Chinese judges have punished a large number of criminals for jeopardizing the environment and handled 21,015 cases from 1998 to 2001, a grand Chinese justice said Monday in Johannesburg.

Zhang Jun, grand justice and vice-president of the Supreme People's Court of China, said at the Global Judges Symposium that the average annual growth rate of the environment cases stood at 25.35 percent.

Addressing more than 120 chief justices from 61 countries, he said, Chinese judges have provided strong judicial environment protection guarantee, winning them universal respect and acclaim from the Chinese people.

Environment protection is China's basic state policy. It is also China's option in implementing the sustainable development strategy.

Up to now, China has promulgated seven environment protection laws and over 120 regulations to ensure the better life for the world's largest population of 1.3 billion and the sustainable development,

China also concluded or acceded to over 30 international environmental pacts and formulated over 400 environmental standards.

The environment laws and regulations cover a wide range of fields, including atmosphere pollution, water pollution, solid waste, noise pollution and industrial pollution.

Especially, the Chinese grand justice added, the Criminal Law was amended in 1997 for the first time and added 14 criminal charges to the section on the crime of jeopardizing environmental resources.

Under such a law system, he said, the Chinese government has effectively prevented and controlled the impact of economic development upon the environment and avoided serious effect and damages on environmental quality.

Since China's opening to the outside world and the economic reform in 1979, a large amount of foreign investment has flowed into the country, the domestic economy has been full of vigor and vitality after adopting the socialist market economy, thus leading to a higher economic growth of 8-10 percent in the past two decades.

Zhang said that the Chinese government attaches great importance to the environmental problem emerging with the population growth and economic development. It has regarded environment protection as one of the most important aspects in improving people's living standards.

In August 1992 after the UN Conference on Environment and Development, the Chinese government tabled 10 major countermeasures in regard with environment and development and set the road of sustainable development as the inevitable choice of China for today and the future.

In March 1994, the Chinese government also published the White Book on China 21st Century: Population, Environment and Development, which put forward the general strategy, countermeasures and active program of sustainable development.

According to Zhang, Chinese judges have provided strong judicial guarantee for national environment protection. Environment protection judicial activities are carried out in ordinary courts.

Judges engaging in environment protection case trials try the cases in the criminal, civil or administrative court in accordance with the case category. They have received systematic training on environment protection criminal, civil and administrative laws and regulations.

The world's most powerful judges met here Sunday to launch an international effort to strengthen the implementation of environment-related laws on the eve of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD).

A total of 121 judges and senior government officials from 61 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America are to take action at the first global judicial assembly with a focus on the environmental laws.

The judges are going to put forward the presentation of the Johannesburg Principles for further strengthening national level implementation of environmental law in the context of sustainable development in the first-decade of the 21st century at the three-day global judges symposium.

( August 20, 2002)