China Yangtze River Protection Law

The Yangtze River Protection Law is China's first comprehensive river-basin legislation, providing an integrated legal framework for ecological conservation, pollution prevention, resource management, biodiversity protection, and sustainable development across the Yangtze River basin. Rather than regulating a single environmental issue, it coordinates environmental governance across multiple sectors and administrative jurisdictions, supporting long-term ecological restoration and sustainable economic development in one of China's most important industrial and economic regions. The law is founded on the principles of "ecological priority and green development" and "joint major conservation, not major development," and Article 3 explicitly states that ecological environmental protection and restoration activities in the Yangtze River basin must comply with this law on a priority basis -- a provision establishing the law's status as a special law taking precedence over general laws such as the Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law, a feature unique to the Yangtze River Protection Law among China's environmental laws. Even after the Ecological and Environmental Code takes effect (August 15, 2026), this law will not be repealed and will continue to exist as an independent special law. While the Code incorporates the law's core principles into its ecological protection chapter, the law itself remains in force under the "moderate codification" model that allows certain laws to coexist with the Code. The law aims to accelerate the protection and restoration of the ecological environment in the Yangtze River basin, ensure the rational and sustainable use of water resources, conserve biodiversity and maintain ecological security, and promote green, high-quality economic and social development across the basin. It applies to all companies and individuals conducting business activities, development, or water resource use in the Yangtze River basin (specific administrative areas including the Yangtze's main stream, tributaries, and lake catchment areas), with particularly strict regulation of the chemical, heavy industry, fishing and shipping, and agricultural sectors.