Since June 2011, Yunnan Zechang Titanium Industry Co., Ltd. has started dumping its dangerous waste residue containing Iron(II) sulfate into Qinggou River, Dabai Village & Zhangwan Village, Fumin County, Kunming City. Without going through any formalities, it has illegally occupied farmland and forest land as industrial waste residue storage yard, and no relevant protective measures have been taken for the storage yard. From 2013 to 2017, the Kunming Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau has imposed administrative penalties on Zechang Titanium Industry Co., Ltd but it refused to rectify and improve.

In December 2017, the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) filed a public interest lawsuit with the Kunming Intermediate People's Court. After the first instance judgment, CBCGDF appealed. In January 2020, the Yunnan High People’s Court made a judgment to uphold the original judgment.

In April 2020, CBCGDF submitted a retrial application to the Supreme Court for this case, mainly because both the first and second instance judgements avoided or rather did not ascertain the basic facts of the case that Zechang Titanium Industry has never gone through the approval procedures for the waste disposal site, and the land occupied by the waste was originally farmland and forest land.

On June 4, 2020, the High People's Court of Yunnan Province held a press conference to release the top 10 typical cases of “the environmental resources trial in Yunnan Province in 2019”. Among them, environmental public interest litigation cases have attracted social attention due to their public welfare nature, and are the top priority of environmental justice work. CBCGDF suing Zechang Titanium Industry Co., Ltd case is one of the 10 typical cases.

Reference: https://www.sohu.com/a/460149859_100001695

Translator: Sara

Checked by: Daisy

Editor: Sara     

Contact: v10@cbcgdf.org; +8617319454776

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