生态损害是指人为的活动已经造成或者可能造成人类生存和发展所必须依赖的生态（或环境）发生物理、化学、生物性能的重大退化。2002年发生在我国的“塔斯曼海”油轮油污案的裁判结果已充分证明，生态损害是区别于传统环境侵权损害的一种独立存在，立法对生态损害预防和救济的不作为将会造成环境公共利益的重大损害。结合法理和欧盟有关法治实践经验分析可知，直接或潜在影响广大公众和未来世代子孙的环境公共利益之无主的或非私人所有（国家或公共机构所有）的环境要素、自然资源、生态系统的损害，才是环境民事公益诉讼所应救济的主要实体性公益。

“Ecological damage” refers to any existing and/or likely significant humaninduced degradation in the physical，chemical and/or ecological functions of any part of ecological or environmental systems，or on the whole consisting of those interacting parts，which are the foundations for human beings survival and developmentThe Judgment of the 2002 Tasman Sea Tanker oil pollution case has testified that the ecological damage is independent from the traditional environmental tort damageAbsent legislative prevention and remedy of ecological damage，the environmental public interests will be seriously infringedThe legal theories and relevant law practices in the European Union indicate that only the damage to the ownerless and/or nonprivate environmental elements，natural elements and ecological system，which directly or potentially affects the broad publics and future generations environmental public interests，shall be the core substantive public interest remedied by environmental public interest litigation.