Executive Overview

　　Devastating floods and mud slides, declining water quality and fish catch, loss of biological diversity, water shortages and falling water tables are but some of the signs that the management systems for water resources, rivers and lakes in China are in need of urgent attention. To further reinforce this point, as this report is being finalized, yet again the Yangtze River is experiencing serious flooding with loss of life, destruction of property, sanitation problems and loss of livelihoods.

　　With pressure on water resources intensifying in all parts of the world, integrated river basin management (IRBM) is rapidly being introduced in many countries as a management framework that can help draw together economic, social and environmental aspirations. A key factor that undermines efforts to deliver sustainability outcomes is sector-based governance; the organization of public administration that segregates, rather than integrates, economic, social and environmental policy, laws and administration.

　　IRBM is a process of coordinating the management and development of the water, land, biological and related resources within a river basin, so as to maximize the economic and social benefits in an equitable way while at the same time conserving freshwater ecosystems, species and services. IRBM is also a participatory mechanism for solving conflicts and allocating water among competing users, while recognizing that natural ecosystems are in part the suppliers of that resource and the fundamental 'natural infrastructure' that delivers it to human users.

　　This report, prepared by the IRBM Task Force of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED), is based on a review of the current status of IRBM in China and an examination of international experiences and lessons learned in this field.

　　China stands at a significant cross-road in its development. The options are very simple; continue on the same path as today, fuelling economic growth with unsustainable exploitation of the rivers and their associated natural resources, or move to more integrated approaches designed to entrench sustainability as the foundation of future development. The business-as-usual, 'do nothing' option, will come at a cost, and that cost will be a continuation, and even an escalation of environmental degradation and the associated social and economic costs. The alternative option is to recognize rivers as the lifelines of society, the economy and the environment and to adopt an integrated planning and management approach.

　　Having reviewed China's river and water management problems, and how other countries are responding to similar problems, the CCICED's IRBM Task Force recommends that China adopt IRBM as the fundamental platform for pursuing its five harmonizations. Importantly, this development of IRBM should be based on an ecosystem approach so that repairing and maintaining natural ecosystems and their associated services become a centerpiece of the IRBM effort.

　　The recommendations summarized below, and presented in more detail in this report, are designed to provide China's State Council with a road map for implementing IRBM through a staged, incremental process commencing with initial on-ground actions in the Yangtze River Basin, and to pilot the approaches advocated for broader application across China in two high priority tributaries of this river system in the first instance.

　　Recommendation 1: Legislation and institutional arrangements

　　The CCICED's IRBM Task Force recommends that the State Council adopt an IRBM management framework for the People's Republic of China and to introduce it through a staged process commencing with the Yangtze River Basin. Within this river basin it is recommended that in the first instance IRBM governance arrangements be introduced in the Chishui River and Taihu Lake Basins. These pilot programs would include the establishment of management commissions, tributary-level planning and target setting processes, trials of stakeholder participation approaches, economic and incentive measures, and the other key recommendations put forward in this report. In summary, the key administrative and other activities to guide and support this implementation include:

　　(i) Legislations related to river basin management are needed to be reviewed and reduce their contradictions on the institutional arrangement and responsibilities of river basin organizations.

　　(ii) Establishment of a national-level IRBM commission involving the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Water Resources and the State Environmental Protection Administration.

　　(iii) Establishment of an overarching river basin commission for all large rivers such as Yangtze and Yellow River. These overarching river basin commissions will have ultimate responsibility for planning and management.

　　(iv) Under this governance structure, existing river basin management organizations report to and support the work and actions authorized by the new river basin commissions.

　　(v) Operating under, and reporting to the river basin commissions are tributary-based management bodies, comprising provincial governments, local administrations and stakeholder representatives. Where appropriate, tributary-level management commissions may establish more local bodies to take on a coordination role for actions at that scale.

　　Recommendation 2: Stakeholder and public participation

　　The CCICED's IRBM Task Force recommends to the State Council to initiate programs directed at raising stakeholder awareness and encouraging public participation in river basin management. Those activities considered priorities for achieving this outcome are:

　　(i) Development of mechanisms to allow river basin stakeholders to openly and freely access the information relating to development proposals, impact assessments, IRBM planning and management actions and monitoring.

