China Daily:

Minister Huang, we know that soil is an important foundation for life to survive. A good soil environment is essential for breeding animals and plants, as well as for the lives of ordinary people. What is the current state of China's soil environment? Are there any problems now? How will the problems be fixed? Thank you.

Huang Runqiu:

Thank you for your question. Soil is the foundation of everything and the source of life, and it is important to prevent and control soil pollution. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, we have worked with various regions and departments to steadily keep our lands pollution-free. As a result, the soil pollution across the country has been effectively curbed, the overall soil environmental quality has remained stable and soil pollution risks have been kept under control. Overall, we have made progress in the following three areas.

First, we have carried out diagnostic assessments. Together with relevant departments, we have completed a detailed survey of soil pollution across the country and established a national soil environmental monitoring network comprising 80,000 points, covering all counties, cities and districts. We have identified the area and distribution of soil pollution in agricultural land and its impact on the quality of agricultural products, learned about the distribution and environmental risks of soil pollution in key industries and enterprises and shared relevant data with multiple departments.

Second, we have established a system. China has promulgated the Law on Prevention and Control of Soil Pollution, the first basic law on soil pollution prevention and control. We have clarified the principles of soil pollution prevention and control, featuring "prevention and protection first, classified management, and risk control." We have established a system of laws and regulations for soil pollution prevention and control to ensure that people don't worry about food or land quality. Together with relevant departments, we have successively issued departmental regulations such as soil environmental management measures for polluted land plots, agricultural land, and industrial and mining land and formulated a series of standards and specifications for controlling soil pollution risk in agricultural land and construction land.

Third, we have controlled the risks. Since the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan (2016–2020), we have strengthened the prevention at the source. Working with relevant departments, we have continued to take action in preventing and controlling heavy metal pollution sources such as cadmium in agricultural land soil and put more than 18,000 enterprises under stricter regulation. In terms of the safe use of contaminated farmland, we worked to reduce the risk of agricultural product pollution by adjusting the planting structure. For strictly controlled cultivated land, the measures we took to manage risks included withdrawing from the cultivation of edible agricultural products and turning farmland into forests. Regarding the safe use of construction land, we have conducted soil pollution surveys and assessments on more than 40,000 plots across the country in accordance with laws and regulations. A total of more than 1,500 plots of construction land have been included in the soil pollution risk management and restoration list. We strictly manage these lands, and those failing to meet the risk control and restoration requirement shall not be used as residential, public management, or public service land. For some vacated industrial plots, a combined measure of controlling soil pollution risk and building greens together has been adopted in certain areas. They planned and built urban green areas, which ensure not only safe use of land but also expand ecological green space for residents. In this way, economic returns and social and environmental benefits are pursued at the same time. 

I will give you an example. Taopu Industrial Park in Shanghai was once a chemical industrial zone built in 1954. It used to have severe soil and groundwater pollution. Over the years, the polluted land has been vacated and effectively treated and restored, and the park has become a pleasant green space in the city center. The park has undergone a transformation and has become a benchmark for transforming, upgrading and ecologically restoring Shanghai's old industrial bases.

Of course, we are also soberly aware that although fundamental changes have taken place in China's soil environmental quality, the foundation of work for soil pollution prevention and control is still weak. Going forward, we will work with relevant departments to do an excellent job in four aspects. First, we will adhere to the principle of precautionary prevention, strengthen the supervision and law enforcement of key soil pollution entities under supervision and prevent new soil pollution. Second, we will pay close attention to the areas with prominent arable land pollution, conduct investigations on the causes of pollution, implement a classified management system and continuously improve safe utilization. Third, we will strictly manage the land used for construction, strengthen joint supervision around the residential, public administration and public service land plots, and firmly end illegal development and utilization. Fourth, we will comprehensively promote the implementation of various tasks in the action plan for dealing with new pollutants and vigorously enhance the ability to address such pollutants. Thank you.