The Intermediate People's Court of Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, recently accepted the case involving Changwai. “ Toxic land ” Public interest litigation. The environmental organizations Friends of Nature and China Green Development Foundation have filed a public interest lawsuit against Jiangsu Changlong Chemical Co., Ltd., Changzhou Changyu Chemical Co., Ltd., and Jiangsu Huada Chemical Group Co., Ltd., requesting the court to order the defendants to eliminate the impact of pollutants from their former sites on the surrounding environment and to bear the costs of ecological restoration. The court’s acceptance of the case signifies that the highly watched Changwai... “ Toxic land ” The case has officially entered the judicial process.

　　In recent years, ecological and environmental issues have become increasingly severe, and cases of environmental pollution being brought to light have been on the rise. Environmental justice has thus become an integral part of social equity and justice. “ Shortboard ” To address the inadequacy of environmental law enforcement and rights protection, and to ensure citizens’ right to a safe, healthy, clean, and sustainable environment—as well as their right to be free from harm caused by environmental degradation—China has introduced public interest litigation into both the revised Environmental Protection Law and the Civil Procedure Law. The Supreme People’s Court has also issued a special judicial interpretation on environmental public interest litigation. Legislative efforts aim to use judicial intervention to restore environmental justice. Against this backdrop, “ Toxic land ” The case’s transition to a public interest lawsuit undoubtedly has a positive demonstration effect.

　　But we must also recognize that, regardless of... “ Toxic land ” Whatever the outcome of the case may be, the power of rule-of-law oversight that public interest litigation can currently unleash remains limited. On the one hand, environmental protection laws merely stipulate that... “ Registered with the civil affairs department of the people's government at or above the prefectural-level city, in accordance with the law. ” and “ Has been engaged in public welfare activities for environmental protection for more than five consecutive years and has no record of violations. ” Social organizations can file public interest lawsuits, while excluding individual citizens—who possess the greatest potential for oversight—from doing so. Currently, nationwide, only... 1000 The social organizations affiliated with Yu’s family are qualified to file lawsuits; however, due to constraints such as lack of funding, insufficient manpower, conflicts of interest, and difficulties in gathering evidence, these organizations do not show much enthusiasm. 2015 Only annual 9 Household social organizations have become plaintiffs in environmental public interest litigation, filing a total of... 37 A case has been filed, yet the Environmental Court of the Kunming Intermediate People’s Court has even found itself in the awkward situation of having no cases to hear. Clearly, overall, environmental public interest litigation has yet to generate a ripple effect.

　　On the other hand, the key factors hindering environmental justice lie not only with polluting enterprises but also with the environmental protection authorities entrusted with law enforcement and regulatory duties. In many cases of environmental pollution, both the illegal and non-compliant behavior of polluting enterprises and the negligence and dereliction of duty on the part of environmental protection law enforcement agencies have been present. Without administrative public interest litigation targeting environmental protection authorities, civil public interest lawsuits that name only polluting enterprises as defendants will hardly address the root causes of the problem. Therefore, to expand the role of public interest litigation in restoring environmental justice, we must first open up standing to sue, enabling more supervisory forces to participate in public interest litigation in accordance with the law; second, we must promptly establish administrative public interest litigation for environmental protection, thereby compelling environmental protection law enforcement agencies to truly assume their regulatory responsibilities.