Research On Legal Mechanism Of China’s Prevention And Control Of Soil Contamination

Soil, is not only an important part of ecological environment, but also a major factor forthe establishment, reproduction, and development of human society, it is a material basis ofeconomic development and social progress. However nearly a century, with the developmentof agriculture, industry, and technology, human beings have an increasing demands on land,which on one hand, accelerates the speed of land development and enlarges the developmentscope, and on the other hand, emissions and strands in a variety of pesticides, heavy metals,and wastes, that deteriorates soil quality, expands pollution areas, and aggravates pollutingsituations. This kind of state has not been effectively controlled by now. Meanwhile, due tothe soil characteristics, once contaminated, it is difficult to repair and a great amount ofmoney and time is required. The lack of legal system on soil protection and governance inChina makes the actual work no laws to abide by and seriously impact the effectiveness ofthe prevention and control. The frequent outbreak of pollution incidents in recent yearsattracts more and more public attentions, and even an increasing number of proposals on soilcontamination are submitted in the recent Two Conferences. Under such circumstance, thethesis aims at improving and perfecting legal mechanism on protection and control of soilcontamination in China by finding out problems of existing legal mechanism and puttingforwards solutions.Thus, the thesis combines with the current soil contamination situation in China,borrows relevant theories of law, environmental law, and natural science, and adoptscomparative analysis and value analysis to make a detailed elaboration of the definition, maintypes, and characteristics of soil contamination, and point out the necessity of its protectionand control work by comparing characters of soil contamination with pollutions by otherenvironmental factors. Second, the thesis introduces the current legal systems on theprotection and control of soil contamination, analyzes the role and significance of thesesystems, and concludes that though partially feasible, these systems are no longer adaptableto today’s soil protection and control with an absence of a systematical unification. Then, thethesis describes the legislative experience on soil protection and control from the United States and Germany, introduces the “superfund system” and “liability principles” of the U.S.as well as the “state responsibility” of Germany with a discussion of the U.S.’s CERCLA andGerman Federal Soil Protection act, and explores the referential significance to China’s soilprotection and control. At last, the thesis puts forwards suggestions on the improvement andperfection of China’s protection and control of soil contamination in view of the actualsituations, and illustrates specific methodology and ideas from strengthening theimplementation of precaution principles, improving agricultural cleaner production system,establishing strict liability system and imputation principle, building up governance system ofsoil contamination, perfecting information publicity and public participation system.