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Jimu News reporter Zhao Bei

Correspondent Shen Faxuan Luo Yao

On August 15, Jimu News reporter learned from the Hubei Provincial High People's Court that the largest forestry "carbon ticket" in Hubei Province has been subscribed to date, totaling 3,164.56 tons of carbon sinks, worth more than 280,000 yuan. It is reported that this case is the largest environmental civil public interest litigation case in which the forestry carbon sink amount was subscribed after the first forestry carbon ticket was issued in Hubei Province.

Carbon ticket (Photo provided by the correspondent)

It is understood that from August 2020 to June 2021, the defendant company used forest land and land beyond the approved red line during the construction process. It was determined that the illegal occupation of agricultural land was 27,611.27 square meters (41.41 acres).

In October 2022, the defendant company took the initiative to repair the damaged forest land and reforested an area of ​​32,841 square meters. Experts evaluated and determined that the ecological functions of the damaged forest land no longer exist, and the loss of related ecological service functions totaled more than 280,000 yuan.

The People's Procuratorate of Yichang City believes that the defendant company's illegal occupation of agricultural land has caused damage to forest vegetation, affected the surrounding environment, and harmed the public interest. Although a certain degree of restoration has been carried out, experts have determined that the newly planted forests do not yet have ecological functions and the public interest is still being infringed.

On June 11, 2024, the People's Procuratorate of Yichang City filed a civil public interest lawsuit with the Intermediate People's Court of Yichang City, demanding that the defendant company be ordered to compensate for the relevant ecological service function losses totaling more than 280,000 yuan, and to make a public apology in the city-level news media.

After accepting the case, the Yichang Intermediate People's Court held that although the defendant company had illegally occupied forest land and had replanted trees, the replanted trees were young trees, which would take about five years for them to close and grow into a forest with initial ecological functions, and could not make up for the relevant ecological and environmental losses. According to relevant regulations, the public interest litigation plaintiff's claim for compensation for the loss of ecological service functions has factual and legal basis. On the basis of determining the existence of objective facts, the Yichang Intermediate People's Court guided the defendant company to assume ecological and environmental damage compensation liability by purchasing carbon sinks.

On August 14, the two parties reached an agreement on the subscription of carbon sinks and signed a mediation agreement. The defendant company voluntarily purchased Changyang Forestry's "carbon ticket" to fulfill its ecological damage compensation liability. The subscription amount was more than 280,000 yuan and the subscribed carbon sink volume was 3,164.56 tons.

(Source: Jimu News)

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