On May 15, with the end of the last 160,000 yuan of ecological and environmental damage compensation transfer ceremony, the cross-regional ecological damage compensation transfer ceremony and symposium that originated from the protection of Xing'an rhododendron, Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province and Daxinganling, the procuratorate and legal authorities of Daxinganling, ended in the Daxinganling Branch of the Heilongjiang Provincial People's Procuratorate.
In the early spring of each year, on the undulating Xing'an Mountains, the rhododendrons of Xing'an are always the first to bloom, and the concentrated and continuous rhododendrons form a charming sea of flowers, which has also become a beautiful business card of the ecology and spring tourism of the Xing'an forest area. In September 2021, the rhododendron was listed as a national key second-class protected plant, and once it is damaged, it will be very long and difficult to recover, and illegal harvesting and sale are strictly prohibited. However, driven by profits, some people ignore the law and still frantically break branches to collect and sell wild rhododendrons.
From October 2021 to January 2022, Liu, Li and others formed a one-stop black industrial chain of illegal logging, reselling, and sales in order to pursue profits, knowing that Rhododendron in Xing'an was a national key protected wild plant. In 2023, the people involved in the case will be investigated and punished, and in the process of handling the case, the Xinlin District Procuratorate and the Law and the People's Court will actively cooperate with the Nanjing Municipal Procuratorate and the Law and the People's Court to assess the damage to the ecological environment in Xinlin District with the Nanjing case-handling personnel. In the end, the Nanjing Yuhuatai District Procuratorate filed a criminal attached civil public interest lawsuit against Liu and others on suspicion of endangering national key protected plants.
In October 2023, the Nanjing Xuanwu District People's Court sentenced seven defendants to prison terms ranging from one year and six months to three months of criminal detention for the crime of endangering national key protected plants, and jointly paid more than 250,000 yuan in compensation for ecological and environmental damage together with the other six non-prosecuting defendants in the same case. In January 2024, the first batch of compensation for ecological and environmental damage of 90,000 yuan will be received for the protection and restoration of the environment in the wild rhododendron growing area in the Daxing'an Mountains.
After communication and coordination of the Daxinganling Branch, from May 14th to 15th, the "two provinces" and "four courts" reached an appointment and discussion on the final compensation matter.
"It is necessary for the judicial organs and administrative departments of the two places to strengthen linkage and jointly build a mechanism for coordinated governance and protection." "We must mobilize the public, and through our efforts, the people can consciously devote themselves to environmental protection and achieve the maximum publicity effect." At the symposium, after Han Fang, deputy procurator general of the People's Procuratorate of Yuhuatai District, Nanjing City, introduced the handling of the case, everyone spoke freely, discussed measures to jointly build an ecological barrier, and shared experience.
In this discussion, the procuratorial organs of the two provinces and the Forestry and Grassland Bureau of the new forest area of the Daxing'an Mountains reached a consensus on the implementation of the "Framework Cooperation Agreement on the Protection of Wild and Rare Plants", and by giving full play to their respective functional advantages, they will promote the protection of wild rare plants, the governance of the ecological environment of the growing area, the popularization of science and the education of the rule of law, and jointly build a judicial protection base for wild rare plants, a professional support mechanism for handling cases involving the protection of wild animals, and a legal education and practice base for the protection of wild and rare plants. Establish a system of joint meetings and liaisons.
After the discussion, the participants witnessed the transfer of ecological damage compensation to the People's Government of Xinlin District, and conducted field research on the judicial protection of Xing'an rhododendrons.
Image courtesy of the local area