This file photo dated May 23, 2022 shows a black soil area that has been sown in Guangrong Village of Hailun City, northeast China's Heilongjiang province. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

BEIJING — China will beef up its conservation efforts for black soil, a "precious soil resource" mainly distributed in the country's northeastern provinces and the eastern part of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, according to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment on Tuesday.

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The ministry will further strengthen the prevention and control efforts on the sources of soil pollution on agricultural land, and investigate and punish activity that damages black soil according to the law, in a bid to improve the quality of the soil resource, Liu Youbin, a spokesperson with the ministry, told a press conference.

Through the Black Soil Protection Law, which took effect in August 2022, the country urged the improvement of the quality of black soil.