8 tribunals formed to handle environmental disputes in Beijing

A data released by the Beijing High People's Court on Wednesday showed that the capital has set up eight tribunals to focus on the handling of environmental disputes.

The tribunals to continue improving the quality of handling environmental cases and to enhance the public's legal awareness of protecting the environment comprise 11 judicial teams and 33 judges.

"Those specialized institutes have played a big role in ensuring the professionalism of the environmental case hearings," Li Xuhui, vice-president of the high court, told a news conference.

Meanwhile, courts citywide have also increased communication with environmental academies and invited experts in this regard to be their think tanks to make the relevant case handling more professional, he said.

In addition, the capital's courts work with government departments, including those on agriculture, forests, water, tourism, cultures and rural affairs, to jointly introduce environmental laws and regulations to the residents, with establishment of law education booths, so as to help them enhance legal awareness, he added.

"For example, Miyun District People's Court established an unit involving the protection of bird habitats and trees planting to explore new ways of environmental remediation by rule of law," he added.

Last month, Pinggu District People's Court also built such an unit in the Tianyun Mountain scenic spot to help tourists learn more about environmental laws while visiting the area.

In 2023, Beijing courts concluded a total of 374 environmental cases, of which, 41 were related to noise pollution and 84 involved illegal fishing, illegal hunting and deforestation, according to the data.