Jiangsu issues 15th Five-Year Plan for natural resources

Jiangsu has recently issued its 15th Five-Year Plan for Natural Resources, further optimizing the province's layout of territorial development, improving the allocation and efficient use of natural resources, and strengthening safeguards for natural resource security.

The plan calls for optimizing the pattern of territorial development and protection, strengthening implementation of the strategy for functional zoning, and developing and making effective use of a unified digital platform for natural resource management and territorial spatial planning.

It also calls for more precise and efficient allocation of resources, strengthening land, forest and sea-use support for major projects, and accelerating the establishment of a unified, coordinated system for regulating territorial spatial use and granting planning permits, covering all areas and types of land use.

The plan also seeks to strengthen integrated protection of farmland in terms of quantity, quality and ecological functions, reform and improve the system for balancing farmland occupation with replenishment, and optimize the distribution of farmland and permanent basic farmland.

In addition, Jiangsu will strengthen the development, utilization and protection of marine resources and explore new areas of growth for the marine economy. It will improve the development and protection of mineral resources, while strengthening geological surveys and mineral exploration.

By 2030, Jiangsu aims to maintain at least 3.9 million hectares of cultivated land, keep the area covered by ecological conservation redlines at no less than 18,200 square kilometers, and maintain forest coverage at no less than 7.22 percent.