Local governments were Friday urged to co-operate in the national fight against pollution and cast off their parochial focus for the benefit of the whole nation. The State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) said in Beijing that local protectionism remained a big obstacle in the way of the country's anti-pollution campaign that SEPA launched since early this year. A total of 18,084 enterprises have been punished for damaging the environment in the past several months. But 10,000 cases have yet to be settled as local governments have refrained from taking action for fear that punishment would impair local economy, said Jiang Yandong, director in charge of law enforcement with SEPA.