New policy supports China’s effort against soil pollution by targeting land used for agriculture and development.
By Paul A. Davies and R. Andrew Westgate
The Chinese government has announced that land used for agriculture and development in China will be subject to a new contamination and control standard, effective August 2018.
The standard will set screening values for risks and intervention, with the aim of ensuring safe agricultural products and a healthy standard of living.
Under the new standard, agricultural land that exceeds the intervention level must not be used for harvesting edible products and should be used for forestry instead. If land used for development exceeds the intervention level, it will be remediated.