Lu Xinshe, vice minister of land and resources, took part in an online discussion on November 13, talking about the 2006-2020 Overall National Program on Land Usage that was enacted on August 13, 2008 and came into effect on October 23.

Lu pointed out that the new program is an update of previous ones and gives greater prominence to the protection of arable farmland and intensified land use. There are four aspects that distinguish it from earlier iterations.

Firstly, the new program sets a higher goal of preserving 1.805 billion mu (120.3 million hectares) instead of 1.8 billion mu (120 million hectares) in arable production.

Secondly, it aims to curtail the usage of land set aside for construction from the previous 6 million mu (400,000 hectares) to 5.85 million mu (390,000 hectares). It also caps the area of arable farmland set aside for construction at 3 million mu (200,000 hectare) instead of the previous 3.1 million mu (206,000 hectares).

Thirdly, it puts forward specific policies geared towards different land usages. This means that different policies are adapted to different usages, to strike a middle ground between economic development and land conservation.

Fourthly, it enhances ongoing protective measures through legal, economic, administrative and technological measures.

(China.org.cn by He Shan, November 14, 2008)