Abstract
16% of China’s soil was polluted beyond acceptable standards, and 19.4% of China’s total arable land (65mn out of 334mn acres) was badly contaminated by heavy metals. As the government estimates 300mn acres of arable land is needed to maintain the nation’s food security. Soil pollution and contamination is more acute in Southern China than in the North due to the heavy concentration of China’s metals smelting industry in the
South. The Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta and Northeast China are especially polluted because of their high exposure to heavy industry.
Resource: Goldman Saches
Retrieved from
http://www.goldmansachs.com/our-thinking/pages/interconnected-markets-folder/chinas-environment/report.pdf