严控围填海 (yánkòng wéitiánhǎi): Strictly control land reclamation

According to the State Oceanic Administration, China has implemented the strictest control and management policy toward reclaiming land from the sea. In principle, the SOA will not approve general land reclamation projects this year.

Tougher management of land reclamation is urgently required as its rapid growth has done severe harm to coastal ecosystems.

Last year, the SOA took multiple measures to enhance its management and control of land reclamation, suspending six projects and the review and approval of land reclamation projects nationwide.

Over the past year, the SOA has strictly implemented environmental impact assessments of major land reclamation projects, and established a third-party review mechanism to approve projects.

Special inspections were launched in the second half of the year to assess the reclamation processes as well as the damage done to marine ecosystems.

This year, the SOA will stop approving reclamation projects, except the major projects approved by the central government whose purposes are infrastructure construction, public service and national defense.

The central government published its marine strategy till 2020 in May, which set the goals of becoming a marine superpower, protecting marine interests and expanding blue economic space.