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On the surface， the Zhendan Geological and Ecological Park in Kunyang Town in Kunming， capital of southwest China’s Yunnan Province， is no less beautiful than any other park in the world. Hill slopes are terraced， laced with winding trails and covered with dense foliage. It also boasts a green football field， scenic viewing decks， fish ponds， gardens and vegetable fields.
Nine years ago， however， the site was nothing more than the barren waste of a series of phosphate pits. Littered with piles of debris and suffering from water erosion， it looked desolate， said Yang Chun， Director of the Yunnan Phosphate Chemical Group’s Logistics Center.
Having worked at the company for more than a decade， Yang has witnessed the dramatic changes of the former mining area’s landscape.
Over the years， the Yunnan Phosphate Chemical Group has made extensive efforts to reclaim the land destroyed by mining activities. It began revegetating sites eroded and damaged by mining during the 1980s. The program was halted in the 1990s due to financial difficulties. After the turn of the century， as the company gradually saw greater profits， it resumed land reclamation.
After phosphate ores are extracted from the land， it is difficult for plants to grow on the bare rocks left behind. Considering this， the Yunnan Phosphate Chemical Group took measures to preserve the surface soil when preparing its sites for mining. After mining， the resulting slag and other wastes were filled back into excavated areas and the surface soil was put back. Trees， grass and flowers were then planted.
To improve plants’ survival rate， the chemical group built water pools on top of the hills， and set up pipe systems to irrigate the vegetation that they had planted. Drought and pestresistant tree species were selected and local farmers have been hired to protect and manage the reclaimed areas.
According to company sources， by the end of 2012， it had spent an accumulated total of more than 200 million yuan （$33 million） on reclaiming land， planting more than 1，667 hectares of trees and growing 667 hectares of grass. So far， it has reclaimed 94 percent of its abandoned mining sites.
Wastelands
As China’s economy grows， mining and other industrial processes have devastated large areas of land. The most commonly seen production processes causing severe damage to the land are open-pit mining， the baking of bricks and tiles as well as the extraction of sand and soil. Mining activities can also damage the surrounding land by causing land subsidence and producing mineral waste landfills that are difficult to clear.
In addition， the construction of energy， transportation， water conservation projects and other infrastructure can often cause damage to the land surrounding them.
Every year， about 200，000 hectares of land is destroyed by the country’s 112，300 mines， said Wu Haiyang， Director of the Land Reclamation Center at the Ministry of Land and Resources.
Of all the land destroyed by mining activities， 80 percent was ruined by coal mining， according to the Land Reclamation and Ecological Restoration Committee of the China Coal Society.
“Farmland accounts for more than 60 percent of the land damaged by production， while large areas of wasteland can result in soil contamination， environmental degradation and the loss of biological diversity，” Wu said.
Official statistics show that presently， 25 percent of the wasteland created by industrial processes have been reclaimed， which is significantly higher than the national average reclamation rate in the 1980s， when it was a paltry 2 percent. Nonetheless， at the end of 2009， more than 6.7 million hectares of abandoned mining sites remained unclaimed.
If these abandoned mining sites are left to recover by themselves， it will take at least half a century for vegetation to restore， and if topsoil has been completely removed， the recovery process will be even longer， experts say.
Incentives
To ensure that land ruined by production activities will be reclaimed， the Chinese Government has introduced several laws and regulations on the issue. Among them， rules issued in 1988 stipulate that “whoever damages the land should reclaim it.”
Yet for a long time， some local governments stubbornly pursued gross domestic product growth while businesses single-mindedly sought profit， so they did not attach importance to the sustainable use of land resources and as a result land reclamation rates remained low.
In recent years， however， this situation has begun to change due to the rising public awareness of the need for environmental protection and ecological conservation.
In March 2012， the State Council， China’s cabinet， released a national land restoration plan for 2011-15， setting the goal of achieving a 100-percent reclamation rate for land newly damaged by industrial production and a 35-percent reclamation rate for land damaged by production occurring in the past. While conducting research， the Ministry of Land and Resources found that the primary reason for wasteland not being reclaimed was that the obligated party did not want to accept the financial responsibility， so they instead put the burden on the government， said Wang Shouzhi， Director of the ministry’s Policy and Regulation Department.
In response， the State Council proclaimed the Regulations of Land Reclamation in February 2011. In order to facilitate the implementation of the regulations， the Ministry of Land and Resources produced detailed measures， which went into effect on March 1.
The regulations say that the party responsible for land reclamation must add the consequent costs to their production budgets or a project’s planned investment.
According to the regulations， any responsible party who fails to reclaim damaged land or whose reclaimed land does not meet standards must pay a land reclamation fee to land and resources authorities， who will then organize reclamation on behalf of the responsible party.
The regulations also state that if a responsible party fails to pay the land reclamation fee promptly， it will be fined an amount ranging between one to two times the required land reclamation fee. Mining companies violating the rules will also have their mining licenses revoked.
The regulations further stipulate that responsible parties must first pay a deposit equivalent to the estimated amount of the land reclamation fee one month in advance of any project’s launch.
Article 16 of the implementation measures says that the responsible party should open a special bank account for this purpose with approval from relevant county-level land and resources authorities and then put it under the supervision of those authorities.
As a reward， however， responsible parties who have restored damaged farmland to their original condition can reclaim the tax they paid for farmland use， according to the regulations.
In addition to tax incentives， some responsible parties have been motivated to rehabilitate the land by profit from reclaimed land.
