New progress of land resources studies and related developmental tendencies in China

Land is the all-important resource and material basis for human survival and development. The special importance of land under new developmental situations has determined the unique position of land resource disciplines in resource sciences. With unceasing intensification of land resource supply and demand contradiction, land resource development, consolidation and optimal use allocation have become increasingly complex. This has necessitated urgent needs for strengthened comprehensive research on China's limited land resources. Recently, significant progress has been made in land resources research in China. The areas of land resources investigation, land use planning, land consolidation, land use sustainability, optimal land resources allocation, land use intensiveness, land resources security and ecological use have all been extensively studied. The current study has, however, mainly focused on macro concepts, theories, strategic, typical or microscopic cases and modes analyses. Studies dealing with comprehensive analysis of land resources and inter-disciplinary/integrated studies of land resources in China remained insufficient. The paper analyzed new progresses of land resources research; evaluated and investigated development strategies, targets and ken trends in land resources disciplines regarding the socio-economic development of China; predicted research tendencies and key issues of land resources in China so as to propose concrete suggestions and countermeasures. It was indicated that research findings called for multi-disciplinary studies of land resources in China, improvements in land engineering and technological innovation, supportive land consolidation, planning and design, and explorative mechanisms of future land use livelihoods.