The Acer pentaphyllum case is going to open a court session! This is the first public interest lawsuit filed by the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) for the protection of endangered plants and preventive public interest litigation to Ganzi middle court in September 2015, which was officially accepted by Ganzi middle court on December 21, 2015.

Case origin: Acer pentaphyllum is endemic in the Sichuan Province of China. According to the criteria of IUCN (IUCN 1994), the species has been classified as extremely endangered. Acer pentaphyllum population near a village in Yajiang County is the largest remaining wild Acer pentaphyllum population in the world. The altitude range of their distribution area is between 2520m and 3000m. There are 262 Acer pentaphyllum in existence. This population is also the only one with natural reproduction ability. However, the construction of the Yagen power station on the Yalong River in Yajiang County will bring them disaster.

According to the Research Report on hydropower development plan of Lianghekou YAGEN section of Yalong River in Sichuan Province, after the completion of two cascade hydropower stations in this section, the normal water level of Lianghekou Hydropower Station is 2860m, the normal water level of YAGEN primary hydropower station is 2602m, and the normal water level of YAGEN secondary hydropower station is 2560m. According to the comparison value between the altitude of the distribution area of Acer pentaphyllum and the water level of the hydropower station, it can be accurately predicted that the majority of the distribution area of Acer pentaphyllum in Yajiang County will be flooded after the normal water storage of the hydropower station reservoir, which poses a serious threat to the survival of Acer pentaphyllum.

The defendant of the case, Yalong River Basin Hydropower Development Co., Ltd., has always denied this fact. Tomorrow (October 30) at 9:30 am, the case will be heard in the first trial court of the central court of Ganzi. The trial will be broadcast live on the China open trial website (http://tingshen.court.gov.cn/), and public attention is welcome.

Original Chinese article:

http://www.cbcgdf.org/NewsShow/4857/10274.html

By / Li Xue