　　(ii) The establishment of a Development and Conservation Forum in each large river basin to become a platform for cooperation, communications and consensus building between different provinces and between the government and non-government stakeholders.

　　(iii) Community engagement in the IRBM effort needs to be promoted at the level of tributaries, with local townships taking responsibility for planning and implementation to achieve local scale outcomes contributing to the overall river basin master plan efforts.

　　(iv) Teaching the principles of IRBM, and showcasing its benefits through school-based learning, and to all sectors of civil society, key industry and rural sectors and the government service.

　　Recommendation 3: Economic measures and financial incentives

　　The CCICED's IRBM Task Force recommends that a range of economic and incentives measures be piloted within the Yangtze River Basin. Development and planning decisions should be based on impact assessment procedures that include the valuation of both ecosystem services as well as social and economic costs and benefits. Those activities considered priorities for achieving this outcome are:

　　(i) Identify obstacles to the effective implementation of economic instruments(such as, lack of people trained in their application, scarce equipment for monitoring and data gathering and unreliable basic data) and, where possible, demonstrate the practical application of appropriate economic instruments both in rural and small urban areas.

　　(ii) Undertake trials to demonstrate the use of Habitat Equivalency Analysis both in the valuation of environmental damage claims and to estimate the compensation to be paid by downstream beneficiaries of upstream generation of environmental services.

　　(iii) Support economic valuation exercises and an examination of the implications for environmental management of accurate pricing of ecosystem services.

　　(iv) Investigate local level tools and mechanisms to address the issue of income disparities and lack of alternatives for the poor, and

　　(v) Continue to examine the issue of water pricing as a perverse subsidy with the goal of achieving "environmental pricing" of water in the future.

　　Recommendation 4: Innovative IRBM-related methodologies and technologies

　　The CCICED's IRBM Task Force recommends that China give high priority to investment in the following in order to support the introduction of IRBM in China:

　　(i) Development of a Master Plan for each large river basin. Through the Master Plan, the river basin commissions should expand application of the ecosystem-based river management methods, including: provision of environmental flows, construction of fishways past dams, restoration of floodplain areas to reduce flood damage, and new environmental standards to minimize the environmental impact of existing and proposed dams.

　　(ii) Integrated Geographic Information System technology that provides natural, geological, demographic, socio-economic and bio-habitat information. Access to platform systems can be shared among different ministries, provincial and local governments and stakeholders and offer powerful decision support tools essential for IRBM-based planning.

　　(iii) The promotion and adoption of existing innovative IRBM-related technologies such as: (a) water use and re-use technologies; (b) eco-recovery technologies. (c) retrofitting technology for dams; (d) the recycling of nutrients, the immobilization of heavy metals, and the degradation of organic pollutants.

　　1. Introduction

　　The People's Republic of China, the most populous nation on earth, has many rivers providing the water resources essential for the nation's development and the wellbeing of its people. China's history has seen an evolving process of harnessing and exploiting these rivers and their waters, mainly through engineering and technical means. Since 1949, after the founding of the PR of China, there have been moves to draw together the management of water resources with river basin and provincial management. Despite these moves, further advanced by the revised Water Law adopted in 2002, China continues to show clear signs of unsustainable use of its water resources and the related ecosystems of its rivers. Devastating floods and mud slides, declining water quality and fish catch, loss of biological diversity, water shortages and falling water tables are but some of the signs that the management systems for water resources, rivers and lakes in China need urgent attention (see below "The case for China adopting IRBM").

　　In April 2000, Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations launched the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, a comprehensive global assessment of the world's major ecosystems. The concept paper for this assessment provides the following very pertinent statement; "While well-managed ecosystems reduce risks and vulnerability, poorly managed systems can exacerbate them by increasing risks of flood, drought, crop failure and disease". The World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg in 2003 reinforced, through its Millenium Development Goals, the need to find solutions for a sustainable future; solutions that can provide people with food and water while promoting economic advancement and poverty reduction and also protecting natural ecosystems and maintaining biological diversity.

