Xingqiang Song

Managing water resources for sustainable development: the case of integrated river basin management in China

The emerging water crisis in China shows that the current institutional frameworks and policies with regard to water resources management are incapable of achieving an effective and satisfactory situation that includes Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM). This paper analyses this framework and related policies, examines their deficiencies in relation to all water stress problems and explores alternatives focusing on river basins. Water resources management reforms in modern China are reviewed and the main problems involved in transforming the current river management system into an IRBM-based system are analysed. The Huai River basin is used as an example of current river basin management, with quantitative data serving to show the scale and scope of the problems in the country as a whole. The institutional reforms required are discussed and a conceptual institutional framework is proposed to facilitate the implementation of IRBM in China. In particular, the roles, power and responsibilities of River Basin Commissions (RBCs) should be legally strengthened; the functions of supervising, decision-making and execution should be separated; and cross-sectoral legislation, institutional coordination and public participation at all levels should be promoted.

The 2000 EU water framework directive and Chinese water management: experiences and perspectives.

This paper addresses Integrated River Basin Management as a solution to water stress through a comparative analysis of water management in Europe and China. It makes a preliminary assessment of the European experiences so far with the Water Framework Directive (WFD) on river basin management and investigates its potential value for other areas, focusing on China. Problems and possibilities of policy transfer in the process of initiating and stimulating sustainable water management are investigated. Could the WFD, which seems to have beneficial impact in Europe, be used to reach the same results in China? We will deal with this and other questions, discussing the differences in water management and context between China and the EU and the problems with adopting a WFD inspired approach in China. Framework Directive, policy transfer.

River Systems In Transition:Pathways And Stakeholder Involvement

In view of present-day water stress, water transitions are necessary, incorporating both technological innovation and institutional reform. Water provisions and problems involve a range of diverging interests and values, with which a corresponding range of actors and stakeholders are connected. This paper focuses on both the social and the technological dynamics around river development and management, and explores the margins and possibilities of stakeholder involvement in water transitions. It draws on cases from The Netherlands, Bangladesh and China.

Moving Toward an Anthropogenic Metabolism-Based and Pressure-Oriented Approach to Water Management

Effective and efficient water management systems require a comprehensive understanding of anthropogenic pressures on the water environment. Developing a broader systems perspective and extended information systems is therefore essential to systematically explore interlinks between anthropogenic activities and impaired waters at an appropriate scale. For this purpose, this paper identifies information dilemmas in contemporary water monitoring and management from an anthropogenic metabolic point of view. The European Drivers-Pressures-State of the Environment-Impacts-Responses (DPSIR) framework was used as a basis for classifying and discussing two approaches to water management, namely state/impacts-oriented and pressure-oriented. The results indicate that current water monitoring and management are mainly state/impacts-oriented, based on observed pollutants in environmental monitoring and/or on biodiversity changes in ecological monitoring. This approach often results in end-of-pipe solutions and reactive responses to combat water problems. To complement this traditional state/impacts-oriented approach, we suggest moving toward an anthropogenic metabolism-based and pressure-oriented (AM/PO) approach to aid in alleviating human-induced pressures on the water environment in a more proactive way. The AM/PO ideas can equally be applied to water-centric sustainable urbanization planning and evaluation in a broader context.

European and Chinese Integrated River Basin Management : experiences and perspectives

This paper addresses Integrated River Basin Management as a solution to water stress through a comparative analysis of water management in Europe and China. It makes a preliminary assessment of the European experiences so far with the Water Framework Directive (WFD) – and the additional groundwater protection and flooding directives – on river basin management and investigates its potential value for other areas, focusing on China. Problems and possibilities of water policy transfer are investigated. The main questions to be discussed are whether the EU WFD could be made part of China’s water management regime and whether the experiences of the WFD could help China’s water managers and decision-makers to improve water management based on the principles of IRBM. We will deal with these and other questions, discussing the differences in water management and context between Europe and China.