China’s land-sea environmental regulatory system: reforms and impacts

The updated “Marine Environment Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China,” effective from January 1, 2024, emphasizes enhanced land and marine development in a coordinated way. The revised law has been amended from the original ten chapters comprising 97 articles to nine chapters comprising...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ze Jin, Miaohong Yu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2025-05-01
Series:Frontiers in Marine Science
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Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2025.1576297/full
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Summary:The updated “Marine Environment Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China,” effective from January 1, 2024, emphasizes enhanced land and marine development in a coordinated way. The revised law has been amended from the original ten chapters comprising 97 articles to nine chapters comprising 124 articles, with an addition of 27 clauses. In particular, the original law had only 3 clauses related to regulatory bodies, which increased to 8 after the revision. Chapter II Supervision and Control over the Marine Environment has added 4 clauses and revised 4 clauses to pursue coordinated land and marine development and regional linkage. As for marine ecological protection, there are 3 new clauses in Chapter III. Through specifying authorities’ responsibilities, fostering a coherent approach to land-sea environmental governance, and bolstering ecological safeguards, these amendments fill a gap in regulations concerning land and marine development in a coordinated way. On this basis, the implementation of the new law will promote a positive interaction between the marine economy and the land-based economy, and facilitate the collaborative governance of ecological environments in both terrestrial and marine areas.
ISSN:2296-7745