Joint efforts urged to build beautiful planet

President Xi Jinping called on Wednesday for joint efforts and urgent global action to build a beautiful home with harmony between humans and nature, adding that China is standing ready to cooperate with other nations and international organizations to promote global ecological and environmental governance.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remark in a congratulatory letter to the World Judicial Conference on Environment.

The conference, with the theme of "Role of the Judiciary in Advancing Ecological Civilization: Building a Shared Future for All Life on Earth", was jointly held by the Supreme People's Court, China's top court, and the United Nations Environment Programme, in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province, on Wednesday.

Foreign representatives, including justices from Russia, South Africa and Brazil, attended the meeting via video link.

In the letter, Xi said China adheres to new development concepts of innovation, coordination, green promotion, opening-up and sharing, adding that the country has comprehensively intensified ecological and environmental protection and actively participated in the building and cooperation of a global ecological civilization.

He also noted China's continuous efforts in deepening judicial reforms and innovations in ecological and environmental protection, adding that it has also accumulated useful judicial experience in this regard.

China would like to join hands with every nation and international organization to strengthen global ecological and environmental governance, he added.

Upholding Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, a concept promoted by Xi that advocates balanced and sustainable development, Zhou Qiang, president of the top court, ordered Chinese courts during the opening ceremony of the conference on Wednesday to make greater efforts in solving problems related to the environment that receive the most complaints from the public.

Many Chinese courts, with stronger judicial support for biodiversity conservation and green development, have established specialized teams or tribunals to improve the professionalism of environment-related litigation, and offer quicker, high-quality legal services for litigants in handling relevant cases using new technology, he added.

Chinese courts would like to have exchanges and cooperate more with other countries in promoting global environmental governance and establishing a sharing and coordination system for judicial information regarding the environment, in order to improve case hearings and enhance global development of the rule of law, Zhou added.

Inger Andersen, executive director of the UN Environment Programme, said via video link that a healthy environment is key to achieving sustainable development.

She emphasized that courts punish environmental violators in accordance with the law, and therefore they uphold justice in the fields of environment and climate. She also praised Chinese courts' achievements in this regard.