| The report of the 19 th National People’s Congress stated that,to achieve the harmony between human and the nature,sticking to the idea of "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" and the basic principle of resource conservation and environment protection is an imperative.Therefore,as a basic approach to achieve sustainable development of ecological resources and environment protection,the importance of ecological compensation has been emphasized.The exploration of this mechanism under the Chinese legislation has lasted for 40 years and finally settled in the Forest Law of the People’s Republic of China(2019 Revision).Article 7 clearly established the forest ecological compensation(FEC)system under the Chinese legislation.However,the regulations in relation to this mechnism are too general and instructive,resulting in the lack of legal basis in practice and the difficulty in reaching the fundamental purpose of protecting the ecological environment.Moreover,it may occur contradictions between the compensation subjects.This essay did a research on Chinese FEC mechanism by using methods of document study,historical analysis,comparative research,empirical study and systematic analysis,and is divided into five parts.The first part gives insights into the background of this topic and highlights the significance it brings along.It also introduces the status quo both internally and externally and summarizes the content and purpose of this paper.The second part defines the concept of “FEC”.Meanwhile,based on the research findings so far,this essay also includes the theoretical basis and the legal nature of this concept.It believes that the idea of “compensation from the ecological destroyer to the ecological victim” should be brought into the mechanism,recognizing that FEC has the legal character of both civil law and administrative law,and therefore can be governed by both of them in practice.Besides,by summarizing the four steps of legislative phases since the Economic Reform and open up regarding the FEC,it concludes that the existing Chinese legislation lacks feasibility and systematicness.The third part discusses the judicial precedents in FEC in the past six years,finding out the difficulty in implementing this system in practice due to the legislative hysteresis,the unclearness of the enforcement agency’s position and the unprofessional judicial organ.The fourth part introduces the mechanism in other jurisdictions including the United States,Germany,Japan,Costa Rica and other countries.On the one hand,by making comparisons between them,it summarizes the similar characteristics of these jurisdictions,such as the relatively sophisticated ecological compensation legal system,the inclusion of private forests,the emphasis on the government’s lead role and the introduction of market mechanisms.On the other hand,there are discrepancies in legislative purposes,legal rigidity,marketization,and maximum flexibility due to different national conditions,but the experience from those countries can be of great help to us in terms of legislative principles,compensation subjects,scope,fund source,and compensation standards.The fifth part combines the legislation and practice overseas and the existing problems domestically.It indicates the significance of clarifying the constitutional status of ecological compensation and accelerating the introduction of the specific regulations in relation to ecological compensation and forwardly formulating the forest ecological compensation rules to ensure the implementation.In addition,in order to ensure the continued operation of the system,other supporting and related mechanisms should be established to achieve the purpose of joint implementation and the ultimate goal of protecting ecological environments,reaching sustainable development of forest resources and the harmony between people and the nature. |
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