16.1 percent of mainland soil polluted: report

China's environmental protection and land resource watchdogs Thursday jointly released the results of large-scale research into national soil sources, stating 16.1 percent of soil in the Chinese mainland is polluted.

Some 19.4 percent of farming land is polluted, said the report issued by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Ministry of Land and Resources.

The general condition of the land is reported as "not optimistic" as the quality of farming land is worrying while deserted industrial and mining land suffers serious pollution.

It was based on a survey, the first of its kind, conducted from April 2005 to December 2013 on 630 square kilometers of land across the country, excluding Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

Just over 1 percent of the surveyed land is severely polluted, while 82.8 percent of the polluted land is contaminated by inorganic materials. The top three pollutants are cadmium, nickel and arsenic.

The pollution has been caused by complicated factors over a long period of time. "The main pollution source is human industrial and agricultural activities," the report said.

It also concluded that the land in the south of China is more polluted than the north.

Meanwhile, 10 percent of woodland and 10.4 percent of grassland is polluted, the report said.

The public has long called for the disclosure of the survey results. The State environment protection watchdog rejected a Beijing-based lawyer's request to publicize the results and survey methods in February 2013 by declaring the results a State secret.

Media reports in 2012 quoted officials as saying the results were waiting for approval from the State Council.

The nationwide investigation collected a large number of soil samples along with plant and biological specimens.

Authorities vowed to set up a new supervision mechanism towards land pollution and began land ecological restoration work after the survey.

By Global Times – Xinhua