Chinese prosecutors step up support for environmental protection

BEIJING -- Chinese procuratorates nationwide handled a total of 65,477 cases related to ecological environment and resource protection in the first 11 months of 2019, the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) said on May 13.

Remarkable outcomes have been seen in a special cleanup campaign that was launched in December 2018 to preserve China's Yellow River.

The special campaign, led by the SPP and the Ministry of Water Resources, aims to regulate illegal riverside occupation, construction, mining and waste in nine provincial-level regions along the river.

Procuratorial organs had filed 1,097 public interest litigations against violations that damaged the Yellow River, facilitated the cleanup of 1,707 mu (about 113.8 hectares) of polluted waters, dismantling of 808,000 square meters of illegal construction and clearing of nearly 1.39 million tonnes of household and construction waste from the river, said Hu Weilie with the SPP at a press conference.