On May 31, the State Council issued a plan regarding prevention and remediation of soil pollution in a bid to comprehensively improve the nation’s soil quality by the mid-21st century.

Currently, oil quality across the country is seeing many problems and soil pollution in some regions is serious.

To get a clear understanding of the national condition of soil quality, a further survey will be carried out and a nationwide monitoring network will be set up, according to the State Council.

Led by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the once-in-a-decade survey, which involves other ministries and local governments, will monitor overall soil quality.

A nationwide soil quality monitoring network will be established to monitor all regions across the country by 2020.

In addition, data from the ministries of environmental protection, land and resources, and agriculture will be used to establish a database. Mobile internet and the Internet of Things will be utilized to realize real-time data upgrades.

To prevent soil pollution, legislative efforts also will be taken, as laws and regulation systems concerning soil pollution prevention and remediation will be established by 2020.

Soil for agricultural purposes is categorized into three types to preserve the safety of agricultural products.

According to the plan, non-and-slightly-polluted soil will receive priority of protection; mildly-and-moderately polluted soil will be ranked as safely usable and seriously-polluted soil will be under strict management.

Efforts will also be made to prevent overuse of agricultural fertilizers and pesticides that could endanger soil quality and soil contamination by industrial and mining sectors.