Local government officials have been ordered to clean up all illegal activities affecting five state-level nature reserves and punish those directly involved in mismanagement.
Irregularities revealed by satellite monitoring included large-scale mining and farming activities as well as tourism and other industrial developments without official approval in the five nature reserves, which are located in the provinces of Henan, Shandong and Guangdong as well as Inner Mongolia and Ningxia Hui autonomous regions.
In the Helanshan reserve in Ningxia, 35 mining companies have been operating in both the core and buffer zones as the local government violated rules on issuing mining permits. Additionally, a large portion of the reserve's core area was contracted to individuals for farming.
Entrusted by the ministry, local environmental inspection agencies summoned a group of city and provincial officials from Wednesday to Thursday to warn them about the nature reserves, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Environmental Protection.
"The local governments responsible for these nature reserves should uncover and investigate illegal activities with a serious attitude and punish those who fail to do their jobs," the statement said, calling for timely and comprehensive rehabilitation efforts to address all the damages.
Local governments and administrations were ordered to release their investigation results and follow-up management plans to the public in a timely manner.