　　A key factor that undermines efforts to deliver sustainability outcomes is sector-based governance; the organization of public administration that segregates, rather than integrates, economic, social and environmental policy, laws and administration. With pressure on water resources intensifying in all parts of the world, integrated river basin management (IRBM) is rapidly being introduced in many countries as a management framework that can help draw together economic, social and environmental aspirations.

　　IRBM is a process of coordinating the management and development of the water, land, biological and related resources within a river basin, so as to maximize the economic and social benefits in an equitable way while at the same time conserving freshwater ecosystems and species.

　　IRBM is also a participatory mechanism for solving conflicts and allocating water among competing users, while recognizing that natural ecosystems are in part the suppliers of that resource and the fundamental 'natural infrastructure' that delivers it to human users. Natural ecosystems are also key providers of a range of ecosystems services (flood mitigation, water quality improvement and fish production for example) which previously were overlooked in water resource management.

　　This report, prepared by the IRBM Task Force of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED), is based on a review of the current status of IRBM in China and an examination of international experiences and lessons learned in this field. It has also taken into consideration the Asian Development Bank funded report "Strategic Options for the Water Sector of the People's Republic of China" (1999) and The World Bank funded report "Agenda for Water Sector Strategy for North China" (2001).

　　The recommendations presented below are designed to provide China's State Council with a road map for implementing IRBM through a staged, incremental process commencing with initial on-ground actions in the Yangtze River Basin, and to pilot the approaches advocated for broader application across China in two high priority tributaries of this river system in the first instance.

　　2. The case for China adopting IRBM

　　Over the past 15 years there have been increasingly clear signals of fundamental failures with the management of water resources and river systems in China. These failures have had, in some cases, dramatic impacts on the people, the economy and the environment. Collectively, these impacts make a very strong case for China taking more holistic and integrated approaches to the management of water resources and river basins. This case for action is summarized below. As this report is being finalized yet again the Yangtze River is experiencing serious flooding with loss of life, destruction of property, sanitation problems and loss of livelihoods.

　　2.1 Frequent flood disasters, made worse by de-forestation and loss of wetlands

　　De-forestation in the upper and middle reaches of the rivers and plateau regions, and loss of floodplain wetlands, exacerbates erosion and flooding, and also reduces water quality. The table below shows the impacts of flooding in the Yangtze River catchment since 1931 (Source: Yangtze River Water Resource Commission: Yangtze River Yearbooks 2000-2003).

Year of Flooding	Affected 　　population	Affected cultivated area (km²)	Casualties	Damaged houses	Economic 　　losses (US$m)
	(in million)
1931	28.55	33,933	145,000	1,796,000	22.99
1935	10.03	15,093	142,000	406,000
1949	8.1	18,140	5,700	452,000	121.9
1954	18.81	31,700	33,000	4,300,000
1991	50	130,000	3,074	4,980,000	3,658.50
1995	92.12	64,721	1,085	785,000	6,903.10
1996	70.81	46,093	2,700	324,100	8,536.60
1998	200	90,000	4,150	6,850,000	20,000
1999	290	218,000	3,000	17,000,000	24,90
2002	91	732,198	917	588,330	4,998

　　2.2 Declining water quality caused mainly by pollution and land use practices

　　In many rivers the quality of water is deteriorating year by year and this brings with it additional human health and water treatments costs. Pollution takes many forms ranging from human by-products and urban run-off to those coming from industry, agriculture and transportation infrastructure.　　

•  About 62.6 billion tons of wastewater drains into China's rivers each year with 62% of this being industrial wastewater and 36% poorly treated sewage water. The Yangtze River receives 22 billion tons of this waste water and the Yellow River 3.9 billion tons.
•  Three-quarters of China's 50 major lakes are polluted, as are one-third of the reservoirs. Many shallow lakes such as Taihu, Chaohu and Dianchi have serious eutrophication from nutrient-rich run-off.

　　2.3 Reduced access to water resources caused by landscape changes and inefficient usage practices

　　Population encroachment on the floodplain, and bank construction for flood control, has removed or greatly reduced the areas of lakes and wetlands. 　　

