Recently, the Department of Ecology and Environment of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region issued the Notice of the Second Batch of Typical Cases of Compensation for Eco-environmental Damage in Guangxi. According to the circular, in order to implement the Regulations on the Management of Compensation for Eco-environmental Damage, further promote the reform of the system of compensation for eco-environmental damage, and further summarize and refine the experience and practices of effective case handling, which can be used for reference and promotion, our office collected typical cases of compensation for eco-environmental damage from the municipal eco-environmental departments in October 2024. After primary selection of the normative, innovative and representative cases, and inviting relevant experts to review, five cases such as "Wuzhou Aircraft Flight Accident Eco-environmental Damage Compensation Case" were finally selected as the second batch of typical cases of eco-environmental damage compensation in Guangxi, which are now published.
Among them, the case of compensation for ecological environment damage caused by illegal occupation of forest land by cement limestone mine in Longxuhe mining area of a cement company in Guangxi has attracted the attention of the industry.
1. Basic
facts of the case (1)
Since 2007, the cement limestone mine project in Longxuhe Mining Area of a cement company in Guangxi has not obtained the permission to use the forest land. In the 1st, 2nd and 3rd forest compartments of Youchang Village, Pingma Town, Tiandong County, illegal occupation of forest land for quarrying, road construction, earth and rock occupation, construction of other buildings and structures and other activities destroyed forest vegetation and forestry production conditions, and damaged forest ecological services. The case clues were found through natural resources law enforcement inspection, mass reporting and other channels, and after on-site investigation and preliminary assessment, the case was filed by Tiandong Forestry Bureau according to law.
(2) After investigation and assessment
, the act violates laws and regulations such as the Forest Law, resulting in the destruction of forest vegetation and the loss of ecological service functions, and meets the starting conditions for compensation for ecological environment damage. On January 8, 2024, the Office of the Chief of Forestry of Baise City sent a letter to Tiandong County to urge it to carry out the work related to compensation for ecological environment damage. Tiandong Forestry Bureau commissioned Guangxi Huasen Forestry Judicial Appraisal Center to carry out ecological environment damage appraisal on January 16, 2024. Based on field survey, remote sensing data analysis and literature comparison, the center confirmed that the area of forest land illegally occupied by enterprises reached 66.1713 hectares, of which the total loss of comprehensive ecological service value, such as forest structure damage, biomass loss and carbon sink function damage, was 9.4359 million yuan.
(3) The forestry department
of Baise City and the obligor of compensation held three rounds of consultation on ecological damage compensation from April to May 2024, focusing on the determination of liability, the amount of compensation and the way of restoration. The Agreement on Compensation for Ecological Damage finally signed clearly States that the enterprise shall complete the payment of 9.4359 million yuan of compensation within 60 days, and complete the procedures for the use of forest land within the scope of the mining license within a time limit. During the consultation process, the forestry department simultaneously invited legal advisers and ecological restoration experts to participate in order to ensure that the content of the agreement meets the requirements of the Regulations on the Management of Compensation for Eco-environmental Damage, taking into account legal constraints and the effectiveness of ecological restoration.
(4) The obligor of compensation for restoration
shall pay the compensation in full on June 12, 2024, and entrust a third party to prepare a restoration plan for the temporary land part of the project. On July 29 of the same year, the enterprise successfully obtained 84.5809 hectares of forest land use license issued by the State Forestry and Grassland Administration, marking that the development of mining areas was formally brought into the track of legalization. In the follow-up supervision, Tiandong Forestry Bureau regularly organizes on-the-spot verification to ensure the progress and quality of the restoration project, and to achieve the dual objectives of ecological environment damage compensation and resource development compliance.
2. Experience and Enlightenment
(1) Departments should work together to promote the work of damage compensation as a whole. Since the case of the company's illegal use of forest land was filed, the competent forestry authorities of Baise City have intervened in an all-round way at the first time, urged the Forestry Bureau of Tianlin County to carry out investigations, grasp the detailed information of the damage area and carry out the work of evidence fixation, which laid a solid evidence foundation for the scientific handling of the follow-up appraisal and evaluation work. In addition, in the handling stage of the case, the forestry department actively cooperated with the public security organs, people's procuratorates and people's courts to provide professional guidance for clarifying the illegal facts of the case, determining the liability for compensation, and ensuring the efficient and orderly conduct of the follow-up consultation, thus improving the probability of successful consultation.
(2) Optimizing the means of consultation and giving full play to the role of grass-roots governments. On the basis of investigating, verifying and clarifying the facts of damage, the Tiandong County Government organized forestry, public security, procuratorates, courts and other departments to conduct several patient, meticulous and effective consultation and communication with the obligors of compensation, and combined with the appraisal and evaluation report, strengthened the publicity and implementation of relevant laws and regulations on ecological environment damage, so as to achieve the goal. Through guidance and education, the parties are fully aware of the seriousness of the illegal acts and the responsibilities and consequences they should bear, and ultimately actively assume the liability for damages. It not only implements the way and time limit of compensation, but also actively handles the permit procedures for the use of forest land as required, which plays an exemplary role in the scientific punishment of such illegal acts.
(3) "Double investigation of one case" to achieve efficient handling of claims. In the process of handling this case, Baise City started the work of damage compensation simultaneously while investigating the illegal acts. On the basis of finding out the illegal facts, the competent forestry authorities fully considered the situation of enterprises taking the initiative to carry out damage compensation and environmental compliance rectification, adjusted the amount of discretion as appropriate, and urged enterprises to strictly implement the main responsibility of environmental protection. It not only saves administrative costs, but also speeds up the efficiency of damage compensation, and ensures the normal production of enterprises; it also improves the awareness of environmental risks of enterprises, publicizes and popularizes the concept of "environmental value, damage responsibility", and ensures a good business environment.
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