This year marks the 20th anniversary of the proposal of the concept that "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets". On the third National Ecology Day, Aug 15, the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) have jointly released a batch of typical cases connecting ecological damage compensation and procuratorial public interest litigation.
The initiative was launched to guide procuratorates and environmental authorities at all levels in further standardizing and strengthening coordination in handling these cases. The goal is to more effectively link ecological damage compensation with procuratorial public interest litigation.
From January 2024 to July 2025, procuratorates across the country handled 86,000 public interest litigation cases related to ecological and environmental conservation and resources protection, including 72,000 administrative public interest litigation cases and 14,000 civil public interest litigation cases. Over 7,500 public interest lawsuits were initiated, accounting for 57.6 percent of the total public interest lawsuits filed across various fields. From January 2018 to July 2025, environmental authorities and other relevant government departments nationwide handled approximately 56,900 cases related to ecological damage compensation.
The six newly released cases address issues such as the management of tailings ponds, water pollution, hazardous waste, and air pollution, all of which are critical to production and public welfare. Both the procuratorial civil public interest litigation and the ecological damage compensation system share the same fundamental goal: to hold law violators accountable for environmental damage and facilitate the effective restoration of the public good affected. Procuratorates and environmental authorities have effectively utilized their respective functions to address prominent environmental issues, continuously meeting the public's growing demand for a better eco-environment.
The Department of Laws, Regulations and Standards of the MEE emphasized ongoing efforts to improve the coordination mechanism between ecological damage compensation and procuratorial public interest litigation. Measures include the joint establishment of ecological restoration bases, public legal awareness and cautionary education campaigns and selection of typical cases in collaboration with the procuratorial authorities to ensure timely and effective ecological restoration.
The SPP's Public Interest Litigation Procuratorial Department stated that procuratorates will continue to prioritize eco-environmental conservation in public interest litigation, persistently addressing prominent environmental issues. They will strive to further standardize case handling practices, leverage the supervisory, supportive, and collaborative roles of public interest litigation, and strengthen cooperation with administrative departments responsible for the eco-environment, natural resources, water resources, forestry and grasslands in order to further strengthen eco-environmental protection.
