China’s environmental crime arrests soar in 2018

China arrested 15,095 people for environmental crimes in 2018, up 51.5 per cent from a year earlier, the country’s top prosecuting body said on Thursday, as it worked to improve compliance among local governments and enterprises.

China has been trying to make better use of its police and judicial authorities to redress the damage done to its skies, soil and water by four decades of breakneck economic growth.

In 2018, authorities also prosecuted 42,195 people for a range of environmental offences such as illegal deforestation and land occupation, as well as unlawful mining and fishing activities, said Zhang Zhijie, a senior prosecutor with China’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate.

The number of prosecutions was up 21 per cent on the year, although they were still relatively small compared to the total number of environmental violations, which reached 130,000 in the first nine months of 2018 alone.

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“We are punishing crimes, with the purpose not to impose simple criminal punishments on suspects and defendants, but to repair social relations, restore environmental damage and demonstrate a favourable course of development,” Zhang told reporters at a briefing.