The Communiqué on the Main Data of the Third Land Resource Survey of Hunan Province was issued on December 7. It was jointly released by the Office of the Steering Group for the Third Land Survey of Hunan Province, the Hunan Provincial Department of Natural Resources, and the Hunan Provincial Bureau of Statistics. The survey used data collected before December 31, 2019. The survey summarized authentic and accurate data on the province's land utilization and natural resources. It identified the acreage, distribution, ownership, and the condition of different types of land of 20.67 million land areas, and the utilization condition of 13 first-class and 56 second-class land areas including arable land and wetland.  

Hunan Province has a total area of 54.434 million mu (3,628,933 ha.) of farmlands, of which paddy fields account for 45.3778 million mu (3,025,186 ha.) or 83.36% of the total, dry lands account for 9,036,400 mu (602,426 ha.) or 16.60%, and irrigable lands account for 19,800 mu (1,320 ha.) or 0.04%, according to the third land resource survey of Hunan Province. Farm lands are mainly distributed in Changde, Shaoyang, Hengyang, Yueyang, Yongzhou, Huaihua, Yiyang and Chenzhou, accounting for 73.74% of the province's total arable lands.

The latest results showed land areas with strong ecological functions including forest, grassland, and wetland increased by 4,033,200 mu (268,880 ha.) during the period between 2009 and 2019, demonstrating the province’s remarkable results achieved in ecological construction. Currently Hunan has a total area of 190.7508 million mu (12,716,720 ha.) of forests, 2.107 million mu (140,466 ha.) of grassland, and 3.5420 million mu (236,133 ha.) of wetlands.

It was the first time that wetlands were included as a major category in the land resources survey, including eight types of second-class lands. Hunan Province is home to five types of second-class wetlands. Generally speaking, wetlands are mainly distributed in Yueyang, Yiyang and Changde, accounting for 92.64% of the province’s total wetlands.

Person in charge of the Hunan Provincial Department of Natural Resources said that the data showed the province's land utilization and natural resources, an obvious trend of using cropland for purpose other than grain production, instability of ecological situation in some parts of Hunan, and low economical and intensive land use.

In the next step, Hunan Province will adhere to the strictest possible system for the protection of farmland, implement integrated protection of farmland, and resolutely stop any attempt to use it for purposes other than agriculture and specifically grain production. Efforts will be made to carry out ecological construction, strengthen monitoring and protection, conserve and restore the ecosystems of mountains, rivers, forests, farmland, lakes, and grasslands, and implement comprehensive land treatment throughout the region. The province will optimize the spatial layout and structure of land resources, delineate boundaries for urban development, control the scale of incremental construction land, put into use urban and rural land held in reserve for construction, and improve land use efficiency.

This article is from Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Xiao Juan

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn