China exceeds land recovery targets, sets 2030 goals

China will accelerate efforts to fully remediate abandoned historical mines during the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) period, building on the remarkable progress made in mine rehabilitation over the past five years, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources.

In a recent news conference, Lu Lihua, deputy head of the ministry's department of land space ecological restoration, said that China restored 223,300 hectares of land from historical mines during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period, exceeding the target by nearly 20 percent.

Adhering to the concept that mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes and grasslands form a life community, she said that the ministry has pursued an integrated approach, balancing natural restoration with artificial rehabilitation.

A tailored approach that fully considers local conditions in the remediation of these mines has been adopted, she added.

Rather than applying a one-size-fits-all solution, local authorities determined whether the remediated land should be transformed into farmland, forest, or grassland, used for construction, or left in its natural state under the guidance of the ministry, Lu said.

The official highlighted the Yangtze and Yellow river basins, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and the belt covered by the Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program as key regions in the remediation efforts.

Thanks to the allocation of 16.8 billion yuan ($2.4 billion) from the central government, more than 18,000 abandoned mines were remediated in these regions.

These projects eliminated nearly 7,000 geological hazard sites, treated approximately 16,670 hectares of slopes and mining pits, added almost 1,733 hectares of farmland and orchards, and increased forest, grass and wetland area by over 10,000 hectares.

Lu said the ministry will launch a dedicated campaign on the remediation of abandoned mines from 2026 to 2030.

The ministry will accelerate the cleanup of remaining untreated abandoned mines while pushing for the simultaneous extraction and restoration of land at active mining sites, she said.

The central government will strengthen financial support for ecological restoration projects targeting historical abandoned mines during the 15th Five-Year Plan, according to the Ministry of Finance.

Under the new policy, the central government will cover 60 percent of project costs through subsidies, with each project eligible for up to 300 million yuan in funding.