•  There is very poor water use efficiency for agriculture, industry, human supply and for irrigation it is only 30%-40%; about half that of most developed countries.
•  Water used by industry accounts for 72% of the total for urban water usage, yet the reuse rate of this water is only 50%; around two-thirds of that found in developed countries.
•  Unregulated land reclamation such as has occurred with Dongting Lake, the second largest lake in China. This was reduced from 6,300 km² in 1825 to 2,625 km² in 1995. The storage capacity decreased from 29.3 billion m³ to 15 billion m³ between 1949 and 1997, about 30% of this is due to sedimentation.

　　2.4 Loss of biodiversity due to engineering works, habitat loss and lack of water

　　Water management and flood mitigation infrastructure has significantly altered flow patterns, as has human encroachment onto floodplains and into riparian zones. An over-reliance on engineering solutions invariably impacts on biodiversity and the 'health' and productivity of rivers. 　　

•  In north-west China, aquatic ecosystem declines are occurring due to lack of water and in Honghu Lake along the Yangtze River the number of species has declined from 3,000 in the 1950s to 1,500 now. Over this same period the area of water surface has been reduced from 80,000 hectares to 27,000 hectares.
•  Capture fishery made up approximately 80% of total freshwater fishery production in 1950. In 1995 this figure had fallen to 14%.

　　2.5 Flooding and droughts exacerbated by climate change and desertification

　　Flooding and droughts are exacerbated by unsustainable land and water use practices with the impacts varying across different parts of China. 　　

•  The 2001 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change indicates that for the period 1900-1999 there was a 30%–50% increase of precipitation in southern China during winter months. At the same time there has been a decline of precipitation in northern China. The Yangtze River has experienced several major floods over recent decades, while the Yellow River to the north continues to experience droughts and water shortage.

　　3. Learning from international experiences

　　Many of the problems with river and water resource management being encountered by China (as outlined in the preceding section) today are also found in other countries. In many of these, IRBM is being applied as the administrative framework to see enhanced integration of economic development, community well-being and environmental sustainability into decision-making. Table 1 below summarizes both the key problems that other countries how encountered with managing rivers and water resources and how IRBM offers solutions to these problems.

　　Table 1: Summary of international experiences in relation to river basin management and how IRBM offers solutions to these problems

The problems	The solutions IRBM offers
Institutions and legislation
Sector-based approaches 　　Historically governments and societies have failed to appreciate the intrinsic linkages between economic growth, societal wellbeing and environmental sustainability, and have established decision-making, legal and administrative systems that serve to isolate, rather than integrate these pillars of sustainable development.	IRBM fosters a change in the way governments do business; moving away from sector- based institutions, policies and laws, to more integrated approaches.
Institutional weaknesses and lack of integration and coordination 　　Sector-based management and decision-making is a product of sector-based institutions, policies and laws. Without addressing these fundamentals, the implementation of IRBM cannot succeed.  Poor coordination among Ministries is a strong signal of this form of institutional failure.  Allied to this are laws and policies that promote sector-based management.	IRBM is as much about social and economic policy reform as it is about moving to manage the environment for long-term sustainability.  For this reason the implementation of IRBM must be mandated by the highest level of Government and be supported by appropriate legal and administrative coordination tools.
Inappropriate management scale 　　River basins provide a convenient and appropriate management scale; yet historically management has been allowed to operate at small scale without due consideration for downstream and broader impacts.	The paradigm shift to IRBM needs to draw into river basin level planning and management ALL government Ministries and stakeholders, at all levels; national, provincial and local. Decentralisation of management responsibility to river basin commissions, provincial and local governments is the key to successful IRBM.
Stakeholder and public participation
Unsustainable land and water uses fostered by ignorance 　　Unless the principles of IRBM and sustainability are understood by both the government sector and civil society, and then applied at the local, provincial and river basin levels, the capacity of ecosystems to support livelihoods will continue to decline.	Stakeholder and public participation can enhance the quality of IRBM decisions and help implementation by reducing costs and delays.  In order to empower local stakeholders it is necessary to invest in education and public awareness programs and activities that target all sectors of society.
Lack of transparency and consultation in decision making 　　The failure of governments to inform and consult local people about development and river/water resource management proposals that may impact on them is strongly counter-productive to the ethos of IRBM, breeding conflict and resentment among stakeholders.	Opportunities to participate in decision-making and providing access to management-related data are key aspects of gaining the support, involvement and commitment of stakeholders for implementing IRBM.
Economic measures and financial incentives
Failure to consider all costs (economic, environmental and social) of development activities 　　Where economic cost and benefits are the primary consideration of impact assessment processes, then unsustainable land and water use practices are promoted when external costs – both environmental and social – are excluded from resource allocation decisions.	The global trend in impact assessment is to consider the full range of environmental, social and economic cost and benefits, and this is now supported by robust methods for valuing the services provided by ecosystems within these assessment processes.
Failure to provide economic incentives and remove disincentives to sustainability 　　Not valuing the full range of services provided by ecosystems has contributed strongly to their widespread degradation.  Unsustainable land and water management practices have unwittingly been encouraged and even subsidized by governments, both through their ignorance of the broader social and environmental costs , and through the promotion of an economic development agenda as a priority.	There is now a vast array of economic measures and financial incentive options being applied in China and internationally that are proving highly successful in transforming land and water management into sustainable development enterprises.  Two of several keys to their successful application in a Chinese context are to tailor the measures to fit local situations and to combine measures together in creative ways.
Applying IRBM-related technologies:
River management problems not being addressed through available technologies 　　Typical river management problems are flooding, pollution, water scarcity and loss of biodiversity.  Associated with these are escalating human health costs, damage to urban, rural and industrial infrastructure, food and water shortages, and lost opportunities for economic development and poverty reduction.	An IRBM approach helps to mobilize these technologies in a strategic and carefully planned way.　 This leads to a reduction in these impacts, while not compromising development and social betterment aspirations.

