11 punished for damage to trees under protection

Eleven people in Guizhou province were recently sentenced to prison ranging from 10 months to four years for endangering national key protected plants, including destroying a 2,600-year-old nanmu, a precious mothproof wood.

According to the Guizhou High People's Court on Tuesday, the people's court of Leishan county handed down the sentence on April 12.

The 11 people and another four defendants who were involved in civil charges in the case were also ordered to undertake the restoration of the destroyed trees by subscribing to carbon sinks.

The 15 were also sentenced to undertake the restoration and pay rescue costs of over 290,000 yuan ($42,800) for the seriously damaged 2,600-year-old nanmu and jointly pay compensation of more than 150,000 yuan.

From September to December in 2021, two defendants surnamed Lu and Zhang went to several townships in Guizhou to steal nanmu, and cut the trees into blocks to sell to another two defendants.

Later, these tree blocks were sent to Fujian province and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region for processing, forming a criminal chain of theft, transportation, sale and purchase.

The defendants destroyed more than 30 plants under the key protection of the State, including causing the death of seven plants under second-class national protection. They were also involved in the trade of more than 200 nanmu boards, accumulating about 2.3 cubic meters. In total, they made a profit of 415,000 yuan.

Among the trees was the 2,600-year-old nanmu, which is a national second-level key protected plant. Known as the "King of ancient nanmu" in the local area, the tree had a diameter at chest height of 1.9 meters.

Recently, courts have explored ways to impose penalties such as subscribing to carbon sinks and restoring the environment.

The circuit court is aiming to severely crack down on damaging the ecosystem and properly handle civil, administrative and administrative non-prosecution enforcement cases.

The circuit court has strengthened coordination with local departments of ecological, marine and fishery, natural resources and forestry to promote the systematic management of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grass and sand, to help maintain the carbon sequestration value of forest trees and the marine ecology, and achieve the dual national goals of peaking carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality before 2060.