BEIJING, March 12 (Xinhua) -- China prosecuted 42,195 people for damaging environment and resources in 2018, up 21 percent year on year, according to a work report by the top procuratorate on Tuesday.

The Supreme People's Procuratorate also led efforts to set standards for handling criminal cases on environmental pollution, says the report made available to the media.

In a separate report, the Supreme People's Court says courts around the country severely punished crimes of environmental pollution, concluding 2,204 such cases in 2018. About 251,000 cases related to environment and resources were also concluded by courts around the country.