Chapter 3
Actions and Achievements in the Major Fields of Sustainable Development
Section 7 Land Resources
I. BackgroundII. Actions and Achievements3.40 The per capita usable land resources of China is very low and will continuously decrease in quantity and quality. Due to the increasing population, industrialisation, and urbanisation, the demand for land resources has been gradually growing. A shortage in land resources has become the major limitation to the sustainable economic and social development of China.
3.41 Establishment and improvement of regulations and relevant systems for land management
Preliminary establishment of the regulation systems for land management
The following laws and regulations have been issued by the Chinese Government: the "Land Administration Law of the People's Republic of China", the "Regulations on the Implementation of Law on Land Management", the "Regulations on Protection of Basic Farmland", the "Regulations on the Rehabilitation of Land", the "Provisional Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Land Appreciation Tax", the "Administration Measures on Land Use for Construction", etc. Moreover, illegal land use was included in the revised "Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China" (issued in 1997). Land management monitoring and inspection systems have been gradually established and completed, thus bringing land management onto the legal track.
Enhancement of macro-adjustment and land use control
The macro-adjustment and control system has been established with the main contents of the overall plan for land use, the five-year plan for land use, and the annual plan for land use. The government has set up a primary system of basic land zoning in order to protect farmland and is establishing a management system for land use. It has also drawn up the utilisation and management control system which provides rational regulations on the location and scale of the land for urban and other kinds of construction. In addition to these steps, the
Chinese Government has managed construction planning so that construction projects will utilise areas which are not useful for agricultural purposes.
Standardisation and enhancement of the micro-management of land use
The construction land management method, which focuses on land scales and allocation of projects, has been established. Examination and approval systems for all kinds of land use have been strictly adopted. The management system, which focuses on the identification of ownership, registration, and granting of certification, has been established for the rural collective land ownership, reclamation, and development.
3.42 Basic farmland reserves and protection
Establishment of basic farmland reserves
Since 1989, the delimitation of basic farmland reserves has been developed in China. By the end of 1996, 2,100 counties had finished the work and 65% of the farmland is under effective protection. The problem of farmland misuse has been resolved to a certain degree.
Establishment of compensation systems for farmland loss
In some areas, experiments have been developed to compensate for the valuable farmland lost to non-agricultural purposes. Under the premise of guaranteeing the original quantity and quality of the basic farmland reserves, new farmland with equivalent quality and quantity should be reclaimed for the compensation of occupied farmland. In cases without reclamation conditions, a cultivation fee is required according to the regulations. This results in a dynamic balance of the total amount of farmland.
Strengthening of the public supervision of land management
In 1996, the State Land Administration Bureau engaged, for the first time, a number of inspectors for land management supervision and set up the social supervision system, an important measure towards strengthening the supervision of land law implementation.
3.43 Great progress in soil and water conservation through legislation
In recent years, the Chinese Government promulgated and enforced the "Law of the People's Republic of China on Water and Soil Conservation" and the "Regulations on the Enforcement of Law of the People's Republic of China on Water and Soil Conservation". The "National Programme for Water and Soil Conservation" was formulated. All of these have stepped up the control of soil and water loss. Twenty-five major soil erosion controlled areas have been established at the national level. Soil and water conservation projects have been carried out in the seven large river basins. The accumulated eroded soil area under control is 67 million hectares. The integrated soil erosion control area in the Loess Plateau is 15 million hectares, putting 30% of the eroded soil area under control to some extent and decreasing the annual discharge of silt to the Yellow River by more than 300 million tons.
