Chinese lawmakers have began reviewing a draft revision of the law on water and soil conservation, which would provide comprehensive protection for land and water resources in planning, controls and monitoring.
The current law, adopted in 1991, had not kept pace with fast changing economic and social development and environmental requirements, Zhou Ying, Vice Minister of Water Resources, in a report to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, has said.
China's loss of soil and water, reportedly among the worst in the world, has “posed severe threats to the ecology, food safety and flood control,” she said, citing problems in soil and water conservation, including inadequate coordination and monitoring, a lack of measures to prevent and control water and soil loss, and increased production and construction activities.
The draft, with a new chapter on planning, specifies that water administration departments at or above county level should draw up plans for land and water conservation and oversee their implementation.
It stipulates an investigation system for cases of land and water loss.
According to the draft, forests and grasslands should not be touched in areas that suffer from severe land and water loss, and crop planting is banned on slopes of a 25° gradient.
The draft stipulates that water departments are responsible for monitoring local land and water conservation and must regularly publish the type, size and distribution of land and water losses.
More than 37 per cent of the land in China, or 3.56 million square kilometres, suffered water loss and soil erosion, according to a survey released by the Ministry of Water Resources in 2000.
