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Communiqué on Land and Resources of China 2007
Summary
In 2007, under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee and State Council, the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR) thoroughly applied the scientific outlook on development, diligently followed the guiding principles set out at the 16th and 17th CPC national congresses and fully exercised the functions of land and resource survey and evaluation, planning, administration, protection and rational utilization; as a result, major progress was made in all the work concerning land and resources.
● The capacity of participation of resource and particularly land policies in macroeconomic regulation was further improved.
● The strictest possible farmland protection system was implemented, the target responsibility system for protecting farmland was strengthened and more efforts were made to carry out primary farmland construction and land upgrading, reclamation and new development. The government’s “red line” (critical mark) of 120 million hectares of arable land was stuck to.
● The economical and intensive use of land was energetically promoted, laws and policies concerning the land used for construction of rural collective organizations were strictly enforced and the policy of public bidding, auction and hanging out a shingle for industrial land and the lowest-price standards for the transfer of land for industrial use were fully followed.
● The amendment to the national overall planning for land use was performed in depth and the second-round formulation of the program of mineral resources and program of nationwide geological exploration was carried out.
● The 100-day nationwide campaign for land law enforcement was launched and effective actions were taken against violations of laws and regulations concerning land use.
● We continued to restore the order in and standardize mineral resource exploration, give impetus to resource development and consolidation and strengthen administration of mining rights.
● Important achievements were obtained in the land and resource survey.
● The second nationwide land survey was launched and the “Measures on Land Registration” and “Current Land-Use Classification (National Standards)” were issued and implemented.
● Mineral resource exploration was intensified, mineral resource potential evaluation and reserve use investigation were fully advanced and central and provincial-level geological exploration funds began to be allocated.
● The “11th Five-Year Plan for Nationwide Geohazard Prevention and Control” was promulgated and implemented, training courses of rural geohazard prevention and control knowledge in 10,000 villages all over China were completed and geohazard prevention and control in flood season and in key areas such as the Three Gorges Reservoir area were strengthened.
● The implementation of the system for supervising national land use went smoothly and the reform of the land and resource management system and reform of the cadre management system below the provincial level were in the main in place.
● Scientific and technological innovation and informationization of land and resources were continuously promoted, the main task of the first phase of “golden Land Project” was completed and opening up in the field of land and resources was expanded unceasingly.
● Marine economy continued to develop rapidly and steadily and outstanding achievements were made in the management of sea area use.
● Unifying oversight of survey and mapping were strengthened progressively, the guarantee services of surveying and mapping were improved markedly and the “Opinions of the State Council on Strengthening Surveying and Mapping Work” was issued and implemented.
1. Land Resources
According to the results of the land-use change survey, China had 121.7352million hectares of cultivated land, 11.8131million hectares of garden land, 236.1174million hectares of forestland, 261.8646million hectares of pastureland, 25.4911million hectares of land for other agricultural uses, 26.6472million hectares of land for residential and industrial/mining sites, 2.4443million hectares of land for transport and communications and 36.286million hectares of land for water conservancy facilities. The rest was unused land. In comparison with 2006, the cultivated land in 2007 declined by 0.03%, the garden land was reduced 0.04%, the forestland diminished 0.002%, the pastureland dropped 0.03%, the land for residential and industrial/mining sites went up 1.11%, the land for transport and communications grew 2.05%, and the land for water conservancy facilities increased 0.37%.
China’s cultivated land recorded a net reduction of 40,700 hectares in 2007, a decrease of 0.03%, down by 0.22 percentage points over the previous year. A total of 188,300 hectares were used for construction, a decline of 27.2% over the previous year; 25,400 hectares were returned to ecological preservation land, a drop of 92.5%; 17,900 hectares were destroyed by natural hazards, a decrease of 50.0%; and 4900 hectares were reduced due to agricultural restructuring, a decline of 87.9%. The area of reduced cultivated land in the aforesaid four items totaled 236,500 hectares. However, 195,800 hectares of cultivated land were newly added by land upgrading, reclamation and new development in the same period, being 4.0% more than the cultivated land used by construction.
The rate of farmland area reduction slowed down significantly, which was because farmland protection was further strengthened, the programs and plans concerning farmland were strictly enforced and various measures for farmland protection were implemented. We made strict checks on examination and approval of newly added land used for construction. The newly added land for construction approved in 2007 totaled 395,000hectares, of which 175,600 hectares were farmland, and 13,400 hectares of land that were used unreasonably were checked and reduced, of which 4436.97 hectares were farmland. We organized to study and implement the “Measures on Checking and Assessing the Responsibility Targets for Farmland Protection of Provincial-level Governments” and took strong measures to make comprehensive plans for and promote the establishment of 116 primary farmland protection demonstration areas and land upgrading. The MLR and the Ministry of Finance jointly issued the “Circular on Adjusting the Distribution Way of Newly Added Construction Land Compensation Fees that the Central Government Shares” in order to raise the efficiency of fund use and yield better results of land upgrading, reclamation and new development. The Ministry coordinated with the Ministry of Finance and State Administration of Taxation to revise the “Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Farmland Use Tax” and adjusted and raised the rates of farmland use tax. The system of land reclamation scheme evaluation was established. The “Circular on Organizing the Formulation of the Land Reclamation Scheme and Its Report to Higher Authorities and Examining Related Problems” was issued and the land reclamation management for production and construction projects was strengthened.
Land resource administration is in the service of economic and social development. We adjusted the way of submitting to the State Council for examination and approval of urban construction land, optimized the procedures and raised efficiency to serve urban construction and development. Land supply should preferentially guarantee state key projects and projects related to people’s wellbeing such as ordinary housing. The land approved for transport and communication and housing uses in 2007 increased by 30.7% and 13.0% respectively as compared with the previous year. The “Circular on Earnestly Implementing “State Council’s ‘Several Opinions on Solving Housing Difficulties of Low-Income Urban Families’ and Further Strengthening Land Supply Regulation” was issued so as to ensure the land supply for housing of low-income urban families. With “land upgrading and rural construction” as the theme, nationwide mayor study classes were held to promote the services of land upgrading for new village construction and raise the level of land resource administration. The State Council’s spirit of boosting pig production and ensuring market supply of pork was thoroughly implemented and the “Circular on the Land Use Policy Relating to Promoting Scaled Livestock and Poultry Breeding” was issued. The MLR and the Ministry of Labor and Social Security jointly issued the “Circular on Problems Related to Conscientiously Doing a Good Job of the Social Security of Land-Requisitioned Farmers” to maintain the rights and interests of land-requisitioned farmers.
The basic guarantee capacity of cadastre administration was upgraded significantly. The second nationwide land survey was formally launched and various survey projects proceeded smoothly. Regulations concerning the “Real Right Law of the People’s Republic of China” were thoroughly implemented, and the “Measures of Land Registration” (Decree of the Ministry of Land and Resources No. 40) was formally promulgated, thus standardizing land registration. The “Current Land Use Classification (National Standards)” was formally issued and implemented by the National Standardization Administration Committee, thus unifying the nationwide land use classification standards. A number of technical specifications and administration rules such as the “Technical Specifications for the Second Nationwide Land Survey (Professional Standards)”, “Technical Rules on Base Map Production”, “Technical Rules on State-level Inspection”, “Standards for the Land Use Database” and “Standards for the Urban Cadastre Database” were promulgated. Annual monitoring of 84 cities each with a population of more than 500,000 was completely accomplished and the outcomes of the monitoring were widely applied in all the work concerning land and resource administration such as land enforcement examination. More than 20,000 disputes of land ownership were mediated and settled and the success rate of mediation and settlement reached 89.7%. The “Circular on Strengthening Mediation and Settlement of Land Ownership Disputes” was issued, thus further improving the mechanism of mediation and settlement.
The assignment system of industrial land by means of public bidding, auction and hanging out a shingle and the lowest-price standards for the transfer of land for industrial use were fully carried out and the degree of marketization of land resource allocation was raised noticeably. The area of assigned land throughout China in 2007 totaled 226,500 hectares, of which the area of land assigned by public bidding, auction and hanging out a shingle was 115,300 hectares, accounting to 50.9% of the total assigned land area, an increase of 20.4% over the previous year.
2. Mineral Resources
Investment in geological exploration grew relatively rapidly and the rates of financial allocations of funds further speeded up. The geological exploration funds invested in 2007 were 62.009 billion yuan, an increase of 25.2% over the previous year, of which the funds allocated from the central government budget were 5.563 billion yuan, an increase of 47.2%, up by 8.1 percentage points over the previous year.
By the beginning of 2007, 171 useful minerals had been found in China, of which 159 minerals had identified reserves. Among the 159 minerals, 10 were energy minerals, 54 metallic minerals, 92 nonmetallic minerals and 3 mineral water, groundwater and carbon dioxide gas. If considered according to the varieties, the total number of useful minerals with identified reserves attained 224 (excluding uranium, thorium, groundwater, mineral water and one newly listed mineral variety). Among other 219 varieties, as compared with the previous year, 108 varieties witnessed an increase of identified reserves, 70 registered a decrease and 41 showed no variation, accounting for 49, 32 and 19% of the total respectively.
Geological survey and mineral resource exploration carried out in China in 2006 resulted in the discovery of 208 large and medium-sized mineral occurrences or prospects, of which 50 were energy mineral ones, 73 metallic mineral ones, 82 nonferrous metallic mineral ones and 3 mineral water, groundwater and carbon dioxide gas ones. The identified reserves of 77 minerals increased. Of these, oil reserves increased by 1.211 billion tons, natural gas reserves by 697.4 billion m3 and raw coal reserves by 40.625 billion tons. Three 10 million ton class large oilfields, namely, Nanbao of eastern Hebei, Gulong of Daqing and Jiyuan of Changqing, were newly identified. The newly identified 30 billion m3 class natural gas fields included Changling of Jilin, Shenmu of Changqing, Guang’an of Sichuan, Dabei of Tarim and Songnan of 北方?.
The productions of major mineral commodities and their exports and imports continued to grow. The productions of some major mineral commodities in 2007 are as follows: 2.536billion tons of raw coal, an increase of 6.6%; 187 million tons of crude oil, an increase of 1.6%; 69.310 billion m3 of natural gas, an increase of 18.3%; 707 million tons of iron ore, an increase of 20.2%; 490 million tons of crude steel, an increase of 15.8%; 23.51 million tons of 10 nonferrous metals, an increase of 22.6%; 45.42 million tons of phosphate ore, an increase of 16.6%; 59.76 million tons of crude salts, an increase of 10.6%; and 1.354 billion tons of cement, an increase of 9.2%. China’s total trade (exports and imports) in mineral commodities was valued at US$494.2 billion, an increase of 28.7% over previous year, accounting for 22.7% of China’s total trade. As compared with 2006, imports of staple mineral commodities in short supply continued to rise. China imported 163million tons of crude oil, 384million tons of iron ore, 6.64million tons of manganese ore, 6.09million tons of chromite ore, 4.53million tons of copper ore, and 9.60million tons of potash fertilizer.
The market of exploration and mining rights was further standardized. By the end of 2007, 29,191valid exploration licenses (including 6,683 newly issued ones) had been granted, of which 1153 were for oil and gas. 106,202 valid mining licenses (including 10,055 newly issued ones) had been issued, of which 617 were for oil and gas.The system of compensated use of mineral resources was further deepened. In 2007, 541exploration rights were assigned through public bidding, auction and hanging out a shingle, valued at 1.798 million yuan; 9965 mining rights were assigned through public bidding, auction and hanging out a shingle, valued at 3.285 billion yuan.
New progress was made in China’s solid mineral exploration overseas. We accomplished the win-win purpose by strengthening infrastructure construction, raising the levels of mineral exploration, exploitation and utilization, closely cooperating with international mining companies and promoting economic development of target countries or regions. In 2007, significant progress was made in overseas exploration and exploitation of iron and nonferrous metals such as copper, nickel and bauxite, as well as noble metals.
The “Guiding Opinions of the Ministry of Land and Resources on Promoting Deep Mineral Exploration” was promulgated, thus providing policy support for the strategic shift of mineral exploration to the depth. The “Circular on Strengthening Comprehensive Exploration, Mining and Management of Coal and Coal Bed Gas Resources” was issued so as to encourage comprehensive exploration and exploitation of coal bed gas. The “Report on New-Round Nationwide Petroleum Resource Evaluation and Estimate of the Increasing Trends of Reserves and Productions” was submitted to the State Council, which ascertained the substantial petroleum resources in China. The “Information Bulletin of the Geological Exploration Industry in China” was for the first time compiled, which reflects the credentials and abilities, employees and economic operations of explorations in an all-round way.
3. Marine Resources
China’s marine economy rose steadily. In 2007, its total output value reached 2.4929 trillion yuan, an increase of 15.1% over the previous year, making up 10.11% of China’s gross domestic product (GDP). The added value of the marine industries was 1.4833 trillion yuan and that of their related industries was 1.0058 trillion yuan. The marine petroleum industry grew rapidly. Its added value in 2007 reached 76.9 billion yuan, an increase of 17.3% as compared with the previous year. The capacity of China’s marine petroleum exploration for independent innovation further increased.
The situation of marine environmental protection was still stern. The water quality in local nearshore areas turned a bit better, but the pollution was still grave. Most offshore areas were clean sea areas, and the water quality of deep-sea areas maintained a good state. The sea areas whose waters failed to meet the clean seawater quality standard covered an area of ~145,000 km2, a decrease of ~4000 km2 over the previous year. The seriously polluted sea areas were mainly distributed in the Liaodong Gulf, Bohai Gulf, Yellow River mouth, Laizhou Bay, Yangtze River mouth, Hangzhou Bay, Zhujiang River mouth and local nearshore areas of some large and medium-sized cities.
A total of 163 marine hazards such as storm surges, sea waves, sea ice, red tides and tsunamis happened in 2007, causing a direct economic loss of 8.837 billion yuan. The hazard caused by storm surges (including nearshore typhoon waves) was the main marine hazard, inflicting 8.715 billion yuan of direct economic loss.
A breakthrough was made in the government administration of the use of sea areas. The sea use right was determined to be the basic usufructuary right. Sea island protection and management were further strengthened and various work, including planning, legislation, policy research and protection area construction, was carried out in an all-round way. The system of marine function divisions was improved steadily and the “Rules on the Administration of Marine Function Divisions” were promulgated. The administration of the ownership of sea area rights was fully standardized, and reclamation of land from a sea was strictly controlled and the administration of the sea used for cultivation was strengthened. In 2007, a total of 6037 certificates of right of sea area use were issued and the ownership of 244,600 hectares of sea areas was confirmed. The construction of the system of sea area compensated used reached a high, and the “Circular on Strengthening the Administration of Collection of Royalties of Sea Areas” was issued. Great impetus was given to the construction of the system of dynamic monitoring and administration of the use of state sea areas and the sea area management information system was widely applied. Major progress was made in the survey and demarcation of the boundaries between sea area administrative regions of the whole country and the agreements on six inter-provincial sea area boundaries were signed. Sea area use administration demonstration activities advanced in depth and general survey and registration and law enforcement for sea areas used for cultivation were carried out concentratedly.
4. Land and Resource Survey
Fundamental geological survey was upgraded and its service area expanded continuously. A number of new achievements were obtained in regional geophysical, geochemical and remote sensing work; in important economic zones, major metallogenic belts and areas with major geological problems, voluminous large- and medium-scale regional geophysical, geochemical and airborne remote sensing surveys were completed, a number of geological maps renewed and more than 100 mineralization occurrences and many important ore anomaly and prospect areas found. New progress was made in integration of achievements of fundamental geological surveys on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. A scheme of tectonic divisions on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was worked out; a new-generation 1:1.50 M geological map of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was revised and improved; the 1:1.50 M map of Precambrian geology, geological map of magmatic rocks, map of structure/lithofacies-paleogeography, map of Cenozoic geology and regional gravity, aeromagnetic and geochemical composite map series were preliminarily compiled; and a related database was established. A large-scale eclogite belt was found in the central part of the Lhasa terrane. Many important achievements were obtained in mineral resource assessments. A new breakthrough was made in gas hydrate exploration. During scientific drilling in the northern South China Sea, a gas hydrate sample was recovered successfully, which demonstrated that the northern South China Sea is endowed with abundant gas hydrate resources, thus making China become the fourth country that has obtained the gas hydrate sample through the state-level research and development plan following the United States, Japan and India. This indicates that China’s gas hydrate investigation and research have ranked in the forefront of the world.
A new breakthrough was made in regional mineral resource assessments. The embryos of a number of mineral resource bases such as Gangdise, Nyainqêntanglha, northwestern Yunnan, Lop Nur, Wulagen, Qitianling and southwestern Henan were formed, of which the Qulong copper deposit was identified to contain 8.95 million tons of copper, 620,000 tons of by-product molybdenum and 7,469 tons of silver. The actually controlled resources in the Qulong ore district exceeded 10.00 million tons, so the deposit was the largest copper deposit in China.
Major advances were made in deep mineral exploration. The large Nihe iron deposit was found at about 700 m below the surface in the Luzong area, Anhui, and a thick and large iron orebody was found at depth in Qiaotou, Liaoning, which was preliminarily estimated to have prospective resources of 1 billion tons. This fully shows that there is a great ore potential at depths in eastern China, which has great significance for alleviating the pressure caused by shortages of iron resources in China.
A survey of important national mineral resource conditions was launched comprehensively. The nationwide mineral resource potential assessments and reserve utilization survey were carried out in an all-round way. The outcomes of geological surveys and mineral explorations since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 were systematically analyzed and summarized, the status of mineral resource utilization was fully mastered and a scientific evaluation of China’s mineral resource potential was performed so as to meet the needs for the state-level mineral resource planning, administration, protection and rational utilization and promote the progress of geological sciences and technology and development of commercial geological work.
Groundwater exploration and geo-environmental investigation yielded significant results. The groundwater exploration demonstration project played an important role in the services of people’s wellbeing. Groundwater exploration and 320,000 shallow wells of the demonstration project in water-deficient areas of red bed hills in Sichuan solved the difficulty in finding drinking water of 1.20 million people. Eighteen demonstration projects were implemented in Luxi County of Yunnan, Daozheng County and Tongren County of Guizhou, Xincheng County of Guangxi and Longshan County of Hunan, which solved the difficulty of drinking water of 250,000 people and the problem of shortage of water used for irrigation of 6670 hectares. Groundwater exploration and safe water supply demonstration projects were conducted in areas inflicted seriously by endemic diseases in Pingluo of Ningxia, Tangxian of Hebei, Guide of Qinghai and Zhaoqing of Heilongjiang. As a result, drinkable groundwater sources were found for more than 2 million farmers, and 34 safe water supply projects were set up, which directly provided clean drinking water sources for more than 300,000 people. Integrated geo-environmental Investigation and evaluation in important economic zones provided a geo-environmental basis for the economic planning and harbor construction in the coastal zone of Liaoning Province, construction of the Coastal New Area of Tianjin and construction of state major engineering projects in Caofeidian of Hebei and the Nanbao oilfield of eastern Hebei. The results of geo-environmental investigation of coastal zones such as wetland in Qingdao City, the Zhujiang River delta and the Yellow River delta furnished basic information and a scientific basis for the economic development, environmental protection and disaster reduction and prevention in coastal zones.
The level of geological information services continued to be raised. The space database of geological maps of China at scales of 1:200,000, 1:250,000 and 1:500,000 and China’s regional geochemical database were fully open to the public and rendered services for the whole society, which had great significance for further raising the level of openness for China’s public-welfare geological data, serving mineral resource exploration and exploitation and improving the investment environment of the mineral industry in China. An on-line service of more than 5,000 digitalized geological maps and written materials was provided.
New progress was made in land resource survey and monitoring and 2,731 land survey reports were completed. The main work amounts completed are as follows: 1:100,000 land resource monitoring, 9.60 million km2; 1:50,000 land resource monitoring, 300,000 km2; 1:25,000 land resource monitoring, 154,000 km2; 1:10,000 land resource monitoring, 1.1295 million km2; 1:10,000 land resource survey, 2.00 million km2; 1:500,000 land resource evaluation, 1.19 million km2; 1:50,000 land resource evaluation, 620,000 km2; 1:10,000 land resource market survey, 99,800 km2.
The results of land-use remote-sensing monitoring served land administration. The monitoring results of 80 cities served land supervision; the monitoring results of Shenyang, Jilin, Jiaxing, Wuhu, Wuhan and Shangqiu served specific law enforcement and prosecutorial work; the monitoring results of 84 cities each with a population of more than 500,000 served annual land enforcement and prosecutorial work; the monitoring results of ?rümqi, Hohhot, Tianjin, Daqing, Kunming, Harbin, Nanchang, Chengdu and Yinchuan served the review of the results of land change survey during the year.
5. Geo-environmental Protection and Geohazard Control
In 2007, a total of 25,364 geohazards of various types occurred throughout China, which caused 1123 casualties, including 598 deaths and 81 missings. Direct economic losses caused by geohazards reached 2.48 billion yuan. The losses incurred in Sichuan, Chongqing, Hunan, Yunnan, Hubei and Guangdong accounted for 80.9% of China’s total. As compared with the previous year, the number of deaths and missings and direct economic losses were reduced by 12.3% and 42.6% respectively.
Prevention and control of geohazards were further strengthened. Training courses of rural geohazard prevention and control knowledge in 10,000 villages all over China were completed and nearly three million people were trained. Geohazard investigation in hilly counties (and cities) throughout China and intensive geohazard investigation in key areas continued. Geohazard monitoring and early warning in flood season were strengthened and the nationwide meteorological forecast and early warning against geohazards continued to be undertaken. The construction of the mass monitoring and prevention system of geohazards was actively promoted and real-time geohazard monitoring demonstration stations with international advanced levels were set up in Wushan and Fengjie, Chongqing. Geohazard monitoring and early warning produced marked effects, leading to successfully dodging 920 geohazards, safely relocating 37,830 people and avoiding direct economic losses of 550 million yuan.
Important achievements were obtained in geohazard prevention and control in the Three Gorges Reservoir area. By the end of 2007, we accomplished 229 emergency geohazard control projects, 1002 projects of repairing and reinforcing high-cut slopes and exploration and feasibility studies of 231 non-emergency geohazard control projects and implemented 128 projects of relocation and geohazard dodging in Hubei and Chongqing. A total of 1897 mass monitoring and prevention stations and 122 professional monitoring stations for three phases of geohazard prevention and control were established and put into normal operation; more than 160,000 mass monitorings and preventions and professional monitorings were accomplished, 236 sites of dangerous landslides were warmed earlier and 850 persons were relocated.
Groundwater monitoring continued in major cities and areas all over China. The MLR and the National Environmental Protection Agency jointly drew up the “National Groundwater Pollution Prevention and Control Plan (2006-2020)” and actively promoted the prevention and control of ground subsidence in key areas such as the Yangtze River delta, North China plain and Fenwei area. A nationwide ministerial-level joint meeting system of ground subsidence prevention and control was established.
The legal system of mine environment protection and innovation of mechanisms were promoted. By the end of 2007, the guaranty bond system for mine environment control and rehabilitation had been established in more than provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government) nationwide.Efforts were continuously intensified to rehabilitate the mine environment. By the end of 2007, the mine environment rehabilitation projects supported by the central government budget added up to 1118 and a fund of 3.71 billion yuan was input. Of these projects, 321 were arranged in 2007, into which a fund of 1.29 billion yuan was input. Five national mine parks were set up and opened at Huangshi, Hubei Province, Hengshan, Jixi, Heilongjiang Province, Banshi, Baishan, Jilin Province, Wulaga, Jiayin, Heilongjiang Province and the Suichang gold deposit, Zhejiang Province.
The protection of important geological heritages was strengthened. A total of 240 million yuan were allocated from the central government budget for protecting 70 sites of national geological heritages.The construction of geoparks proceeded steadily. In 2007 one world geopark was approved, and 20 national geoparks and 4 world geoparks were established and opened.
Protection of geothermal and mineral-water resources was further intensified. The “Technical Code for Shallow Geothermal Energy Exploration and Exploitation” was compiled. The activities of choosing “China Geoheat City”, “China Hot Spring Home”, “China Mineral Water Home” and “China Good-Quality Mineral Water Source” through public appraisal were organized and carried out, which gave impetus to effective development and sustainable utilization of geothermal and mineral-water resources. Efforts were intensified to disseminate knowledge of mineral water. The MLR cooperated with CCTV to make a full-length, public-welfare, popular science film—“Spring of Life”.
6. Science, Technology and Informationization of Land and Resources
The strategic plan of “revitalizing geological and mineral undertakings with science and technology” was implemented and public-welfare special-purpose scientific and technological research projects started up. The construction of scientific and technological innovation bases was strengthened and eight key laboratories such as the Mineralization and Resource Evaluation Laboratory were built. The training of young talented scientific and technological persons was strengthened and the project of innovative scientific and technological persons of the MLR was promoted. Seventeen young scientists won the title of the outstanding young scientific and technological person of the Ministry and Land and Resources, 18 persons were selected as those to whom financial assistance was provided by the “100 People Plan” and 20 persons were selected as young core scientific and technological persons.
The “National Scientific and Technological Support Program of China” and three major and five key scientific and technological projects of the “National High-Tech Research and Development Program of China (863)” were initiated comprehensively. The first batch of nine major scientific and technological innovative projects of the MLR 11th Five-Year Plan were implemented, major fundamental research carried out and science and technology infrastructure strengthened.
Our ministry became a main user of the Sino-Brazilian Earth Resources Satellite 02 and promoted the establishment of the land and resource remote-sensing monitoring system with China-made satellites as the main data source.
The Chinese Continental Scientific Drilling Project passed the country’s completion check and acceptance. Important advances were made in the airborne geophysical exploration techniques and key techniques of gas hydrate exploration and exploitation. The Carboniferous Visean Global Stratotype Section and Point were established in Liuzhou, Guangxi, which was China’s ninth “golden spike” in the global geological timescale.
Eight first-class awards and 58 second-class awards of the Scientific and Technological Achievement Prize of Land and Resources were granted. The projects of “Metallogenic System and Metallogenic Evaluation of China”, “Geochemical Mapping: Strategy, Methodology, Technology and Applied Research” and “Gold Exploration and Evaluation in the Qiongxi Area, Hainan” won the second-class award of the State Scientific and Technological Progress Prize.
Significant results were achieved in land and resources informationization of yielded. The “Digital Land Project” was implemented steadily and the first-phase main task of the “Golden Land Project” was completed according to schedule. The application system development and on-line operations of construction land examination and approval, construction land preliminary examination and administration of exploration and mining rights were accomplished in the MLR and 90% provinces and pilot cities. Development, distribution and application training of seven application systems such as the filing of construction land supply were completed. Consolidation of six categories of fundamental databases was in the mainly finished and the informationization technology system serving the land and resources supervision and management was generally established. The construction of scientific data sharing of land and resources was completed, and external sharing services of important land and resourcedatabases (sets) were realized. Land and resource administration departments in all the provinces, 77% municipalities directly under the central government (autonomous regions) and 47% counties (cities) achieved openness ingovernment affair information on the websites and information services through their door websites. Intranet safety and management and security guarding were strengthened; infrastructures such as the data center of land and resources, information sharing platform and informationization standard system were improved; accumulation of land and resource data further increased so as to provide information support for administration and services.
The MLR strengthened international exchange and cooperation, successfully held the China International Mining Conference 2007 and satisfactorily completed map compilation by five countries. In addition, it further pushed forward bilateral and multilateral exchange and cooperation and strengthened the work of training personnel abroad and bringing in needed personnel from other countries.
7. Land and Resource Management
The capacity of participation of land and resource policies in macroeconomic regulation was further improved. The “Circular of the State Council on the Problems Concerning Strengthening Land Regulation” was thoroughly implemented. The “Measures on Supervision and Management of Land Used for Construction after Its Approval” was formulated and promulgated. The total amount and structure of newly added construction land were actively regulated, the land planning, program and construction land examination and approval were strictly managed, and the land use index favored the west-central part of China and Northeast China in an appropriate way. The “Catalog of Restricting and Prohibiting Land Supply” was strictly enforced and the lowest-price standards for the transfer of land for industrial use and the assignment system of industrial land by means of public bidding, auction and hanging out a shingle were fully implemented. The MLR took an active part in regulation of the real estate market, continued to control the total productions of tungsten ore and rare earth element (REE) ore and suspended acceptance of new applications of coal exploration rights. The reform of the system of compensated use of coal resources was carried out on a trial basis in eight provinces such as Shanxi and Shaanxi. The levels of comprehensive utilization of resources in a number of mines (ore fields) such as the Qinghai Salt Lake were raised continuously.
Land and resource planning was further strengthened. The amendment to the national overall plan of land use was carried out intensively and the “Outline of the National Overall Plan of Land Use (2006-2020)” (Draft for Soliciting Advices), and the amendment to the provincial overall plans progressed in an orderly manner. The formulation of the second-round mineral resource program advanced in an all-round way, and the “Mineral Resources Program of China (2006-2020)” (Draft for Soliciting Advices) was worked out and the provincial programs progressed firmly. The “11th Five-Year Plan of Nationwide Geohazard Prevention and Control” was promulgated and implemented and the formulation of the “National Geological Exploration Plan” was accomplished. The planning of nationwide mine environment protection and control saw orderly progress and the national land planning proceeded in depth. The provincial-level planning of land on a trial basis in provinces such as Guangdong and Liaoning yielded important results. The MLR actively participated in the planning of the main function areas.
The economical and intensive utilization of land and resources were further promoted and the policies of economical and intensive utilization of land were formulated. The “Circular on Intensifying the Efforts of Handling Idle Land Plots” was issued. MLR and the Ministry of Finance and People’s Bank of China jointly set forth the “Measures on Land Reserve Management”. The “Code for Potential Evaluation of Economical and Intensive Utilization of Construction Land” was revised and the pilot evaluation of economical and intensive utilization of land in state-level development areas was carried out. The MLR pushed forward with the pilot work of linking of increase of urban construction land with its reduction, implemented “the Comprehensive Work Plan of Conserving Energy and Reducing Emissions” and promoted energy conservation and emission reduction in the field of land and resources.
Progress was made in fully rectifying and standardizing the order of mineral resource exploitation and the development and consolidation of mineral resources. A total of 392 cases of mineral exploration without licenses, 24,900 cases (person-times) of mineral mining without licenses, 2,233 cases of mining beyond the boundary, 498 cases of substitution of mining for exploration and 344 cases of illegal transfer of exploration and mining rights were found out and prosecuted; those that were illegal mines ordered to shut down and unqualified mines ordered to suspend operation for rectification totaled more than 17,700. All the provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government) drew up general plans of mineral resource exploitation and consolidation, 3264 mining areas drew up and completed consolidation implementation plans and 1749 mining areas completed consolidation tasks. A total of 14,800 exploration and mining rights were reduced by means of consolidation. The levels of scaled and intensive mineral resource exploitation were raised continuously. The MLR promulgated regulations on strengthening management of comprehensive exploration and mining of coal and coal bed gas resources, informationization system of exploration and mining rights administration, mineral resource supervisor administration and administration of sea sand mining. The term of validity of mining rights and registration competences of exploration and mining licenses of tungsten and REE were further standardized.
The implementation of the national land supervisory system progressed smoothly. According to the “Notice of the General Office of the State Council on Relevant Problems Concerning the Establishment of the State Land Supervisory System” (Guobanfa (2006) No. 50), we made steady progress in promoting the construction of organizations and all items of work. Centering on the strict farmland protection, the focus was on supervising the implementation of the target responsibility system for protecting farmland by people’s governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government, as well as cities specifically designated in the state plan. The MLR conducted special supervision of outstanding problems about violations of laws and regulations concerning land such as “expropriation replaced by leasing”, alteration of plans without authorization and illegal occupation of primary farmland and use of land before approval. On-the-spot investigation and research were carried out with respect to such major problems as farmland protection, construction of development zones and rectification of the land market. Omnidimensional and whole-process supervisions were undertaken in the 100-day nationwide campaign for land law enforcement.
Prominent achievements were obtained in the 100-day nationwide campaign for land law enforcement. More than 31,000 cases of violations of laws and regulations concerning land use were found out, involving more than 220,000 hectares of land, of which more than 20,000 hectares of land involved “expropriation replaced by leasing”, about 66,700 hectares involved violations of regulations on expansion of zones or establishment of zones and about 133,000 hectares involved use of land before approval. The three categories of more than 26,000 acts involving violations of laws and regulations concerning land use were found out and prosecuted, with a filing rate of nearly 85%. 58 key areas that needed rectification and reform and 251 typical cases were in the main dealt with and rectified and 107 advanced law enforcement agencies were cited. As a result, the situation of high occurrence of cases of violations of laws and regulations was checked. A number of system-based achievements were scored in aspects of prevention, investigation and prosecution, supervision and administration and chain action of agencies.
Efforts were further intensified to investigate and prosecute cases of violations of laws and regulations concerning land and mineral resources. In 2007, the trials of 92,400 illegal land-use cases on files were concluded, 8,600 hectares of land were withdrawn and 3.368 billion yuan were confiscated. The trials of a total of 12,300 of cases in violations of laws and regulations concerning mineral resources were concluded and fines of 314 million yuan were collected.
8. Surveying and Mapping Management and Guarantee Services
The State Council issued the “Opinions of the State Council on Strengthening Surveying and Mapping Work”, which makes an overall arrangement of surveying and mapping work in the new period and is a programmatic document for guiding surveying and mapping work throughout China. All the sectors of the country conscientiously implemented this document.
New achievements were obtained in the guarantee services of survey and mapping. The total values of the completed surveying and mapping services to the whole society reached a new high, totaling 2.84 billion yuan. The services included 602,000 sheets of topographic maps of various types, data of 164,000 geodetic survey points, 285,000 aerial photographs and 483,000 quadrangles of digital maps; in addition, a total of 2363 kinds of maps and books were compiled and published, totaling 150 million copies or sheets. They provided surveying and mapping guarantees for major engineering projects such as the second nationwide land survey, construction of new villages, planning of main functional areas, environmental monitoring, public security management, disaster reduction and prevention and national defense, and rendered surveying and mapping services to boundary settlement, Great Wall protection, scientific research in the polar region and the 2008 Olympic Games. After the approval and authorization of the State Council, the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping and Ministry of Construction jointly published the elevation data of China’s first group of 19 famous scenic mountains.
New progress was made in basic surveying and mapping work. Nearly 600,000 sheets of maps were surveyed and produced, 750,000 km2 of national basic aerophotographic survey were completed and 2.29 million km2 of remote-sensing image data wee obtained. Major projects such as surveying and mapping of blank areas of the 1:50,000 topographic map in western China and the alteration of the 1:50,000 national basic geographic information database progressed in an all-round way, and steady progress was made in filing of such projects as the infrastructure of the national modern surveying and mapping datum system and high-resolution stereomapping satellite. Demonstrations of the construction of the digital urban geospatial framework carried out in 30 cities such as Zhengzhou and Jiamusi gave strong impetus to the construction of the digital China geospatial framework. The State Bureau of Survey and Mapping and the National Development and Reform Commission jointly issued the “Measures on the Management of the Basic Surveying and Mapping Plan”, thus putting the planning and management of basic surveying and mapping on a more solid scientific and legal footing and making them further standardized.
A new situation of unified management of surveying and mapping was initiated. The MLR, in cooperation with the National People’s Congress, carried out law enforcement investigation and research on the “Surveying and Mapping Law of the People’s Republic of China” and promoted its implementation. The “Provisional Measures on the Management of Surveying and Mapping of Foreign Organizations or Persons in China” was promulgated and implemented. The State Bureau of Survey and Mapping and the Ministry of Personnel of the People’s Republic of China jointly promulgated the “Provisional Regulations of the Certified Surveyor and Cartographer System” and approved qualifications of the first group of certified surveyors and cartographers through assessment of performance. The supervision and management of on-line geographic information safety and management of surveying and mapping concerning foreign interests were strengthened; supervisions and checks of the quality of surveying and mapping results, confidentiality of surveying and mapping results and house surveying and mapping were carried out; and efforts were intensified to investigate and prosecute cases in violation against laws and regulations. Thus the order of the surveying and mapping market further took a turn for the better. Centralized acceptance was achieved for a part of surveying and mapping administrative licensing, the procedures and methods for examination and approval of surveying and mapping credentials and ability were further improved. Greater openness in government affairs was promoted.
New progress was made in scientific and technological innovations of surveying and mapping. We built the Key Laboratory of Earth Observation Techniques, Key Laboratory of Mine Space Information Techniques, Research Center of Applied Engineering Technology of the Geographic Information System and Research Center of Geographic Space Information and Digital Technology in the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping, issued the “Geographic Information Standard System Frame” and “Basic Surveying and Mapping Standard System Frame” and completed revision of 12 state standards and 8 professional standards. The project “Elevation Measurements of Mount Qomolangma (Everest) 2005” and another project won second-class awards of the State Scientific and Technological Progress Prize. The major scientific and technological achievements of surveying and mapping such as the digital aerophotographer and aero-space remote-sensing cluster parallel data processing system with completely independent intellectual property rights passed appraisal and were popularized and used. |
