China Exclusive: Environmental progress vital for officials' advancement

NANCHANG, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- Officials from east China's city of Nanchang are pursuing promotions not through the traditional method of raising the local GDP, but by protecting the environment.

"Ecological progress" now accounts for one-third of the criteria used to evaluate officials from the city's Wanli district, where over 70 percent of the land is forested.

Previously, environmental protection accounted for just 12 percent of the criteria used to grade local officials, with economic performance accounting for 60 percent.

But in 2008, the municipal government decided to increase the weight of environmental efforts in order to prevent officials from putting too much emphasis on speeding up the local economy and neglecting to protect the local environment.

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