Beijing lawyer fights for pollution victims

A dozen years ago, Xu says she took Beijing’s smoggy skies for granted. Then, in the mid-1990s, she accompanied her diplomat husband to live in Spain.

During her first extended stay abroad, she learned about environmental protection, as well as the concept of civil society, where individuals take independent action on social issues.

When she returned home, the bleak view from her 16th-story Beijing apartment didn’t look the same to her. She knew that something was wrong, and vowed to take action.

In 1998, Xu helped found the legal aid center with a fellow law professor Wang Canfa. As with many cases she has worked on, the chemical factory in Hunan province was brought to her attention by nearby villagers.

In Shutangshan, a village nestled in the mountains of northeastern Hunan province, a few hundred farmers grow rice and vegetables, and raise chickens, pigs, and ducks. But since the chemical factory opened in 2001, life has become harder.

Villagers like Xiao Xiang Lin, suspect the water is now polluted. Mr. Xiao says that since the factory opened, the Xiang River, a once-bountiful tributary of the Yangtze, has had “no more fish.”

Villagers’ many ap­peals to local authorities have not yielded substantial results.

Last year the factory owner told China Economic Times, a state-run paper, that his plant had some pollution problems, but said evidence had not been gathered to link villagers’ ills to the factory.

Xu then planned two trips to the factory to investigate. Now she is working with an environmental lawyer in nearby Changsha City to document the pollution. Their aim is to prepare a lawsuit to force the factory to shut down or upgrade.

“I want them to make the law work,” says Shutangshan resident Chen Li Fang, who has seen her orange trees shrivel and their fruit grow bitter.
Xu’s legal aid organization is not alone in its efforts to help clean up rural China.

Since a monumental 1994 law opened the first legal avenue for nongovernmental organizations in China, a nascent civil society has emerged here. According to the New York-based nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council, some 3,000 independent (albeit with restrictions) green groups are active across China.

One example is the Beijing-based Insti­tute of Public and Environmental Affairs, founded three years ago by former journalist Ma Jun.
“I identify water pollution as one of the biggest environmental challenges for China,” says Mr. Ma.

Ma wrote “China’s Water Crisis,” a book often likened in its impact to Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring.”

In 2006, his organization launched the “China Water Pollution Map,” a free online database about water quality. The site also collects data on factories that violate China’s green laws.

His aim is to nurture a more informed and engaged citizenry. “We need to promote public participation to solve the water-pollution problem,” Ma says. “But without information and data, there cannot be meaningful participation.”

Xu also strives to increase public awareness of environmental laws and what she calls “environmental rights.”

To that end, her organization hosts an annual training program on environmental law. So far they have trained about 500 lawyers and judges from across China.

“The Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims’ most critical contribution to China’s environmental law is educating judges and lawyers,” says Linden Ellis of the China Environment Forum in Washington, D.C.

Meanwhile in Shutangshan, villagers are putting their faith in Xu.

“Just to teach environmental law is not interesting to me now,” Xu says. “I feel I must put my knowledge to use and help people learn what is justice in China.”

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