One-third of China’s land protected under ecological ‘red line’ scheme

Authorities crack down on farm encroachment

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Published: September 19, 2022

File photo of a rapeseed field in southern China’s Yunnan province. (YuenWu/iStock/Getty Images)

Shanghai | Reuters — Nearly a third of China’s land is now off-limits to development under a scheme known as the “ecological protection red line,” a senior official said at a news briefing on Monday, bringing the country in accord with global biodiversity targets.

China first proposed its “red line” scheme in 2011 to put an end to decades of “irrational development” that had encroached on forests, wetlands and other precious ecosystems.

The establishment of national parks and the restoration of ecosystems have now helped bring the total area under protection to more than 30 per cent of China’s territory, said Zhuang Shaoqin, China’s vice-national resources minister.

Read Also

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins speaks during a press conference to discuss the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s “National Farm Security Action Plan,” outside the USDA in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 8, 2025. Photo: Reuters/Umit Bektas

U.S. farm secretary says ‘no amnesty’ for farmworkers from deportation

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said on Tuesday that there will be “no amnesty” for agricultural workers as President Donald Trump’s administration moves to deport all immigrants in the country illegally.

The figure is in line with a target recommended by the United Nations and supported by more than 100 countries to protect at least 30 per cent of the earth’s land and ocean areas by 2030. China has not yet formally agreed to the target.

The target will be discussed during talks on a new global biodiversity pact set to take place in Montreal in December, which China will lead.

Across China, authorities have been demolishing houses, workshops and hydropower plants in order to meet their own local “red line” targets, with some also cracking down on farmers for illegally expanding plantations onto protected land.

But critics say the enforcement of the scheme has remained uneven, with governments still authorised to redraw “red lines” if they interfere with major development projects.

The latest policy guidelines published in August said that some human activity would still be permitted inside the red line zones, including the cultivation and logging of commercial forests and the exploration of mineral resources.

China also acknowledged earlier this year that its marine ecosystems remained in relatively poor health, with pollution and habitat destruction still not fully under control.

— Reporting for Reuters by David Stanway in Shanghai.

About the author

GFM Network News

GFM Network News

Glacier FarmMedia Feed

Glacier FarmMedia, a division of Glacier Media, is Canada's largest publisher of agricultural news in print and online.

explore

Stories from our other publications