China's natural resources ministry pushes "AI + natural resources" plan

On November 11, 2026, it was reported that China's Ministry of Natural Resources and the National Development and Reform Commission had jointly issued an implementation plan for integrating AI into the natural resources sector. The document sets out to accelerate large-scale, industrialized AI applications in natural resource management, with a near-term focus on upgrading the country's national spatial planning "one map" system.

The plan lays out phased targets. By 2028, it calls for AI to reach demonstrative application across the sector, with high-quality datasets, large models, and AI agents built for priority areas including geospatial and spatiotemporal information, territorial spatial planning and governance, oceans, geology and mineral resources, and forestry and grassland. The "one map" platform's intelligence should be comprehensively upgraded, and a set of replicable, scalable application scenarios should be established.

By 2030, the plan envisions AI deeply embedded across the entire natural resources management chain, with an integrated intelligent territorial spatial governance platform, secure and controllable key technologies and smart equipment, and a sector-wide governance capability generally regarded as internationally leading, positioning AI as a central engine for ecological civilization construction and high-quality development.