Henan Releases White Paper on Environmental and Resource Adjudication, Over 31,000 Cases Closed in Three Years

On World Environment Day, the Henan Provincial Higher People's Court released the "Henan Environmental and Resource Adjudication White Paper (2023–2025)." The white paper shows that over the past three years, courts in Henan accepted 31,907 firstinstance environmental and resource cases and concluded 31,524 of them, continuing to focus efforts on ecological and environmental protection and resource adjudication. The white paper states that in recent years, Henan courts have promoted centralized jurisdiction over environmental and resource cases, gradually establishing an "18+1+1" adjudication system covering the whole province and centered on the Yellow River Basin. Through measures such as establishing circuit courts and issuing work guidelines related to the Yellow River Protection Law, they have strengthened ecological judicial protection in the Yellow River Basin. Along the route of the Middle Route of the SouthtoNorth Water Diversion Project, Henan has also strengthened specialized adjudication for water quality protection to ensure the safety of water transfer. At the same time, Henan has enhanced coordination with departments such as public security, procuratorates, ecological environment, and natural resources, carrying out judicial protection for nature reserves, Yellow River cultural resources, and ancient and notable trees, promoting ecological and environmental governance to extend from casebycase adjudication to systematic protection.