Dramatic rise seen in environmental lawsuits

The number of environmental public interest cases brought by NGOs and prosecutors increased rapidly during the past 12 months as related laws and a pilot program move forward, the nation's top court said.

A report on the Environment and Resource Adjudication of China, issued by the Supreme People's Court on Thursday, showed courts heard 848 environmental public interest cases between July 2016 and last month, of which 791 were initiated by prosecutors.

Of the lawsuits filed by prosecutors, 720 were against governmental departments, up from about 690 a year ago, the top court said.