BEIJING, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese procuratorates handled 69,000 public interest cases involving the protection of the environment and resources in 2019, up 16.6 percent year on year, Procuratorate Daily reported Monday.

The number of people prosecuted for crimes of damaging the environment and resources in 2019 went up about 15 percent from the year before, the report said.

The Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP), together with nine central authorities including the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, issued a document last year, pledging intensified coordination in the handling of such lawsuits, it added.

The SPP also launched a special operation to oversee public interest litigation involving crimes of damaging the maritime environment, the newspaper said.