Zhejiang’s CPPCC-Procuratorate Model Restores Rivers
In Pingyang County, Zhejiang Province, an innovative collaboration between political consultation and legal oversight has transformed polluted waterways and reclaimed illegally occupied farmland, offering a model for environmental governance that bridges two distinct supervision systems.
A New Governance Model Takes Shape
The initiative traces back to the 2025 Pingyang County CPPCC meeting, where three proposals directly addressed farmland and river protection failures, including concerns about soil erosion from poultry farming, the need to advance beautiful river and lake construction, and improvements to high-standard farmland. According to People’s Daily, the Pingyang County Procuratorate recognized these proposals as actionable leads and converted them into public interest litigation supervision cases.
In February 2025, the Procuratorate launched the “Public Interest Litigation Protecting Green Waters and Green Mountains” special campaign, part of a province-wide initiative by the Zhejiang Provincial Procuratorate. The provincial program, as reported by the Zhejiang Procuratorate, identified ten priority areas including marine protection, watershed management, and pollution control.
Investigation Uncovers Widespread Damage
Procuratorial investigators discovered that in one village, permanent basic farmland had been illegally occupied, irrigation facilities were damaged, and ditches and river channels were blocked and polluted. Using navigation positioning, satellite image comparison, and the provincial spatial governance platform, investigators pinpointed the affected plots and confirmed the extent of the damage.
In May 2025, the Procuratorate issued formal procuratorial suggestions to relevant departments, urging them to address livestock and poultry farming pollution, restore damaged river channels, and improve surrounding farmland infrastructure. The Zhejiang Procuratorate detailed how the initial rectification progressed quickly on surface-level issues like garbage removal and weed clearing, but more difficult challenges emerged.
Overcoming ‘Hard Bones’
Vacating illegally occupied farmland and clearing silt proved slow due to public persuasion difficulties and project funding shortages. The Procuratorate coordinated with relevant departments and local government to provide legal education, guiding villagers to voluntarily vacate the land. The local government provided reasonable compensation and encouraged continued agricultural cultivation.
“Before, the river water was smelly and the irrigation channels were blocked,” villager Brother Hu told the Zhejiang Procuratorate, standing by fields with clear water and neat irrigation channels. “The troubles we had been complaining about for years have finally been resolved.”
Tangible Results
The collaboration has delivered measurable outcomes. Authorities fully demolished illegal livestock and poultry farming sheds and fences, reclaimed approximately 6 mu (about 0.4 hectares) of illegally occupied permanent basic farmland, and restored cultivation conditions. The effort also cleaned 1,100 meters of river channels, removed approximately 6 tons of garbage and silt, and cleaned and rebuilt 2,015 meters of farmland irrigation channels, fully restoring irrigation and drainage functions.
“Beautiful river and lake construction is really getting better and better,” said Chen Lingli, a Pingyang County CPPCC member, during a follow-up inspection of the case, as reported by the Justice Network.
National Policy Alignment
The Pingyang case aligns with the national “Beautiful Rivers and Lakes Protection and Construction Action Plan (2025-2027),” jointly issued by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and six other agencies in May 2025. The plan targets a roughly 40% completion rate for beautiful rivers and lakes by 2027, with full completion targeted by 2035.
The “CPPCC + Procuratorate” model also reflects the Supreme People’s Procuratorate’s push for a linkage mechanism between CPPCC proposals and procuratorial suggestions. The Wenzhou CPPCC has documented similar collaborations across the prefecture, including Wencheng County’s “Public Interest Protection Political and Public Opinion Intermediate Station” launched in June 2024.
Looking Ahead
“Only by safeguarding a channel of clear water can we irrigate ten thousand hectares of good farmland,” a Pingyang County Procuratorate spokesperson said, adding that the agency will deepen the “CPPCC + Procuratorate” collaboration mechanism to support rural revitalization with legal power.
As China pushes forward with its rural revitalization agenda and environmental protection goals, the Pingyang model demonstrates how combining political consultation with legal oversight can produce tangible environmental and community benefits. The question now is whether this collaborative approach will be scaled up across other counties and provinces.