Recently, a notice from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment sparked heated discussions on the Internet. According to the report, the third round of the first batch of five central ecological and environmental protection inspection teams were successively stationed in Fujian, Henan, Hainan, Gansu and Qinghai provinces from November 21 to 22 to carry out inspections.
It is reported that the inspection groups received a total of 16,309 calls and letters from the masses, accepted 13,718 valid reports, and transferred a total of 11,102 cases to the relevant provinces after combing and merging repeated reports. In the provinces concerned, 5,222 cases have been closed or phased out, of which 608 have been put on file for punishment and 43 have been put on file for investigation; 234 party and government leading cadres have been interviewed, and 180 party and government leading cadres have been held accountable.
As we all know, the central ecological and environmental protection inspection is a major institutional innovation personally planned, deployed and promoted by the state. However, due to the fact that "80% of the service area has not been supplied with municipal electricity in 24 years", "the revision of the overall plan has been blocked", and "the illegal destruction of 2,000 acres of forests" and other events have been widely concerned by public opinion, the Guangdong Guanyin Mountain National Forest Park (hereinafter referred to as "Guanyin Mountain Park") has been widely concerned by public opinion, and more than 100 media have reported more than 1,000 articles, and the problem of illegal destruction of forest ecological resources reflected in complaints over the years has not been touched.
According to public information, Guangdong Guanyin Mountain National Forest Park is located in Zhangmutou Town, Dongguan City, 24 years ago was an unnamed barren mountain, covering an area of about one acre, and now has the largest and most complete primitive secondary forest in Dongguan City, with a forest coverage rate of 92%, it has become a famous mountain for forest tourism and culture in Guangdong, and is the country's first private national forest park and a national 4A-level tourist scenic spot.
The central ecological and environmental protection inspectors faced the problem and "struck hard", sounding the alarm for some local party committees and governments, and forming an effective deterrent to local party committees and governments. This is a very happy thing!" the Guanyin Mountain Park manager told the author.
Deforestation in Guanyinshan Park takes various forms, and the destruction of resources is heart-wrenching
The author learned from the management personnel of Guanyin Mountain Park that many forest resources in Guanyin Mountain Park have suffered serious damage, and the damage involves many forms. Managers said that in the past 24 years, a total of 2,000 acres of forest have been destroyed in the scenic area, but the Dongguan municipal government and the municipal forestry bureau have turned a blind eye and did not admit it, but retaliated against the whistleblowers. As a result, the problem of deforestation remains unresolved.
The management of Guanyinshan Park has come up with a large amount of evidence and materials to prove that various materials show that more than 2,000 acres of forest have indeed been destroyed, including more than 70 illegal villas, hundreds of luxury graves, the "West-East Gas Pipeline" pipeline, five groups of high-voltage lines and more than 10 iron towers, and a large area of forest has been planted with cash crops after being destroyed.
"Over the years, we have carried out countless reports and complaints, more than 100 media on-site investigations, nearly 1,000 reports, but the Dongguan Forestry Bureau after the so-called investigation and understanding, the reply to us is ridiculous." Guanyin Mountain Park management said.
The above is the reply to Guanyin Mountain Park from the Dongguan Forestry Bureau after investigation in recent years
In response to various media investigations and reports, the Dongguan Forestry Bureau still denies the phenomenon of deforestation
However, as early as September 16, 2010, the Zhangmutou Town Agricultural Office provided the Dongguan Municipal People's Court with a certificate clearly stating in black and white that 660 acres of forest had been destroyed in Guanyinshan Park.
The park makes it clear that deforestation is not only happening, but is growing
The management of Guanyinshan Park said that on April 12, 2023, more than 20 people, including Mayor Lu of Zhangmutou Town and Dongguan Forestry Bureau, accompanied by Chen Jingyu, director of the Guanyin Mountain Management Committee, went to Guanyinshan Park to investigate illegal buildings, destroyed forest land and indiscriminate construction of luxury graves.
The Dongguan Forestry Bureau and the management of Guanyinshan Park investigated the facts of deforestation on the spot
In order to ensure the objectivity and fairness of the investigation, Guanyinshan Park recently commissioned a professional appraisal agency - Dalian Hongtai Marine Resources Asset Price Appraisal Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Hongtai Appraisal Company"), which is a price appraisal agency with legal personality issued by the National Development and Reform Commission (formerly Liaoning Provincial Price Bureau). The assessment results can be used for: the report can be used for judicial litigation, arbitration, assignment, transfer, liquidation accounting, etc., as well as other matters that need to be assessed in accordance with laws and regulations, and has general legal effect.
Hongtai Appraisal Company was entrusted by Guanyin Mountain Park to conduct a half-month investigation and research, and on September 20, 2023, issued an assessment report (certificate number: Liao JZ0005): part of the felled forest area within the scope of Guangdong Guanyin Mountain National Forest Park is 1122.7 acres, and the deforested tree species are camphor trees, masson pine, Mazhan acacia, superba, shell vegetable fruit, goosefoot firewood, etc.; The number of plants is 55,722 plants, the volume is 11,282.69 cubic meters, and the value is 5353636 yuan.
Part of the Dalian Hongtai assessment report
In the face of facts, all sophistry will be self-defeating. From this, we can see that there is indeed serious deforestation in Guanyinshan Park, because the report has the force of law.
The report emphasized that "the area of some felled trees within the scope of the Guanyin Mountain National Forest Park in Guangdong Province is 1122.7 acres", not the entire area of felling. The scope of Hongtai Appraisal Company's assessment is only part of the area of economic forest species after the criminals cut down the forest.
A luxury villa in Guanyin Mountain Park
"Luxury Cemetery" in Guanyinshan Park
Qianlong.com, Dazhong.com, etc. reported on "A Series of Reports on Two Projects Crossing Guanyin Mountain, the Green Lung of Dongguan City".
There are weak links in local forestry supervision
The author believes that the above situation fully exposes the weak links in the forestry supervision of Guangdong Province, especially Dongguan City. A manager said that the destruction of forest resources in Guanyinshan Park is not difficult to prevent, for example, through the strong supervision of local forestry authorities and the cooperation of local governments, "the reason why these deforestation problems can persist for a long time shows that the local government does not pay attention to these problems, or even turns a blind eye, and has a very indifferent attitude."
On August 14, 2023, the Supreme People's Court issued the Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Criminal Cases of Destruction of Forest Resources, and on August 15, the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the National Forestry and Grassland Administration jointly issued the Opinions on Establishing and Improving the Coordination Mechanism for Forestry and Grassland Administrative Law Enforcement and Procuratorial Public Interest Litigation. A series of laws and regulations have been issued by various departments of the state, which have made detailed provisions on the protection of national forest and grass resources. However, the Dongguan Municipal Government did not use the power of the state to promote rectification, and the implementation was greatly discounted.
"The Ministry of Ecology and Environment should strictly supervise local forestry authorities and urge them to jointly implement national forest ecological resources protection measures. Truly put the protection and rectification of the country's ecological resources in place," said a manager.