Yangquan City in north China’s Shanxi Province has a large quantity of land damaged by mining activities. Since 2008， a local company has reclaimed 200 hectares of the land for farming purpose. Now， the company has more than 200 vegetable greenhouses， which produce more than 1，000 tons of pollution-free fresh vegetables.
Nine years ago， however， the site was nothing more than the barren waste of a series of phosphate pits. Littered with piles of debris and suffering from water erosion， it looked desolate， said Yang Chun， Director of the Yunnan Phosphate Chemical Group’s Logistics Center.
Having worked at the company for more than a decade， Yang has witnessed the dramatic changes of the former mining area’s landscape.
Over the years， the Yunnan Phosphate Chemical Group has made extensive efforts to reclaim the land destroyed by mining activities. It began revegetating sites eroded and damaged by mining during the 1980s. The program was halted in the 1990s due to financial difficulties. After the turn of the century， as the company gradually saw greater profits， it resumed land reclamation.
After phosphate ores are extracted from the land， it is difficult for plants to grow on the bare rocks left behind. Considering this， the Yunnan Phosphate Chemical Group took measures to preserve the surface soil when preparing its sites for mining. After mining， the resulting slag and other wastes were filled back into excavated areas and the surface soil was put back. Trees， grass and flowers were then planted.
To improve plants’ survival rate， the chemical group built water pools on top of the hills， and set up pipe systems to irrigate the vegetation that they had planted. Drought and pestresistant tree species were selected and local farmers have been hired to protect and manage the reclaimed areas.
According to company sources， by the end of 2012， it had spent an accumulated total of more than 200 million yuan （$33 million） on reclaiming land， planting more than 1，667 hectares of trees and growing 667 hectares of grass. So far， it has reclaimed 94 percent of its abandoned mining sites.
Wastelands
As China’s economy grows， mining and other industrial processes have devastated large areas of land. The most commonly seen production processes causing severe damage to the land are open-pit mining， the baking of bricks and tiles as well as the extraction of sand and soil. Mining activities can also damage the surrounding land by causing land subsidence and producing mineral waste landfills that are difficult to clear.
In addition， the construction of energy， transportation， water conservation projects and other infrastructure can often cause damage to the land surrounding them.
Every year， about 200，000 hectares of land is destroyed by the country’s 112，300 mines， said Wu Haiyang， Director of the Land Reclamation Center at the Ministry of Land and Resources.
Of all the land destroyed by mining activities， 80 percent was ruined by coal mining， according to the Land Reclamation and Ecological Restoration Committee of the China Coal Society.
“Farmland accounts for more than 60 percent of the land damaged by production， while large areas of wasteland can result in soil contamination， environmental degradation and the loss of biological diversity，” Wu said.
Official statistics show that presently， 25 percent of the wasteland created by industrial processes have been reclaimed， which is significantly higher than the national average reclamation rate in the 1980s， when it was a paltry 2 percent. Nonetheless， at the end of 2009， more than 6.7 million hectares of abandoned mining sites remained unclaimed.
If these abandoned mining sites are left to recover by themselves， it will take at least half a century for vegetation to restore， and if topsoil has been completely removed， the recovery process will be even longer， experts say.
Incentives
To ensure that land ruined by production activities will be reclaimed， the Chinese Government has introduced several laws and regulations on the issue. Among them， rules issued in 1988 stipulate that “whoever damages the land should reclaim it.”
Yet for a long time， some local governments stubbornly pursued gross domestic product growth while businesses single-mindedly sought profit， so they did not attach importance to the sustainable use of land resources and as a result land reclamation rates remained low.
In recent years， however， this situation has begun to change due to the rising public awareness of the need for environmental protection and ecological conservation.
In March 2012， the State Council， China’s cabinet， released a national land restoration plan for 2011-15， setting the goal of achieving a 100-percent reclamation rate for land newly damaged by industrial production and a 35-percent reclamation rate for land damaged by production occurring in the past. While conducting research， the Ministry of Land and Resources found that the primary reason for wasteland not being reclaimed was that the obligated party did not want to accept the financial responsibility， so they instead put the burden on the government， said Wang Shouzhi， Director of the ministry’s Policy and Regulation Department.
In response， the State Council proclaimed the Regulations of Land Reclamation in February 2011. In order to facilitate the implementation of the regulations， the Ministry of Land and Resources produced detailed measures， which went into effect on March 1.
The regulations say that the party responsible for land reclamation must add the consequent costs to their production budgets or a project’s planned investment.
According to the regulations， any responsible party who fails to reclaim damaged land or whose reclaimed land does not meet standards must pay a land reclamation fee to land and resources authorities， who will then organize reclamation on behalf of the responsible party.
The regulations also state that if a responsible party fails to pay the land reclamation fee promptly， it will be fined an amount ranging between one to two times the required land reclamation fee. Mining companies violating the rules will also have their mining licenses revoked.
The regulations further stipulate that responsible parties must first pay a deposit equivalent to the estimated amount of the land reclamation fee one month in advance of any project’s launch.
Article 16 of the implementation measures says that the responsible party should open a special bank account for this purpose with approval from relevant county-level land and resources authorities and then put it under the supervision of those authorities.
As a reward， however， responsible parties who have restored damaged farmland to their original condition can reclaim the tax they paid for farmland use， according to the regulations.
In addition to tax incentives， some responsible parties have been motivated to rehabilitate the land by profit from reclaimed land.
Yangquan City in north China’s Shanxi Province has a large quantity of land damaged by mining activities. Since 2008， a local company has reclaimed 200 hectares of the land for farming purpose. Now， the company has more than 200 vegetable greenhouses， which produce more than 1，000 tons of pollution-free fresh vegetables.