Over a third of China’s land is being scoured by erosion that is putting its crops and water supplies at risk, a three-year nationwide survey finds.

Soil is being washed and blown away not only in remote rural areas, but near mines, factories and even in cities, according to the country’s official Xinhua news agency. The agency is citing a report compiled by China’s bio-environment security research team – the largest on soil conservation since the communist party took control of China in 1949.

The team found that since 2000, erosion has cost China 200 billion yuan ($29 billion) in economic losses. Each year some 4.5 billion tonnes of soil are lost, threatening the country’s ability to feed itself. If erosion continues at this rate, harvests in China’s north-eastern breadbasket could fall by 40% in 50 years.

The Chinese findings tie into another report published this week: the US National Intelligence Council review, which is issued every four years. According to this year’s report, the world could see the return of battles over resources – raising the possibility of resource conflict between China and India.


“China has a more dire situation than India, Japan, the United States, Australia and many other countries suffering from soil erosion,” China’s bio-environment security research team told Xinhua.

Beijing has long been worried about the desertification of its northern grasslands, and scaled back logging after rain rushing down denuded mountainsides caused massive flooding along the Yangtze in the late 1990s.

But around 1.6 million square kilometres of the country’s surface is being degraded by water erosion, with almost every river basin affected. Another 2 million square kilometres are under attack from wind.