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One Million Hectares of Wasteland Reclaimed in China
China has reclaimed one million hectares of industrial and mining wasteland during the past five decades, Vice-Minister of Land Resources Lu Xinshe said in Beijing on May 16. In an address to the International Symposium on Land Reclamation which opened in Beijing on the same day, Lu said 70 percent of the reclaimed land has been used for farming and the rest for non- agricultural construction or other purposes.
Lu said the accumulated wasteland in China totals 13.3 million hectares, mainly a by-product of the country's construction of highways, railways, and water conservancy projects, as well as mining and brick-making.
The amount of mining wasteland alone is increasing by nearly 50, 000 hectares a year, he said.
Lu said China will invest more to reclaim the existing industrial and mining wasteland as part of its efforts to improve the ecological environment and promote sustainable land use. Over 150 land reclamation experts from 16 countries, including China, the United States, Britain, and Brazil, attended the three- day meeting hosted by the China Land Society.
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