Lawmakers have called for efforts to improve the publicity and education on environmental laws and regulations in order to drive China's progress in ecological protection along the path of the rule of law.

They made the statement at the 34th session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) on April 19, where they deliberated the State Council's report on environmental conditions and the achievement of environmental protection objectives in 2021.

Lawmakers agreed that the report was objective and comprehensive in depicting both the progress achieved and the problems to be addressed, and made reasonable and clear work plan for 2022.

At the meeting, Gao Hucheng suggested increasing the publicity of environmental laws and regulations, intensifying law enforcement supervision, and cracking down on crimes damaging the ecological environment.

Dou Shuhua noted problems found in inspections are not a matter of lawmaking but actually due to failure in implementation and accountability, adding that intensifying law enforcement and more efforts in public interest litigations are critical to sharpen the teeth of the laws.

Wang Yi called for enhancing the understanding and using of the Environmental Protection Law at the grassroots level.

During the deliberation of the report, lawmakers also called for improving the legal system for environmental protection. This included the formulation, amendment and sorting of administrative rules, regional regulations, judicial interpretations and national standards, according to Gao.

Considering the country's 31 environmental laws, over 100 administrative rules and 1,000-plus regional regulations, Yang Zhen suggested that the Ministry of Ecology and Environment should step up preparations for compiling the environmental code.

In the view of Yang Zhijin, it's necessary to speed up the enactment of the national park law and the amendments to relevant administrative or ministerial regulations for a robust and unified legal system to protect nature reserves.

To support the country's carbon neutrality goal, efforts should be made to revise laws related to energy conservation, carbon emissions trading, coal, electricity, forest and construction, said Du Liming.

Another key concern of the lawmakers is the prevention and control of soil pollution.

Xu Shaoshi urged effective measures to address issues including chemical fertilizer overuse, soil pollution by heavy metals, excessive groundwater exploitation, degraded black soil in Northeast China, and residue of plastic mulch film in Northwest China. 

Sun Qixin called for the State Council to have a complete understanding of major soil pollutants nationwide and introduce key indicators to soil pollution control assessments.