In accordance with the "Ten Year Programme
for the Control of Key Soil Erosion Areas in the Upper Reaches of the Yangtze
River", since 1989 the government has carried out, by stages, soil
erosion control in the basins of more than 2200 rivers of 108 counties
in 6 provinces. Altogether, the completed and controlled area includes
42,000 square km, where planted economic fruit forests cover 450,000 hectares
and water and soil conservation forests cover 1.35 million hectares. Meanwhile,
more than 3 million small-scale irrigation projects have been built. The
total length of the irrigation canals and ditches reached 50,000 km and
the amount of earth and stone reached 600 million cubic metres. As the
amount of soil erosion decreased significantly, the amount of accumulated
grain in these areas has increased by nearly 2 billion kg. |
3.44 Remarkable achievements in comprehensive management of small river basins
Farmers have been mobilised to carry out comprehensive management of mountains, rivers, farmland, forests, and roads in the key 10,000 small river basins with serious soil erosion. From 1991 to 1995, 30,000 square km of soil erosion area and 10,000 square km of wind erosion area were brought under control on average each year. The government has formulated the encouraging policy of "those who control the area, get the benefit" and carried out family contracting, corporate sharing, leasing, and auctioning of the usage rights of the land, as well as other kinds of control measures. These steps have protected the legitimate rights of farmers and aroused their enthusiasm to harness bare mountains and land. As a result, of their efforts, farmers have gained profits.
Picture 3-12 Terracing Fields Is One of the Important Methods for Water and Soil Conservation - A Terraced Field in the Mountainous Area of Lagu Nationality, Yunnan Province
3.45 Land rehabilitation and augmentation of usable land
Since 1988 when the Chinese Government promulgated the "Regulations on Reclamation of Land", great progress has been made in the rehabilitation of abandoned land. According to statistics, 163,300 hectares of abandoned land have been rehabilitated or reused, 75% of which have been used for farmland or other agricultural purposes. In 1995, the State Coal Industry Ministry arranged 10 key demonstration projects such as the project in the area at the conjunction of Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Inner Mongolia which rehabilitates 4,500 hectares of land annually (this being 22.5% of the total subsided area caused by coal mining in that year). Moreover, 1,770 hectares of slag hills were rehabilitated in opencut coal mine areas (amounting to 33% of the total slag hill area created that year). Since the early 1990s, Huaibei City of Anhui Province has made great efforts in the rehabilitation of the subsided land caused by coal mining. The accumulated rehabilitated area was 4,700 hectares, a rehabilitation rate of over 50%.
3.46 Enhancement of grassland construction
Guided by the "Grassland Law of the People's Republic of China", governments at all levels have strengthened their protection and management of grassland resources, and strictly prohibited overgrazing and over-cultivation. Grassland construction has been enhanced. From 1991 to 1995, the average net increase of grassland was 598,000 hectares annually. A scientific experiment network and several bases for introduction and breeding of herbage have been established. The reserved herbage seed land has reached 350,000 hectares and the yearly production of herbage is 47,000 tons. Forty-nine comprehensive demonstrations of animal husbandry have been organised by the government with outstanding results. By the end of 1994, the area of man-made grassland was 5.64 million hectares. This has created a new means for the development of highly effective animal husbandry in the areas sensitive to drought, desertification, and soil erosion.
3.47 Implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
Since 1990, the Chinese Government has taken a series of steps to control desertification. It has formulated the "National Planning Programme for the Control of Desertification in 1991-2000" and "National Action Plan for the Control of Desertification of China". It has also set up the Chinese Research and Development Centre for the Control of Desertification, as well as several training and monitoring centres. It has promulgated the "Principle Technology Programme for Monitoring Desertification". The Chinese Government has also laid down and promulgated the "Comments on Several Policies and Measures for the Control of Desertification", which gives preferential loans with low deducted interest towards desertification control. To counter different types of desertification, the government focused on 20 major counties and established 9 experiment areas and 22 experiment and demonstration bases. From 1991 to 1995, 4.29 million hectares were brought under control, of which 1.22 million hectares were subject to sandy land enclosure, afforestation, and grass planting. Another 470,000 hectares were subject to sandy land control, cultivation, and low-yield farmland transformation.
Picture 3-13 Significant Progress in Desertification Control in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region by Using Blocks Consisting of Grass Grids
In order to achieve sustainable development of agriculture, the measures carried out for protection of farmland include:
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