An environmental group on Sunday vowed to appeal to a higher court after its lawsuit against eight chemical plants over pollution in the Tengger Desert was rejected.

The Intermediate People's Court of Zhongwei, in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, declined on Friday to accept the organization's lawsuit, said Wang Wenyong, lawyer for the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation.

In declining the case, the court said the group was not a qualified plaintiff because its services did not include public interest litigation on environmental protection.