D1S2 WYahua Presentation

8/6/2019 D1S2 WYahua Presentation

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The views expressed in this paper/presentation are the views of theauthor and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Asian

Development Bank (ADB), or its Board of Governors, or thegovernments they represent. ADB does not guarantee the accuracy of

the data included in this paper and accepts no responsibility for anyconsequence of their use. Terminology used may not necessarily be

consistent with ADB official terms.



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The Transition of Water Governancein China: An Overview 1999~2008

Yahua Wang

Associate ProfessorSchool of Public policy and Management

Deputy DirectorCenter for China Studies,

Tsinghua University, China

New Thinking on Water Governance Conference1-4 July 2009,National University of Singapore



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Outline

¾ I. Water Crisis Confronted by China¾ II. China’s New Thinking on WaterGovernance¾ III. The Transition of China Water Policy¾ IV. China's Water Management System

Reform¾ V. Taking the Reform of Water rights

Institution for Example¾

VI. Conclusions





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I. China Water Crisis in the New Era

¾ Water pollution

¾ Water scarcity¾ Aquatic ecosystem degradation

¾ Water-related hazards¾ Water challenges in the context of climate

change



Proportion of river courses length worse than

class III in China’s Seven Major River Basin

Sources: China Water Resources Quality Bulletin 2000 2005,http://www.hydroinfo.gov.cn/ gb/szyzlnb.asp

0

20

40

60

80

100

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

P r o p o r t i o n

o f r i v e r c o u r s e s

l e n g t h /

Nationwide

Hai River

Yellow River

Huai River

Yangtze River

Taihu Lake

Pearl River

Songhua & Liao





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Renewable fresh water per capita

cubic meters728

2183

3380

3386

4513

9621

13,233

17,848Myanmar

U.S.

ThailandChina

North China

Japan

Vietnam

Indonesia



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Low efficiency of water use in China

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

Brazil China France Germany India Japan Russia UK USA

Cubic meterper $ GNI

Cubic meterper $ PPP GNI

Cubic meter





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Water in YR

S u

p p or t

YR Water allocation situation in China



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Water Shortage in the Yellow River Basin



13

A drying river



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II. China’s New Thinking on Water

GovernanceWang Shucheng (1999) : the proposal regarding the

new thinking of China’s water resourcesdevelopment in the coming 21st century.

¾ Updating water governance ideas

¾ Reforming management system

¾ Advocating policy innovation



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New Water Governance Ideas

¾ Keeping a harmonious relationship between human and nature ¾ Insisting on the sustainable utilization of water resources

¾ Human-oriented water policies



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III. The Transition of China Water

Policy¾ 1. Changes of flood control policy¾ 2. Unified allocation and managementfor water resource within watershed¾ 3. Comprehensive building of a water-

saving society¾ 4. Caring about the health of rivers¾ 5. Ensuring drinking water safety in

countryside¾

6. Pricing reform



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Building a Water-Saving Society

¾ From 2002, Zhangye city is the area which

firstly initiates regional comprehensivewater-saving pilot program in China.





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National Rural Drinking Water

Safety Project ¾ In 2006, the State Council proposed that the

drinking water safety problems for the ruralpopulation shall be solved within ten years.

¾ During the “Eleventh Five-year” period(2006-

2010), drinking water safety problems for 160millions of rural population shall be solved atfirst.



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IV. China's Water Management

System Reform¾ 1. Integrated management of water

resources has been improved¾ 2. Watershed management is strengthened

and reinforced¾ 3. Watershed planning is being regarded in

practice¾ 4. Regional water unified management

move forward rapidly¾ 5. Reform progress in water worksmanagement system¾ 6. Rapid development of water user

association



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Integrated Watershed Planning

¾ In 2002, the nation-wide water resources

comprehensive planning was initiated, andthe work has been done.

¾ Since 2007, a new comprehensiveplanning for watershed water resourceswas started.



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Development of water user association

¾ In 2005, the Government issued a regulation

document of “Opinions on strengtheningbuilding of farmer association of water”.

¾ There are over 4,000 water user associationshave been founded in 2004, and grew toover 7,000 in 2005, and increased to over 20,000 in 2006 nationwide.



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V. Taking the Reform of Water Rights Institution for Example

¾ 1. Theoretical framework of water rights system¾ 2. “Water Law” 2002 made progress in water rights

system¾ 3. More cases of water rights market appears¾ 4. Large-scale, cross-sector of water rights transfer

has emerged in the upper Yellow River Basin¾ 5. Legislation building of water rights and water

market speeds up¾ 6. The effects of water right institutional building

are appearing gradually



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Water Rights Reform in the YRB

¾

Draw more detailed water allocation scheme¾ Implement total amount control strictly

¾ Carry out Integrated water diversion by the YRCC

¾ Stimulate riparian provinces water saving activity



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Changes of water uses after institutional

reform (1999-2003)



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Percentage of water overused by Yellow

River riparian provinces (1988-2003)



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Contrast between Runoff and Cut-off of Yellow River (1991-2003)



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Water Market in the YRB

Water market as one instrument topromote water efficiency hastransformed from theory to practice.

In Ningxia and Inner Mongolia, water

right transfer from irrigation to industryhappened in the past several years.



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VI. Conclusions

¾ China is confronted with severe water crisis,which brings challenges and opportunitiesfor water governance transition.

¾ China has made great achievements in thewater governance transition, but it can only beregarded as a good start to responding towater crisis.

¾ The transition of China’s water governancestill has a long way to go, and there are lots oftheoretical and practical issues to be resolvedahead.



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D1S2 WYahua Presentation