At a press conference on July 12, Xu Shaoshi, Minister of Land and Resources,
repeatedly voiced the need to deal with the ominous situation of
dwindling land resources.
The central government has set aside 120 million hectares of
arable land exclusively for agriculture use with crops designated
for human consumption. Authorities have vowed that this 120 million
hectares bottom line cannot be stepped over.
“The defensive war for arable land cannot be lost. Resistance
will not be condoned,” Xu proclaimed. Such a solemn statement
contains more than a nugget of truth.
The statistics available divulge that the Chinese people have a
meager 0.09 hectares per capita of arable land, 40 percent below
worldwide average. And the number shows signs of decreasing.
In 2005, 668,266 hectares were lost largely due to construction
activities.
In 2006, China logged in 22,395 illegal land-use cases,
involving 32,872.84 hectares of land.
In the near future, the pressing land-use situation will pose
more challenges.
How much land will be needed in the future?
Indisputably, China needs more land to sustain its blistering
economy.
Demands for land use mainly come from the house construction
sector. Undiminished house-buying fever has rendered the available
land inadequate since 2003. The survey revealed that people aged
between 25 and 39, or 60 percent of the urban population, put great
pressure on existing real estate when they purchase homes. An
estimated 0.76 billion square meters are earmarked toward house
construction each year.
In the next five years, construction for national infrastructure
needs will require 3 million hectares, of which 2 million hectares
will go to road construction and 0.2 million to railroad.
How to defend the bottom line of 120 billion
hectares?
Preserving arable land while ensuring the land supply for
economic development is definitely a catch-22.
The proposed “dynamic balance of total amount of arable land”
mode can alleviate land shortage to some extent through the use of
dykes and land reclamation. The Xiaoshan Economic Development Zone
located in Zhejiang Province is a good example. Through
reclamation efforts they recouped a total of 33,333 hectares from
sea.
But meanwhile,
a raft of hapless dyke building and reclamation projects has
wrought damage on the fragile ecosystem, and put grain production
in peril as well.
In this regard, our Japanese neighbor has set a good example.
Their intensified land use features the use of high-rise buildings,
both streamlining and optimizing land utilization. They have made
the most of their limited land resources. Our country would benefit
by emulating their strategy.
Liu Weixin, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Sciences
(CAS), summed it up succinctly when he said: “The solution lies in
well-designed plans aimed at intensified land-use, plans that
parallel land preservation with our ongoing economic
development.”
(China.org.cn by He Shan, August 16, 2007)