Soil environment

According to The 2019 Report on the State of the Ecology and Environment in China issued by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the quality of China's soil environment is as follows:

Soil environmental quality

The detailed survey results on soil pollution of agricultural land show that the overall soil environmental conditions of agricultural land in the country were generally stable. The main pollutant affecting the soil environmental quality of agricultural land was heavy metals, of which cadmium was the primary pollutant.

Quality of arable land

In 2019, 1.550 billion mu of permanent basic farmland was demarcated nationwide. As of the end of 2019, the average grade of arable land quality nationwide was 4.76*. Among them, the areas with the Grade 1-3 was 632 million mu, accounting for 31.24 percent of the total arable land; that with Grade 4-6 was 947 million mu, accounting for 46.81 percent; and that with Grade 7-10 was 444 million mu, accounting for 21.95 percent.

*Based on Arable Land Quality Grading (GB/T 33469-2016), arable land is classified into 10 grades in terms of quality, with Grade 1 the best and Grade 10 the poorest. In general, Grade 1-3 indicates excellent, Grade 4-6 moderate, and Grade 7-10 poor.

Water loss and soil erosion

According to the results of dynamic monitoring of water and soil erosion in 2018, there were 2.7369 million km² land subject to water and soil erosion in China. In specific, 1.1509 million km² were under water erosion and 1.586 million km² were under wind erosion. Compared with the findings of the water and soil conservation of the First National Census on Water Resources (2011), the area of land subject to water and soil erosion in China decreased by 212,300 km².

Desertification and desertification

The monitoring results of the Fifth National Monitoring of Desertification Land and Sandy Land showed that there were 2.6116 million km² desertification land and 1.7212 million km² sandy land across the country. According to the results of the Third Monitoring of Rocky Desertification in the karst area, the existing rocky desertification land area in the karst area of China is 100,700 km².

Land greening

In response to the challenge, China has adopted a series of measures to green the country. According to The 2020 Report on Land Greening Status in China, in 2020, China achieved a total of 6.77 million hectares of afforestation, 8.37 million hectares of forest tending, 2.83 million hectares of grassland improved by grass planting, and 2.1 million hectares of sand prevention and control.