Patterns of topsoil stripping for planting use in foreign countries and its enlightenment for China

Abstract: Topsoil stripping is helpful to improve land productivity, protect high-quality land resources, and most importantly, preserve the environment and ecosystem from destruction. In the U.S.A., Canada, Japan, and Australia, topsoil stripping is typically effective and efficient, based on the law, policy, technical standards, and availability of sufficient funds. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the circumstances, organizational patterns and applied patterns, and characteristics of topsoil stripping in these representative countries by using the methods of literature consultation and comparative analysis. Moreover, the circumstances, patterns, and dilemma of topsoil stripping in China are also studied. Based on that, our final purpose is to give some recommendations to make topsoil stripping more reasonable and scientific in China. It is concluded that there exists three main patterns of organization and administration, to be specific, government-centered patterns, joint-management patterns, and planning-centered patterns. They are all useful to ensure that the topsoil stripping could be carried out smoothly in spite of their different operating processes and other details. In terms of the appliance of topsoil: one is bringing topsoil back to the original land, the most important procedure here is topsoil storage; another is bringing topsoil to new land, besides topsoil storage, another key procedure here is topsoil transportation. Moreover, in these countries, it is shown that topsoil stripping has six main characteristics: one is comprehensive goals, i.e. improving land productivity, protecting land resources and environment, preserving the culture and so on; the second is multiple subjects, government, the third is that sector, enterprises and individuals actively participate in stripping topsoil; the third is sufficient funds, and they come from an Insurance Fund, Land Rehabilitation Fund, government allocated funds and charitable contribution; the fourth is formal technology, as these countries establish specific programs, technology and acceptance standards for topsoil stripping to give guidance on various projects, soil types, and each process of topsoil stripping; the fifth is legislative appliance, that is, topsoil stripping is legislatively based on laws, acts, regulations, and relative standards; the sixth is spatial variance, i.e., spatial distinctions and relations which stem from the spatial characteristics of land. Correspondingly, in China, there have been three patterns of topsoil stripping: administration-centered patterns, market-oriented patterns, and administration-market patterns. However, it is still unclear that which pattern is the most reasonable one, because they were successfully used in various programs of different regions in China. According to the current practice of topsoil stripping, there are a variety of factors which limit the development of topsoil stripping but lack of effective basic laws, a powerful system guarantee, an appropriate technical standard, and the active participation of subjects are the major obstacles to stripping and applying topsoil. To make one final point, learning from the successful experience of topsoil stripping in these countries, legislating laws and regulations, using various administrative methods, making refined technical standards, and defining a functional division of relative sectors are the strategies which can be used to improve topsoil stripping in China.