China has responded to a national land-system sustainability emergency via an integrated portfolio of large-scale programmes. Here we review 16 sustainability programmes, which invested US$378.5 billion (in 2015 US$), covered 623.9 million hectares of land and involved over 500 million people, mostly since 1998. We find overwhelmingly that the interventions improved the sustainability of China's rural land systems, but the impacts are nuanced and adverse outcomes have occurred. We identify some key characteristics of programme success, potential risks to their durability, and future research needs. We suggest directions for China and other nations as they progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations' Agenda 2030.

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Rapid urbanization is resulting in large-scale land-use conversion and the impact on ecosystem services value is a key issue for sustainability-particularly in China-a global urbanization hotspot. Impacts of land-use change on ecosystem services value in China have been varied, ranging from strong decreases to modest increases, suggesting that bespoke analyses are required to support local and regional planning for sustainability. We quantified land-use change and valued the impact on ecosystem services from 1990 -2010 in the rapidly urbanizing Guangzhou-Foshan Metropolitan Area, southern China. We quantified land-use change from Landsat satellite imagery and calculated the value of ecosystem services using the well-established unit-value transfer method. Over one quarter of the study area changed land-use between 1990 and 2010 with Built-up, Orchard, and Waterbody land-uses expanding, and Cropland and Forestland contracting. However, the net decline in ecosystem services value was only 4.4% (US$201.5 million). This modest overall decline masked more complex and extreme dynamics in the value of individual ecosystem services. Substantial declines in the value of gas regulation (US$115.4 million, -28%) soil formation and retention (US$90.5 million, -16%), and climate regulation (US$44.6 million, -8%), while waste treatment (US$68.5 million, +10%) and recreation and culture (US$45.7 million, +12%) increased in value. Decision analysis is required to support land-use planning to ensure the sustainability of ecosystem services for the wellbeing of the people of Guangzhou-Foshan and other rapidly urbanizing areas in China and globally.