Beginning September 1, 2026, Gansu Province will launch a comprehensive, integrated approval process for land, forest, and grassland usage.

On August 6, the Provincial Department of Natural Resources and the Provincial Forestry and Grassland Bureau jointly held a video training session in Lanzhou to facilitate the new system. The meeting confirmed that the coordinated approval mechanism will be fully implemented starting September 1, 2026. Since early 2025, the two departments have collaborated closely, conducting multiple consultations to develop supporting regulatory documents tailored to the province's needs.

In July, they issued the "Notice on Comprehensively Promoting the Integrated Approval of Land, Forest, and Grassland Use," which clarifies the requirements, scope, operational model, and workflow for the joint approval process. This provides clear and precise operational guidance for routine and standardized implementation across the province.

The rollout of integrated approval is a key reform to unify spatial control of national territory and streamline essential resource allocation under a "one-stop service" model. The training aimed to thoroughly explain the "Gansu Province Guidelines for Integrated Land, Forest, and Grassland Use Approval," ensuring the reform measures are effectively applied at the local level.

During the meeting, officials emphasized the importance of raising awareness and understanding the practical significance of the integrated approval system. They urged departments of natural resources and forestry/grassland to shift from a siloed approach to a unified provincial strategy, actively breaking down inter-departmental barriers and strictly enforcing all mechanisms of the integrated approval process.

The system will adhere to an "eight unified" working mechanism, including a unified base map, joint field surveys, synchronized public announcements, and parallel reviews. This transforms the fragmented processing into collaborative coordination, significantly reducing approval timelines and lowering project costs. By relying on the latest annual land use change survey results for unified land classification, disputes over land, forest, and grassland types will be minimized, preventing repeated document corrections and resolving long-standing operational challenges at the provincial, city, and county levels.

The initiative will guide scientific site selection for projects, promote intensive and economical use of land, forests, and grassland resources, and safeguard ecological security. Officials stressed the need to strengthen accountability, enhance approval efficiency, and address bottlenecks and difficulties in the process. The goal is to convert reform dividends into tangible benefits for development and the public, providing solid natural resource support for the province's high-quality economic and social development.

Relevant department heads from the Provincial Department of Natural Resources and the Provincial Forestry and Grassland Bureau delivered systematic explanations on key points of the integrated approval, preliminary linkage reviews for land pre-selection, and system operational procedures.