BIG NEWS! A landmark Environmental Public Interest Litigation (EPIL) to protect Ancient Jujube Trees was sentenced yesterday. The EPIL lawsuit filed by CBCGDF was sentenced in Henan Province. Defendants (local governments) are ordered to stop infringements immediately, replant jujube trees (5 times of the dead number), and take care of the new trees in the next 3 years; for those unable to do restoration, the court will order Third Parties to restore the destroyed jujube forest, all cost is on the defendants. Also, the local governments will also compensate ¥3,610,000 RMB for the environmental damage as "period loss of eco-service"; Publicity of the plant protection/awareness promotion/public apology are also part of the sentence.
In 2014, local people called CBCGDF for help because 1800+ Jujube Trees of hundreds of years were removed and all died. Shall old trees be cutting and yield to construction? Trees don't speak, but they're definitely part of the environment and hence of public interest; not to mention that they're so old and of great historic and cultural significance. On behalf of public interest, CBCGDF filed this landmark lawsuit against local governments. From now on, local government officials learn that environmental/biodiversity protection shall not always give way to construction, and they can not do whatever they want to pursuit eco-development.