The Principle Of Civil Liability Of Damage To The Ecological Environment

Before the new Environmental Protection Law was enacted,the so-called"environmental tort "usually refers to the tort of environmental pollution according to Tort Law.Just like most countries in the world,China applies no-fault liability a strict liability as the doctrine of liability fixation in the field of environmental tort,in order to achieve better relief of injured party.As everyone knows,environmental tort brings damage to people indirectly,through the media and carrier environment elements.Therefore,when environmental pollution and destruction lead to the personal and property damage,at the same time that must also caused damage to the ecological environment,in some cases even cause damage to the environment itself only,but not to a specific person or someone's property.The damage caused to ecosystem or environmental itself alone is called environmental damage,usually show the decline in environmental quality,the reduction of biodiversity,on this occasion people need to assume the ecological damage liability.Civil liability for damage to the ecological environment is relative to the people-centered environmental tort liability in current Tort Law.Environmental pollution and ecological destruction are the dual forms of reason behavior and damage results of ecological environment damage liability,while the traditional environmental tort and the results showed the damage of life health and property.In the traditional environmental tort liability perspective,land,plants and animals are the object of property and reflect the economic value;in the ecological environmental damage liability concept,land,water,plants and animals are environmental factors,and reflect the ecological value.Therefore,civil liability for damage to the ecological environment which reflects the concept of ecological civilization and sustainable development,is aimed to redress and protect the environment which we human's survival and development is depends on rather than the specific personal interests,and that focuses on environmental public interest or commonweal and also the fundamental interests of human.Civil liability for environmental damage aimed at common interest is different to civil liability of environmental tort liability in content and form,legislative purpose and value orientation etc.Secondly,through the investigation of the environmental public interest litigation in judicial practice and related theory,the author found that the important basis for the doctrine of liability fixation of the traditional fault liability in the field of environment tort--the unequal status between injurer party and the injured party has reversed and the enterprises but in a more disadvantageous position.Thirdly,civil liability for environmental damage or environmental public litigation has the tendency to replace state or administrative branch to perform environmental administrative function.And that is not conducive to give full play to the role of co-ordination of administrative power on environmental issues.In summary,the civil liability to ecological damage should adopt the principle of fault liability to better protect the ecological environment and to realize the self consistent between the different ranks of the balance of benefits and the legal system.