Authorities expose 10 ecological violation cases, urge stricter enforcement

China's natural resources and forestry authorities on Thursday unveiled 10 typical cases of ecological violations identified in the first quarter of this year.

They urged local governments and departments to draw lessons from the cases, strictly enforce red lines for farmland protection, ecological conservation and urban development boundaries, and ensure that all development activities comply with laws and regulations.

The cases involve illegal land occupation, destruction of farmland, unlicensed mining, and damage to forests and grasslands, spanning multiple regions, including the Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous regions, the provinces of Heilongjiang, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Guizhou, Gansu and Qinghai, as well as the municipality of Chongqing.

In Tongliao, Inner Mongolia, satellite images from February showed piles of wind power equipment stacked on farmland. The illegal occupation dates back to November 2023, when the management committee of the Horqin Industrial Park signed a site lease contract with a local logistics company, allowing it to occupy 13.3 hectares of farmland for equipment storage and logistics operations without land-use approval. The announcement noted that long-term compaction and stacking destroyed the plow layer and farming conditions.

In Xuzhou, Jiangsu, satellite images from September 2022 to December 2025 showed large areas of land turning from green to bare earth. Since October 2023, an individual surnamed Tang has illegally occupied 26.5 hectares of permanent basic farmland to plant and sell decorative turf, causing severe damage to the plow layer.

In another case in Zhuhai, Guangdong, a local aquaculture technology company illegally occupied 2.5 hectares of State-owned agricultural land — nearly 40 percent of which is farmland — without approval. Between October 2024 and February 2025, the company built nonagricultural facilities, including parking lots, off-road vehicle training grounds, outdoor activity areas and a restaurant.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and the National Forestry and Grassland Administration said they will continue to monitor progress in rectifying the violations.