　　4. An IRBM roadmap for China

　　China stands at a significant cross-road in its development. The options are very simple; continue on the same path as today, fuelling economic growth with unsustainable exploitation of the rivers and their associated natural resources, or move to more integrated approaches designed to entrench sustainability as the foundation of future development.

　　The business-as-usual, 'do nothing' option, comes at a cost, and that cost will be a continuation, and even an escalation of environmental degradation and the associated social and economic costs. Water quality, water availability and fish stocks will continue to decline, imposing higher and higher costs to provide people with safe drinking water and staple food items, and to address health issues. Under this scenario, China will need to invest more and more of its GDP over coming decades on stop-gap remedial measures to provide its people with water, food and health services. A failure to shift China's growth to a sustainable footing will see an escalating breakdown of ecosystems and the conversion of rivers from living natural assets into unhealthy, unproductive and costly burdens on society.

　　The alternative option is to recognize rivers as the lifelines of society, the economy and the environment. Under current trends these lifelines are dying. However, with the adoption of integrated planning and management approaches, they can again become the 'living rivers'; the platform upon which China's future prosperity is built. Many other countries have been at the same cross-roads as China is today and they are increasingly moving to adopt IRBM as the foundation of their responses.

　　"Investments in improved management of ecosystem services tend to be highly leveraged strategies for sustainable development. Like the benefits of increased education or improved governance, the protection, restoration and enhancement of ecosystem services tend to have multiple and synergistic benefits"

　　- Millennium Ecosystem Assessment – Conceptual Framework. p. 30

　　Having reviewed China's river and water management problems, and how other countries are responding to similar problems, the CCICED's IRBM Task Force recommends that China adopt IRBM as the fundamental platform for pursuing its five harmonizations; the development of urban and rural areas, of different regions, of economic and social aspects, of people and nature and domestic development and opening-up to the outside world. Importantly, this development of IRBM should be based on an ecosystem approach, as advocated by the Convention on Biological Diversity, so that repairing and maintaining natural ecosystems and their associated services becomes a paramount concern and centerpiece of the IRBM effort. As emphasized by the quote from the Millenium Ecosystem Assessment provided above, an IRBM ecosystem-based approach is a wise strategy to adopt as the "…protection, restoration and enhancement of ecosystem services tend to have multiple and synergistic benefits."

