Zhou Qiang,  president of the Supreme People's Court (SPC), attends, via video link, the opening ceremony of the first judicial forum on the overall protection of the Yangtze River. [Photo/court.gov.cn]

Zhou Qiang, president of the Supreme People's Court (SPC), called for continuous efforts on reform and innovations on environmental judiciary, and the comprehensive consolidation of judicial protection of the Yangtze River, in a bid for strong judicial services for the modernization of harmonious coexistence between man and nature.

He made those remarks while attending, via video link, the opening ceremony of the first judicial forum on the overall protection of the Yangtze River, which was held on Nov 24 in Wuhan, Hubei province.

Zhou noted that the central leadership has attached great importance to and given instructions on the protection of the Yangtze River since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Over the past decade, the people's courts have striven to build a specialized trial system for environmental resources with Chinese characteristics, improve judicial policies, judgement rule systems and joint coordination between related departments across the region on the protection of the ecological environment of the Yangtze River Basin, which has contributed to the ecological protection and high-quality economic development of the region.

The report to the 20th CPC National Congress emphasized that Chinese modernization features harmony between humanity and nature, and gives strategic priority to green development for a harmonious coexistence between man and nature, he noted, adding that courts across the nation should learn and implement the guiding principles of the congress, shoulder their due responsibilities in protecting the lucid waters and lush mountains, and propel the high-quality development of the Yangtze River Basin.

Efforts are needed on the  integrated conservation and restoration of the basin, with priority given to ecological preservation and green development, to intensify punishment on environmental law violations in the region, and to solidify the judicial shield of the ecological security of the region, according to Zhou. More work needs to be done to fully enforce the Yangtze River Protection Law for the restoration of the ecological environment in the region, to completely, accurately and comprehensively implement the new development concept in coordinating ecological and environmental protection and the rational use of natural resources, to propel green and low-carbon development, ensure the effective functioning of the Yangtze River's golden waterway, and serve the high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, he said.

Further efforts are needed to promote theoretical and practical innovation in environmental justice, deepen exchanges between the people's courts and the legal theoretical circles, and strengthen research on new situations and challenges in the judicial protection of the ecological environment, so as to provide theoretical support for deepening reform and innovation in environmental justice and jointly promote ecological environmental protection to a new level, Zhou added.

The forum was jointly held by the Hubei Provincial High People's Court, the Yangtze River Maritime Law Association, law schools of Wuhan University, the Huazhong University of Science and Technology and the Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, and the people's court's theoretical research (Wuhan University) base on environmental resource trials. The forum held in-depth discussions on hot issues concerning judicial protection of the ecological environment in the Yangtze River Basin.