THE Supreme People’s Court (SPC) on Wednesday stressed the importance of cracking down on the illegal felling of trees ahead of the country’s second National Ecology Day, which fell on Thursday.

The SPC released four typical cases handled by local courts in recent years in a statement to warn the public against indiscriminately felling trees, and also emphasized the necessity of obtaining certain licenses before going ahead with tree felling.

In the released court cases, punishments were imposed on a number of individuals for offenses including damaging trees to plant cash crops, transporting illegally felled trees, and cutting trees in forest land that was converted from cropland under the country’s long-term program of returning farmland to forest.

In one case, three people in Huishui County, Guizhou Province, were given prison terms ranging from 42 months to 44 months after they were found to have cut down Masson pine trees without permission. Two others who helped them transport the trees to mills for processing and sale received three-year sentences.

In addition, the criminals were ordered to restore the damaged environment by purchasing forestry carbon credits and paying for the planting of replacement trees.

“It’s a typical case in which everyone involved in the forest destruction was severely penalized, whether they were destroyers or transporters,” said Yang Di, a judge who specializes in tackling environmental cases at the top court.

“The crackdown on illegal transport while fighting deforestation was conducive to strengthening the protection of forest resources,” she said, adding that the environmental restoration helped reestablish the dynamic balance of the regional ecosystem.

Data released by the Beijing High People’s Court on Wednesday showed that courts across the city concluded 374 environmental cases last year, 84 of which were related to deforestation, illegal hunting and illegal fishing.

To increase the public’s awareness of the importance of protecting the environment, many courts in Beijing have established education centers or stations to introduce environmental laws and examples of related disputes in communities or parks, said Li Xuhui, vice president of the high court, adding that they have also endeavored to improve the handling of such cases.

A decision was made to designate Aug. 15 as China’s annual National Ecology Day at a session of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People’s Congress in June 2023.

(Xinhua, China Daily)