China is ready to revise for the third time its overall land use plan as a move to ensure sustainable land use along with rapid economic growth, said Lu Xinshe, vice-minister of the Ministry of Land Resources (MLR), Monday.

The revision will, said Lu at the opening ceremony of the International Conference on Land Use Planning and Policy, help China further implement the system of land protection on arable land, particularly "basic farmland" that is officially designated for farming.

Focusing on practicing the concept of scientific development, he said, China will strictly control the use of land for construction and make it a priority of land protection in revising its land use plan and policy to promote the sustainable social and economic development.

At present, China's land per capita is only one third of the average world level, while fast urbanization in recent years has worsened the land supply shortage and land degeneration.

According to Lu, problems such as unreasonable planning and land misappropriation still exist after the overall land use plan was revised in 1980s and at the end of 1990s respectively.

"We'll learn from the past two revisions and make the current plan more strategic, scientific and practical," he said.

Over 260 experts and officials from countries like Germany, France, Japan, India and China attended the three-day conference co-sponsored by the MLR, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and German educational and research departments.

(Xinhua News Agency May 11, 2004)