China's top court issued a guideline on Thursday to help courts accurately implement the Yangtze River Protection Law and efficiently solve basin-related cases.

The law, the country's first made for a specific basin, was adopted by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the nation's top legislature, in December 2020 and will take effect on March 1.

The newly released 16-article guideline highlights the significance of promoting ecological conservation of the river, also a priority of the law, and demands courts at all levels increase the basin's environmental protection and green development by improving quality of relevant case hearings, according to Yang Linping, vice-president of the Supreme People's Court.

She ordered all courts to strictly abide by the law and the guideline to give harsher punishments to those who damage the environment and ecology of the basin, saying "violators must pay the price and the damaged areas need to be restored".

Every court should also ensure high-quality development of the river and stability of its ecological system when dealing with basin-related cases, she added.