If China is serious about food security, it must tackle soil pollution more seriously
- Environmental pollution is a central threat to China’s food safety. Yet, state spending on soil treatment has lagged behind that on other bigger campaigns like ending air and water pollution. Private-sector players should step up
Soil sampling paints a picture of pollution’s uneven impact across the country. For example, the grain-producing regions in southern China were worse off, with mining, industry and sewage water the main culprits.
While the 12 million tonnes of polluted grain is a drop in the bucket of China’s total 664 million tonnes of output, it comprises the entire grain supply of some communities. And in four out of the five main grain-producing regions, including the Sichuan Basin and the middle Yangtze Plain, the percentage of farmland soil samples that failed to meet quality standards has grown significantly.
To tackle the problem, the government’s main strategy is to prioritise the remediation and control of polluted farmland. In 2019, the authorities issued a stipulation, which clearly stated that the central government’s soil pollution prevention budget should give a high priority to polluted farmland, and provincial governments are accordingly required to increase their budgets for it.
Cleaning up China’s polluted farmland will cost around 6 trillion yuan (US$892 billion), by the estimate of Luo Xiwen, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. So far, state spending on soil treatment has lagged behind that on other bigger campaigns, like ending air and water pollution.
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Soil remediation is expensive and government budgets alone can’t sustain it. In February, the authorities encouraged private-sector players to invest in soil restoration. But unlike contaminated urban land, polluted farmland rarely has commercial value, and both real estate developers and local governments are reluctant to pay for their restoration.
A recent analysis showed that among 240 soil restoration projects undertaken in China in 2019, only 15 were on agricultural land. While this highlights the need for private-sector players, the authorities are still looking for ways to incentivise the private sector to restore farmland.
Some local governments have experimented with financing for soil remediation, including issuing debt for environmental projects and environmental pollution liability insurance. In 2013, several municipal governments in Hunan issued 6.7 billion yuan in debt to tackle pollution by heavy metals and planned to repay it in seven years.
On the other hand, the central government has been more cautious about issuing debt. It’s worth emphasising that environmental pollution liability insurance can help hold polluters accountable for environmental impacts and secure sustainable funding for the elimination of soil pollution. According to the latest public data, nearly 16,000 companies have taken out pollution liability insurance in China.
It’s unlikely there’s a one-size-fits-all solution for the provinces, but state investment is surely not the only answer.
If China hopes to secure its food supply, a forward-thinking framework for financing soil remediation would be a major step. Meanwhile, the private sector, civil society, and local governments will all have varying roles to play across the country.
Hang Bao is toxics campaigner at Greenpeace East Asia
