Officials to be rated on green issues

Environmental preservation will, for the first time, be taken into account in evaluating the performance of local officials, according to a document issued by China's State Council on plans to strengthen protection of the environment over the next 15 years.

"Results of the evaluation will become one of the factors in deciding the appointment of officials and giving rewards or punishments to them," said the document.

The State Council said officials would be punished for "wrong decisions that cause serious environmental accidents and for gravely obstructing environmental law enforcement."

The move to incorporate "environmental quality" will finally change the way officials are assessed and promoted. Till now, promotions have been based on their ability to produce robust strong economic figures, year after year.

Without incentives to ensure pollution controls, local officials have placed greater priority on economic development than on the environment, with disastrous consequences, such as the Songhua River toxic spill incident.

The toxic chemical contamination of the North-Eastern river last November partly prompted the State Council's plan.

The government's previous responses to environmental disasters have come under fire, for being unsystematic.

The latest document appears to be an attempt at a broader, more comprehensive, strategy for dealing with such problems, in line with the recent emphasis on sustainable development.

Over the next 15 years, China's fight against pollution will become even more arduous (needing more effort) as the economy is expected to quadruple during the period, said the State Council, in the document.

The environmental situation in the country is 'still very severe', it acknowledged. A Xinhua report said acid rain, soil pollution, organic pollutants, potential risks from nuclear facilities and a decline in biodiversity are among China's most urgent environmental problems.

"The worst environmental pollution in the country is coming, highlighted by frequent occurrences of major pollution incidents," State Environmental Protection Administration Director, Zhou Shengxian told Xinhua.

Pollution "has become a 'blasting fuse' of social instability", he added.

The document said targets have been set to guide environmental protection over the next 15 years; and regional governments should set their own environmental targets and conduct regular evaluation.

Relevant departments will also have to make fiscal, taxation, financial, pricing, trade, scientific and technological policies that support environmental protection.

The measures, it added, are aimed at "protecting the long-term interests of the Chinese nation and leaving a good living and development space for the offspring".

The Straits Times