdiction to do a good job in pollution prevention and control, and to work in the same direction as functional government departments. With the consent of the Supreme Law, Henan has determined that the Zhengzhou Railway Transport Court and the Lingbao City Court will have centralized jurisdiction over all environmental capital cases in the Yellow River Basin of Henan, further strengthening the systematic and overall protection of the Yellow River Basin in Henan.

The Shandong Province High Court in the lower reaches of the Yellow River tried the country's first civil public interest litigation case for radioactive pollution of the environment in accordance with the law, innovatively adopted injunction measures, explored a pre-execution system, promoted the proper disposal of radioactive sources involved in the case, and eliminated hidden dangers to the safety of people's lives and property.

Continue to make efforts to push the environmental capital trial to a new level

At the work promotion meeting, the reporter noticed that while everyone "demonstrated their achievements", they also frankly talked about their views on the problems existing in the practice of judicial protection of the Yellow River.

The most mentioned issue is the use and management of ecological and environmental damage compensation funds. Of course, this problem does not exist only in the practice of judicial protection of the Yellow River. Relevant departments attach great importance to it and have previously issued special methods and regulations to actively promote problem resolution. However, as far as the current situation is concerned, there are many models for the use and management of funds, such as financial, court, procuratorial, and administrative agencies entrusted by social organizations and mixed management. There is a lack of unified norms, and there is "easy entry but difficult exit", or it is difficult to correspond to case restoration projects, etc., need to be further clarified and refined.

According to general reports, the connection and application of the Yellow River Protection Law and relevant laws and regulations is not clear enough. For example, the protection of environmental resources in the Yellow River Basin is stipulated in the Yellow River Protection Law, Water Law, Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law, Soil and Water Conservation Law, Forest Law, Fisheries Law and other relevant laws and regulations. Administrative departments and river basin management agencies have jurisdiction over water violations in the Yellow River Basin. The jurisdiction for illegal acts is unclear and the penalties are inconsistent.

In one case, the Yellow River Water Affairs Bureau first filed a case against a center for suspected illegal water collection. Due to the serious circumstances, it planned to impose a fine of 500,000 yuan and revoke the water collection permit in accordance with the Yellow River Protection Law. During the hearing stage, the local water conservancy bureau first issued an administrative penalty decision of a fine of 23,000 yuan for the illegal act in accordance with the water law. According to the principle of "no two penalties for one thing", how to handle the case has reached an impasse.

Moreover, there are differences between the approval procedures for new reconstruction and expansion of sewage outlets stipulated in Article 76 of the Yellow River Protection Law and the Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law and the Water Law. The relevant supervision and management work is the responsibility of the ecological environment department of the place where the pollutant discharge unit is located, and the Yellow River Basin ecological environment supervision and management agency or the relevant department where the sewage outlet is located?

In addition, the main body of soil pollution and solid waste pollution prevention and control stipulated in Article 79 of the Yellow River Protection Law is inconsistent with the provisions of the Environmental Protection Law, the Soil Pollution Prevention and Control Law, and the Solid Waste Environmental Pollution Prevention and Control Law. Whether the township people's government is the responsible body also needs to be clarified.

In this regard, Wu Zhaoxiang, President of the Environmental Resources Trial Division of the Supreme People's Court, said that at present, the Supreme People's Court is stepping up its research and formulation of normative documents such as answers to the application of the Yellow River Protection Law, minutes of the environmental resources criminal trial work symposium, and opinions on the trial of carbon market dispute cases., screening and publishing special guidance cases and typical cases in river basins, unifying adjudication standards, and strengthening guidance on similar cases.

At the same time, we will promote the sharing of information on administrative penalties, special actions, government consultations on ecological damage compensation, procuratorial suggestions, judicial suggestions, typical cases, restoration and execution, and governance experience made by administrative agencies and judicial agencies at all levels to build ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin."One network".

Protecting the judicial footprint of the Yellow River

September 2020·Dongying, Shandong

The Supreme People's Court held a promotion meeting on environmental resources trials in the Yellow River Basin and promoted the signing of the "Framework Agreement on Environmental Resources Trials of the Higher People's Courts of Nine Provinces and Regions in the Yellow River Basin."

September 2021·Cangzhou, Hebei

The Supreme People's Court held a promotion meeting on the trial of environmental resources in river basins such as the Yellow River, the Grand Canal, and the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, forming the "Minutes of the Meeting on the Promotion of Ecological Protection and High-Quality Development in the Yellow River Basin".

March 2023·Luliang, Shanxi

The Supreme Law held a meeting to promote the implementation of the Yellow River Protection Law and the judicial protection work of the Yellow River Basin in the nine provinces and autonomous regions along the Yellow River. The courts of the nine provinces and autonomous regions in the Yellow River Basin adopted and signed the "Shanxi Initiative for Judicial Services for Ecological Protection and High-Quality Development of the Yellow River Basin", singing a voice. The "Yellow River Chorus" of judicial protection.

May 2024·Weinan, Shaanxi

The Supreme Law held a meeting to promote the implementation of the Yellow River Protection Law and judicial services for ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin to studyXiJinpingthought of rule of law andXiJinpingUnder the guidance of the Thought of Ecological Civilization, how to better serve and ensure the national strategy of ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin.