Xinhua recently reported that the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection realized that China faces a serious worsening of its soil pollution. The Ministry will come up with a six to seven year plan to get the situation under control. Li Ganjie, the Deputy Minister of the Ministry, called for immediate action to design laws that help protect China’s soil. Currently there is no law that governs the area of soil pollution prevention. According to the United Nations’ title, 2015 is the “International Year of Soil.” In a recent summit of high ranking Chinese government officials, the “soil safety” issue was raised as a serious threat to national food safety, water safety, and the entire safety of the environment. Over the past 20 years, China has faced a significant area reduction of high quality arable land, soil erosion, soil acidification, and various other types of soil pollution. Urgent needs have been identified in the areas of technological innovation and legal protection as well.
Source: Xinhua, July 11, 2015
http://politics.people.com.cn/n/2015/0711/c1001-27289421.html