Zhou Qiang, president and chief justice of the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) of China, meets with Joyce Msuya, deputy executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on Apr 22 in Beijing. [Photo/english.court.gov.cn]

Zhou Qiang, president and chief justice of the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) of China, met with Joyce Msuya, deputy executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on Apr 22 in Beijing.

Zhou welcomed Msuya and briefly introduced China’s environment protection and judicial protection of environment.

China pays a lot of attention to ecological protection and adheres to the conviction that “lucid water and lush mountains are invaluable assets”. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, China has included ecological civilization construction in the national development strategy and the related work has achieved fruitful outcomes, said Zhou.

SPC adheres to the new development concepts. It tries various kinds of environment and resources cases fairly and effectively in accordance with laws, actively improves the environmental cases trial system and the professional level of environmental judicature, formulates and improves judicial interpretation and releases typical cases to provide strong services and guarantee for promoting ecological civilization construction and green development, according to Zhou.

He added that the SPC and UNEP maintain a good relationship in environmental judicature. He said he hopes the two sides will deepen practical cooperation on exchange, judges’ cultivation and case studies so as to strengthen global environmental protection and build a community with a shared future for humanity.

Msuya said she admires the achievements in environmental protection and judicature China has made, and added that UNEP is willing to introduce China’s successful experience to other countries worldwide.

She said that she hopes the UNEP and the SPC will strengthen cooperation in environmental judicature and boost environmental management to achieve sustainable global development.