The Ministry of Land and Resources said in an online report on Thursday that an examination of satellite images shows land misuse in China has been declining.

The ministry released its annual survey on subject, which covered 86 cities nationwide from October 2006 to October 2007. It said cases involving illegal land grabs dropped by 37.6 percent to 8,718 from the previous survey, with 7,311 cases put under judicial investigation.

The area of illegally occupied land fell 47.7 percent to 265,700 mu (about 17,713 hectares), while the area of misappropriated arable land was down 49.1 percent to 126,300 mu.

"It's the first sharp decrease since the annual investigation was launched in 2000," the ministry said.

(Xinhua News Agency December 5, 2008)