The system will be based on cities each with a population of over 500,000 and will focus on regions with rapid economic development, according to the Ministry of Land and Resources.

The ministry will release annual reports on China's land use, its changes and illegal land usage according to the information collected by the remote sensing system.

Since 1998, data sent from satellites of the United States and France have been used to monitor the land usage in large Chinese cities.

The accurate and direct information about the land situation has helped the government to make policies for urban construction.

Officials attending a seminar on land management in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, said that the ministry will focus on monitoring the western regions of China in the future to ensure that a large amount of farm land returns to grassland or forest and to protect the ecological system.

(Xinhua 11/07/2000)