The Supreme People's Court (SPC) of China released a report on China's judicial protection of biological diversity, on the occasion of the second phase of the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15).

According to the report, courts in China have developed a path of judicial protection of biodiversity with Chinese characteristics with years of practice.

They have strengthened the judicial protection of biodiversity in all areas and throughout the process, given full play to their functions of punishment and education in criminal trials, relief and restoration in civil trials, and supervision and prevention in administrative trials, and effectively safeguarded national ecological security and people's lives and health via the rule of law, the report notes. Since 2013, courts in China have concluded 182,000 cases of first instance concerning biodiversity conservation.

They have adopted a green philosophy in their work of establishing a judicial safety net for biodiversity. The SPC has issued 15 judicial policy documents, formulated 21 judicial interpretations, and released 26 guiding cases as well as 280 typical cases on environmental resources, which have enriched the green adjudication rules, according to the report.

Efforts have been made to continuously improve the specialized trial system to enhance China's judicial capacity in biodiversity protection, the report shows. Under the guidance of the SPC, China has established 2,426 specialized agencies or organizations for environmental resource trials, making China the only country in the world to have established an environmental resource trial system covering all levels of courts.

Efforts have also been made to deepen international cooperation and exchanges, and to promote the improvement of global law for biodiversity protection, in a bid to build a shared future for all life on earth, the report says. China's SPC, together with the United Nations Environment Programme, successfully hosted the World Judicial Conference on the Environment, as part of the introduction events for the COP15 UN biodiversity in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan province, where the Kunming Declaration was adopted to systematically address biodiversity loss, climate change and environmental pollution.