China's soil erosion area accounts for 30 percent of the country's territory, damaging millions of mu of cultivated land every year

The first national soil and water conservation plan was approved. Recently, the State Council issued the approval reply on the National soil and Water Conservation Plan (2015-2030) (hereinafter referred to as "approval reply"), which agreed in principle to the National soil and Water Conservation Plan (2015-2030) (hereinafter referred to as "Planning"). This is the first national soil and water conservation plan in China.

It is understood that the "Plan" is an important milestone in the prevention and control of soil and water loss and is the blueprint and important basis for the development of China's soil and water conservation work in the coming period. According to the Plan, by 2020, the control area of soil and water loss will be increased by 320000 square kilometers, with an average annual reduction of 800 million tons of soil loss.

A reporter from the Daily Business News learned that as one of the countries with the most serious soil and water loss in the world, the lack of national planning in the field of soil and water conservation has always been the focus of heated discussion in the industry. China's soil and water conservation may enter a new era.

The area of soil erosion accounts for 30% of the land.

Soil erosion has caused great damage to cultivated land and ecology, which has become a problem that has to be paid attention to.

Liu Zhen, director of the soil and Water Conservation Department of the Ministry of Water Resources, said that the first national water conservancy survey showed that soil erosion in China covers an area of 2.9491 million square kilometers, accounting for 30.72% of the total land area. It can be said that we are one of the countries with the worst soil erosion in the world.

The data show that due to soil erosion, the country has lost an average of 1 million mu of arable land every year, more than 1 cm of topsoil has been lost every year in the serious areas of the Loess Plateau, the black land in Northeast China has become thinner, and the black soil layers in some places have been completely lost. Among them, the first national water conservancy survey conducted by the Ministry of Water Resources from 2010 to 2012 shows that there are 295663 erosion ditches in the northeast black soil region.

Liu Zhen said: soil erosion is a major eco-environmental problem at present, and large-scale development and construction is the main cause of man-made soil erosion.

Ma Jun, director of the Public Environment Research Center, told the Daily Business News that on the whole, the problem of soil and water loss in China is very prominent, and the most important one is related to the serious destruction of vegetation, especially in some mountainous areas, once the vegetation is destroyed, soil erosion will be very serious.

In fact, as early as early 2009, E Jingping, vice minister of water resources, publicly said that China lost about 1 million mu of arable land each year due to soil erosion. During the 10th five-year Plan period, the area of soil and water loss increased by production and construction activities each year exceeded 15000 square kilometers, with an increase of more than 300 million tons of soil and water loss.

The problem of soil erosion is prominent, and the situation of soil and water conservation is urgent. To this end, Liu Zhen said that the Ministry of Water Resources, together with relevant departments, has worked out and completed this national "National soil and Water Conservation Plan" after four years of "top-down" and "bottom-up" combination.

The Plan clearly defines the control objectives: by 2020, a comprehensive control system for soil erosion will be basically established, with an additional soil erosion control area of 320000 square kilometers and an average annual reduction of 800 million tons of soil loss; by 2030, a comprehensive control system of soil erosion will be established, with an additional soil erosion control area of 940000 square kilometers and an average annual reduction of 1.5 billion tons of soil loss.

Divided into 23 prevention areas and 17 governance areas

The "Plan" requires that, on the basis of national soil and water conservation regionalization, comprehensive prevention and protection should be carried out, with emphasis on strengthening soil erosion prevention in river source areas, important water sources and water erosion and wind erosion ecotone, and giving full play to the role of natural restoration; we will take small watersheds as a unit to carry out comprehensive management, and strengthen the control of soil and water loss in key areas, sloping farmland and erosion ditches.

It is understood that the Plan is divided into 23 national key prevention areas and 17 key governance areas. There are three key types of prevention, among which the source areas of important rivers involve 32 rivers such as the Yangtze River and the Yellow River; important water sources, including 87 water sources such as Danjiangkou Reservoir and Miyun Reservoir; and the ecotone of water erosion and wind erosion will implement large-scale closure and control. reduce wind and sand hazards and ensure regional agriculture and animal husbandry production.

At the same time, according to the Plan, comprehensive management of small watersheds of 76400 square kilometers will be implemented in key management areas in the near future, and an area of 1.6 million hectares will be harnessed through the conversion of sloping farmland into terraced fields. In areas with relatively serious soil and water loss, such as the northeast black soil region, the northwest loess plateau and the southwest karst area, 46200 erosion ditches will be comprehensively controlled, sediment into the river will be reduced, and a number of demonstration areas with promotion and driving effect will be built throughout the country to improve the control level and efficiency.

It is worth noting that although the base of soil erosion area is large, the control of soil erosion has been accelerating in recent years.

In March this year, Vice Minister of Water Resources Liu Ning pointed out in a speech at the 2015 soil and water conservation work video conference that in 2014, the country comprehensively controlled soil erosion area of 54000 square kilometers, renovated 4 million mu of sloping farmland, and built more than 300 eco-clean small watersheds. At the same time, it is required to ensure that in 2015, the country will complete the target of comprehensive control of soil erosion of more than 50, 000 square kilometers and implement the target of comprehensive control of soil and water loss of sloping farmland of 4 million mu.

At the same time, data from the Ministry of Water Resources show that during the Eleventh five-year Plan period, China invested 9.863 billion yuan in soil and water conservation, adding a total of 230200 square kilometers to the area of comprehensive control of soil and water loss. The goal set by the Ministry of Water Resources for the 12th five-year Plan is that by 2015, China will ensure an additional 250000 square kilometers of soil erosion control area.

Ma Jun said: in recent years, the intensity of soil erosion control has been increasing, and a lot of efforts have been made in afforestation, including returning farmland to forest, returning pasture to grassland, and so on.