AN OUTLINE OF THE RESEARTH METHOD OF THE PROJECT "THE PRODUCTIVITY AND POPULATION CARRYING CAPACITY OF THE LAND RESOURCE IN CHINA"
“中国土地资源生产能力及人口承载量”项目研究方法概论

The question that whether the land resource can produce enough food to support the future population has received increasing concern in recent years. As an answer to this question, the study of the carrying capacity of the land resource occurs accordingly. The Commission for Integrated Survey of Natural Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, received the entrustment from the National Commission for Agricultural Regionalization and sponsar-ed the project "The Productivity and Population Carrying Capacity of the Land Resource in China".The study contant of the project is divided into five levels. The years of 2000 and 2025 are taken as the time scale of the study. The study is based on the 9 land potential regions demarcated on the 1:1000000 land resource map of China, is guided by the scientific theories of resources, resource ecology and resource ec onomy, and has the characteristics of compra-hensiveness, coordination and continuitv. Proceeding from the interalations of PRED (Population Resource, Environment, and Development), it makes efforts to clarify the following points: (1) The population number the can be supported in different periods by the land resource of China (2) The possibility to raise the carrying capacity of the land resource, and (3) the ways needed to attain this goal.