Comment On The First Public Welfare Litigation Of Human Heritage Environmental Protection In China

In 2015,Henan Province "ancient village protection environmental public interest litigation" case,is the first public interest litigation case of human heritage environmental protection.The administrative organs demolished the human heritage of ancient villages for project development and construction.After investigation by the China Foundation for the Conservation of Biodiversity and Green Development,it decided to institute environmental civil public interest litigation.The case was handled by the Zhengzhou Intermediate People's Court of Henan Province.The plaintiff is the China Biodiversity Protection and Green Development Foundation.The defendant is the Magu Village Committee of Shangjie District,Shangjie District Government,Shangjie Xiawu Town Government,Shangjie District Culture,Radio and Television Press and Publishing Bureau.The case is a dispute over the liability for environmental tort.This is the icebreaking action of China's environmental civil public interest litigation,which has aroused great repercussions in the society.Through this lawsuit,we can protect the ecological environment and public interests,inspire people to use legal weapons to protect the environment,guide the public to pay attention to human heritage of the Chinese nation,and realize the protection of immovable cultural relics.This case involves four major controversies:is the case an environmental lawsuit,an environmental civil lawsuit,an environmental civil public interest lawsuit,and whether the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation is a qualified plaintiff?According to the focus of the dispute,combing legal provisions and legal rules,the following conclusions can be drawn:Human heritage belong to an important part of the environment,with ecological characteristics,removal of immovable cultural relics destroyed the original ecological environment,belongs to the destruction of the ecological environment in environmental litigation,so this case is an environmental litigation.No matter from the time node or the subject and scope of the application of the law,the case can only be civil litigation.Human heritage are social public resources with typical public attributes.The removal of immovable cultural relics infringes the public interests of society.This case belongs to environmental civil public interest litigation.China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation has been established for more than five years,it has no illegal record and specializing in environmental protection activities,and it meets the requirements of environmental public interest litigation stipulated by Environmental Protection Law and Civil Procedure Law is a qualified plaintiff in this case.