China accelerates integration of AI and natural resources to build intelligent spatial governance platform by 2030

The Ministry of Natural Resources and the National Development and Reform Commission recently issued implementation opinions detailing the integration of artificial intelligence within the natural resources sector. This initiative aims to drive the industrialization and large-scale application of AI to enhance the intelligent upgrading of the national spatial planning system. By 2028, the plan targets the establishment of high-quality datasets, large models, and intelligent agents across key domains, including spatio-temporal geographical information, land and spatial planning, marine, geological mineral, and forestry/grassland sectors. This should elevate the overall intelligence of the 'one map' system and foster replicable application scenarios to boost the development of new quality productive forces in natural resources. The ultimate goal is to integrate AI across the entire chain of natural resource management, culminating in the construction of an intelligent national spatial governance foundation platform by 2030. To support this, the opinions mandate the strategic deployment of five AI pilot platforms covering the aforementioned domains, creating a shared service system for computing power, model training, and scenario validation. Furthermore, eight demonstration scenarios, such as integrated 'sky-ground-sea-network' monitoring and smart land resource asset management, have been introduced.