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China city officials to get $258,000 bonus for environmental gains mongabay.com May 23, 2007
"Governmental officials in north China's Shanxi Province now get a chance to become millionaires - not by following the old fashion way of taking bribes but through a new legal way of improving the local environment," stated the state-run China Daily. "The awards are directed to individuals including the city and county governmental heads, environmental protection bureau officers and other relative officials. The money will be paid by the provincial financial department." Shanxi Province had 13 of the 30 most polluted cities in China in 2006. The China Daily reports the bonuses are controversial. "I am firmly against giving heavy awards to officials," said Hua Xiaochen, director of Public Official System Research Center of the Ministry of Personnel, was quoted as saying. "First of all, heavy awards have no legal ground. Finishing the job is the responsibility for officials. Heavy awards are from government funds, and should get a 'yes' from taxpayers. Meanwhile, this is against the officials' tenet of serving the people wholeheartedly." "Isn't improving environment the natural responsibility for environmental protection departments? It's just like educators should teach the students well. It's natural for you to just finish your own job," Liu Zhigang, a middle school teacher from Beijing, reportedly told the paper. "Even if they have done a good job, more than one million is too much to give out!" Related articles China uses "green construction" for Tibet railway. To the surprise of many observers, China went to great lengths to minimize the environmental impact of its new Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the highest railway in the world. Still, despite these efforts, there will likely be detrimental environmental effects from its construction, writes a team of researchers in the latest issue of the journal Science. China to push for sustainable logging overseas. (4/25/2007) In a surprising move, China has developed guidelines for the establishment of sustainable forest plantations abroad by Chinese firms, according to the International Tropical Timber Organization's (ITTO) April 1 Tropical Timber Market Report. The move comes as China faces increasing criticism from environmental groups for pillaging the world's forests to feed its rapidly growing economy. China launches green buying policy. (12/19/2006) China's Ministry of Finance and the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) announced that starting in 2007, the country's central and provincial governments will prioritize their purchasing of environmentally friendly products and services. Comments? News options Liquid error: Template not found languages/english/includes/x/_47.liquid SHARE THIS ARTICLE:
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