Officials punished over 'irregularities' at nature reserves

More than 1,100 officials have been held accountable for environmental irregularities in China's nature reserves after a six-month environmental protection inspection that lasted until the end of last year, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said in a statement on Saturday.

Those punished include 60 officials at the prefectural or equivalent level and 240 at the county or equivalent level, but the ministry didn't disclose what punishments were handed out.

With 20,800 tips related to environmental damage in nature reserves, authorities suspended or closed 2,460 companies and demolished buildings with a total floor area of 5.9 million square meters during the inspections. The inspection was focused on mining, quarrying, tourism and hydropower development in nature reserves, the ministry said.