Complexities Surrounding China's Soil Action Plan

Abstract

China's soil pollution is serious, with 16·1% of all soil samples exceeding soil quality standard according to a national soil quality survey. On 31 May 2016, the Chinese government unleashed an ambitious plan to address its soil pollution problem. The large scale and fast pace of the proposed plan pose many challenges. There are biogeochemical complexities governing the fate and transport of soil contaminants that require more thorough study. There are also human‐related complexities and dynamic feedback loops, which determine the behaviour of farmers, industrial polluters, remediation practitioners and regulators. Soil pollution prevention and remediation also have externalities and spillover effects ranging from greenhouse gas emission to social justice. Rigorous policy instruments must be developed to account for complex human behaviour, to strengthen risk management and to encourage interdisciplinary scientific research. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Drivers of spatio-temporal changes in paddy soil pH in Jiangxi Province, China from 1980 to 2010

“…However, the accelerated change of soil pH may result from massive anthropogenic influences on the ecosystem. Intensive agricultural practices had the strongest influence on accelerated soil acidification 3,4,12,14,18,29,39,53 .…”

“…Therefore, it is of utmost importance to not only maintain but also to improve our natural resource for a sustainable future. However, the highly dynamic nature of soil conditions make this a substantial challenge 3,4 . Moreover, climate change and the anthropogenic pressures from an ever-increasing global population are resulting in tremendous pressures 5,6 .…”

“…Soil acidification alters the biogeochemical cycles and adversely affects ecosystem functioning by altering soil conditions 3,4 . Naturally, soils are strongly buffered by the minerals/ions released through weathering; thus, natural soil acidification may occur very slowly over hundreds to millions of years 8 .…”

Editor's perspective-potential growth in China's remediation market

“…The Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) and Ministry of Land conducted an extensive 9‐year investigation of soil quality throughout China (Qu et al., ). A summary of the investigation report (the full report is only available in Chinese) indicates that of 6.3 million square kilometers of land surveyed, 16.1 percent contains contaminants above the MEP's soil quality standards (Hou & Li, ). The survey results indicate that the most prevalent types of contamination are heavy metals with 82.8 percent of the nonattainment sites containing metal contamination.…”

“…The extensive metal contamination in agricultural soils within China arises from two sources: irrigating farmland with poorly treated wastewater with elevated metals content and deposition of metal‐containing air pollution. In addition, overapplication of pesticides is a source of farmland contamination (Hou & Li, ; Lu et al., ). This is an interesting contrast to the United States, where, most agricultural lands are generally not considered to be contaminated sites.…”