The Yangtze River Protection Law is the first independent law in China specifically focused on natural zoning. However, existing research has mainly emphasized its impact on environmental protection in the Yangtze River Basin, while neglecting its significance as a guide and reference for independent laws on natural zoning. In fact, the Yangtze River Protection Law provides important insights into three key questions regarding environmental rule of law:why does natural zoning require separate legislation? What kind of natural zoning can be subject to independent laws? How should laws on natural zoning be formulated? Particularly in the current emphasis on legislative restraint, enacting a separate law for the Yangtze River's natural zoning instead of amending existing environmental laws related to its protection reflects profound legislative considerations and rich research value.Using the Yangtze River Protection Law as a basis, conducting an in-depth exploration of these three questions not only benefits future innovations and developments of this law but also provides more comprehensive theoretical support for newly enacted environmental laws such as the Yellow River Protection Law and Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Protection Law. Ultimately, this will contribute to the development and improvement of environmental rule of law.The reason why the Yangtze River Protection Law was formulated and promulgated is due to the environmental uniqueness of natural zoning areas such as the Yangtze River does not align with existing universal laws, and there is a mismatch between environmental governance in natural zoning areas and the jurisdictional linkages of environmental laws. As a result, universal environmental laws cannot meet the specific needs for environmental protection in natural zoning areas, leading to a disconnect between the implementation process and effectiveness of environmental governance in these areas.While it is necessary to have separate legislation for natural zoning, not all natural zones require individual legislation.The Yangtze River Basin provides a standard model for legislating on natural zones.On one hand, the Yangtze River Basin possesses geographical and cultural uniqueness, which requires special measures for its environmental protection.On the other hand, it spans multiple administrative regions while functioning as an integrated ecosystem.Therefore, only those natural zones that possess both uniqueness and broad coverage will experience mismatches with existing environmental laws mentioned above and necessitate separate legislation.In order to make sure that legislation on natural zones can adapt to current legal frameworks concerning environment while better utilizing their unique advantages and roles, it is necessary to grant special legal status within the framework of environmental law systems by prioritizing their application during legal proceedings.Furthermore, legislation on natural zones has a principle distinct from existing environmental laws-integrity principle.Under this guiding principle, legislation on natural zones needs to adopt a legislative approach different from current ones by establishing local governments as regulatory targets rather than individual regulation, and assign legal responsibilities to local governments.