The Yangtze River is China’s primary waterway. As years of excessive exploitation and pollution have damaged its aquatic environment, the river’s environmental protection and restoration shall become a dominant focus, said President Xi Jinping. This is why the National People’s Congress (NPC) of China is drafting the Yangtze River Protection Law, which would be the first comprehensive river basin protection law in China. On June 26, to support the drafting of the law, the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences and Shanghai University of Political Science and Law co-hosted the International Forum on the Yangtze River Economic Belt and Green Development in Shanghai. NRDC invited experts to introduce international experiences in river protection, including legal frameworks, cases, and best practices from the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, the Hudson River, and the Rhine River. Experts from NPC’s Environment Protection and Resources Conservation Committee, MEE’s Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning, MEE’s research institutes in Shanghai and Yunnan, and universities with the country’s best law programs including Wuhan University, Peking University and Renmin University also discussed the liability issues of environmental monitoring at the forum.