China's Ministry of Natural Resources: National exploration rights transaction value surged 133.5% YoY in Jan-Aug 2025

Key data shows surging exploration rights, increased oil and gas reserves, and progress in ecological restoration

From January to August this year, China's natural resources sector posted impressive results, with national exploration rights transaction value rising 133.5% year-on-year. Newly added recoverable reserves reached nearly 70 million tonnes of oil and 610 billion cubic meters of natural gas.

At a recent State Council Information Office press conference themed "Getting Off to a Strong Start for the 15th Five-Year Plan," officials from the Ministry of Natural Resources outlined their vision for the 2026–2030 period. The Ministry will focus on serving as the "steward" of natural resources and the "guardian" of a Beautiful China, by optimizing the "one map" of territorial spatial planning and managing the "one ledger" of natural resource assets. The goal is to support high-quality development through safe, efficient, and sustainable resource use.

Safeguarding the 1.8 Billion Mu Red Line for Farmland

Food security remains a national priority, and farmland is the foundation of grain production. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, protecting the farmland red line is a key task.

"China's fundamental reality—more people and less land—means we must protect the farmland that feeds over a billion people. There can be no mistakes," said Liu Guohong, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Chief Inspector of Natural Resources. He emphasized a "three-in-one" approach to advance farmland quantity, quality, and ecological protection, ensuring the 1.8 billion mu (120 million hectares) red line is firmly maintained.

Key measures include:

• Strictly delineating and enforcing red lines for farmland and permanent basic farmland based on territorial spatial planning
• Tightly controlling construction-related farmland occupation
• For unavoidable occupation, expanding supplementary farmland sources through multiple channels, ensuring equal quantity and quality
• Preventing practices such as taking more farmland than is replaced or replacing high-quality land with inferior land

"Revitalizing existing land stock" is a key concept in balancing urban development land with farmland protection.

Vice Minister Zhang Wentong noted that as the country transitions from large-scale expansion to quality-driven存量 (stock) improvement, resource utilization patterns are shifting: from over-reliance on incremental land to revitalizing existing land stock; from resource transfer to resource operation; and from pursuing short-term land transfer revenue to combining current value realization with long-term operational value.

During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the Ministry will further adapt to new urban development trends by adhering to socialist public ownership and the paid-use land system. It will optimize planning for value appreciation, control costs through land policies, and promote operational efficiency through resource allocation, creating a virtuous cycle and balanced input-output dynamics to drive urban renewal through effective stock land revitalization.

Targeting 25.8% Forest Coverage by 2030

The savanna landscape of the Horqin Sandy Land is gradually reappearing, sediment flowing into the Yellow River is decreasing year by year, and the Taklamakan Desert is being encircled by a "green scarf." Many people have witnessed firsthand that the mountains are greener, there are more trees, and the country's ecological foundation is stronger.

Data shows that in the first eight months of this year, China completed nearly 70 million mu (4.67 million hectares) of land greening. The total output value of the forestry and grassland industry reached 6 trillion yuan, and ecotourism received 1.6 billion visitors.

Yan Zhen, Deputy Director of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration (National Park Administration), stated that the 15th Five-Year Plan period presents major development opportunities for forestry and grassland work. The administration has drafted the 15th Five-Year Plan for Forestry and Grassland Protection and Utilization, focusing on both protecting ecological assets and activating their economic value. Targets for 2030 include:

• National forest coverage rate: 25.8%
• Forest stock volume: 22.4 billion cubic meters
• Comprehensive grassland vegetation coverage: 51%
• Proportion of land area under nature reserves: stably maintained at 18%
• Total output value of forestry and grassland industry: 14 trillion yuan

Key tasks and projects include:

1. Scientifically carrying out large-scale land greening
2. Continuously optimizing the new-type nature reserve system
3. Actively expanding employment and income opportunities in forestry and grassland industries
4. Firmly maintaining the bottom line of forest and grassland fire prevention and pest control

"Deepening key reforms such as collective forest tenure reform will stimulate development vitality in forest regions. We will build a batch of national reserve forests in the south and modern pasturelands in the north to enhance the supply capacity of high-quality timber and forage. We will actively leverage the ecological and livelihood benefits of forestry and grassland industries, making good use of public welfare positions for ecological management. We will optimize the under-forest economy, strengthen the 'forest grain depot,' and orderly develop new business forms such as ecotourism and forest wellness," Yan Zhen said.

The National Forestry and Grassland Administration stated it will align with the national "Six Networks" strategic deployment to ensure land use for major projects, continuously increasing the "green content" and "gold content" of high-quality forestry and grassland development, and enhancing the public's sense of happiness and fulfillment.

Advancing Geological Survey Coverage in Key Mineral Belts to 66%

Coordinating the exploration, production, supply, storage, and sales of strategic mineral resources, and accelerating a new round of strategic mineral prospecting breakthroughs to secure the safety of strategic mineral industry and supply chains, are key priorities for natural resources work during the 15th Five-Year Plan period.

Vice Minister Zhou Xing noted that China's demand for important mineral resources will continue to grow rigidly during this period. The Ministry will continue implementing a new round of strategic prospecting breakthroughs to firmly secure the "rice bowl" of energy and provide strong support for the development of advanced manufacturing.

"Prospecting first requires clarifying the country's basic geological conditions, delineating areas that may contain minerals, and then gradually narrowing the scope until minerals are precisely located. We will implement a national geological mapping plan, pushing the coverage rate of 1:50,000 regional geological surveys to 51% and the coverage rate of mineral geological surveys in key metallogenic belts to 66%, thereby clarifying the resource and energy base," Zhou Xing said.

Zhou Xing stated that relevant departments will organize a major prospecting campaign, focusing on scarce minerals such as oil, iron, copper, and aluminum, while also considering advantageous minerals like rare earths. A batch of key exploration and mining projects will be deployed, aiming to discover new large and medium-sized mineral deposits and oil and gas fields. The goal is to find more minerals, larger deposits, and richer ores, while steadily advancing the construction of approximately 300 energy and resource bases. This is expected to significantly increase the self-sufficiency rate of strategic mineral resources and enhance the confidence in securing national energy and resource security.

"We will deepen innovation in prospecting theories, technologies, and equipment, increase the application of artificial intelligence technology, and push for incremental energy and resources from the deep earth and vast oceans. At the same time, we will continue to re-evaluate existing resources, revitalizing previously associated, low-grade, or difficult-to-utilize mineral resources to 'turn waste into treasure.' We will encourage mining enterprises to improve mining recovery rates, mineral processing recovery rates, and comprehensive resource utilization rates," Zhou Xing said.

Vice Minister Zhuang Shaoqin noted that the construction of the "one map" for territorial spatial planning is crucial for the natural resources sector and overall territorial space governance. Currently, the "one map" has aggregated 8.574 billion spatial element data points. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, efforts will focus on making the "one map" smarter, making data more useful, and expanding application scenarios.