By TONY JIN
A court of Qingzhen, Guizhou province in China’s southwest, accepted the country’s first lawsuit against a government agency over environmental issues brought by a charitable organization on July 28. The All-China Environment Federation sued Qingzhen’s land and resources authority for granting a permit to Li Wanxian, the legal person for the construction of an ice cream workshop in the natural scenic spot of Baihua Lake. “We received reports from the public that the workshop poses a threat to the local ecosystems, and our investigation confirmed that this is true,” said Ma Yong, head of the federation’s environmental law supervision division. Existing Chinese laws require plaintiffs of civil cases to have direct interests in the case they put forth, which excludes public interest including environmental activism.
While the case is yet to be resolved it may mark a dramatic change in Chinese law and give enviormental protection groups a new tool to help prevent industrial pollution.