　　Implementation of IRBM (as demonstrated by Table 1 above) requires a range of institutional, policy and management reforms at the national, river basin and local levels and it is suggested that in China the advancement of these reforms be undertaken in a staged way, commencing with the Yangtze River Basin in the first instance.

　　The Yangtze River Basin has been recommended as it represents nearly 20% of China's land area, has a population of approximately 425 million people, and is a critical area in terms of China's social and economic development. Based on 2001 figures, the Yangtze River Basin generates about a quarter of China's GDP or US$410 billion per year. The Yangtze River also faces a number of well known environmental problems including flooding, erosion, water pollution and loss of biological diversity. Following the devastating floods of 1998 China's central government formulated the 32-character principle in response. This is now nearing completion and IRBM offers the management framework needed to build on these important actions.

　　The primary recommendations presented below are organized according to the same four themes used in Table 1. Under the primary recommendations, the key policy issues relating to each are further elaborated and advice is given on the priority actions that are considered necessary.

　　4.1 Legislation and institutional arrangements

　　Key policy issues:　　

•  Facilitating IRBM implementation through national-level legal and institutional reforms

　　The adoption of an IRBM management framework inevitably requires some national level legal and institutional reforms to streamline the move from sector-based activities to greater integration. IRBM seeks to integrate relevant decision making processes within government, many of which are directed by specific legislation. Unless those laws that determine or guide decision making processes are harmonized, and adopt an ecosystem-based approach, then IRBM cannot be successful. 　　

•  Enabling legislation for river basin management organizations

　　Apart from requiring a strong and cohesive national legislative framework, delivering IRBM as a management model also requires consideration of how to provide river basin management organizations with the necessary legal authority to operate across provinces and local administrations. 　　

•  Governance structure for implementing IRBM

　　IRBM operates with best effect if the governance structure combines centralization with some decentralization of powers and planning roles under a nested system of commissions representing levels of government and stakeholders appropriate to the scale of operation. There needs to be a basin-level management commission operating as an umbrella body that delegates management roles and responsibilities to tributary and local-level bodies.

　　Recommendation 1:

　　The CCICED's IRBM Task Force recommends that the State Council adopt an IRBM management framework for the People's Republic of China and to introduce it through a staged process commencing with the Yangtze River Basin. Within this river basin it is recommended that in the first instance IRBM governance arrangements be introduced in the Chishui River and Taihu Lake Basins (see Figure 1). These two catchments are proposed as initial places to establish subsidiary tributary management organisations and programs as both have important natural and cultural values that would benefit from the proposed initiatives; Taihu Lake Basin has been selected by the Ministry of Water Resources as a priority basin for ecological rehabilitation and environmental flows, and the Chishui River for sustainable use and protection. The Chishui River is the last free flowing river of the Yangtze and provides the last refuge of many important fish species. These pilot programs would include the establishment of management commissions, tributary-level planning and target setting processes, trials of stakeholder participation approaches, economic and incentive measures, and the other key recommendations put forward in this report.

　　Key administrative and other activities to guide and support this implementation include (Figure 1):

　　(i) Legislations related to river basin management, including Environmental Protection Law, Water law, Water Pollution Prevention and Treatment Law, Soil Erosion Control Law, Flood Control Law, Fishery Law, and Natural Reserves Management Regulation" are needed to be reviewed and reduce their contradictions on the institutional arrangement and responsibilities of river basin organizations.

　　(ii) Establishment of a national-level IRBM commission involving the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Water Resources and the State Environmental Protection Administration. The objective of the IRBM Commission is to make a more cohesive and integrated involvement of the environment sector in river basin management as it is expanded across China, and to ensure an ecosystem-based approach- the so-called 'living rivers' approach. This commission, headed by State council leaders, is a coordination body and responsible for coordinating major planning, standard and target setting and policy making processes at the national level and for resolving conflicts should they arise. In the first instance this body would focus upon the introduction of IRBM in the Yangtze River Basin and its two priority tributaries.

　　(iii) Establishment of an overarching river basin commission for all large rivers such as Yangtze and Yellow River. It is also recommended that these overarching river basin commissions will have ultimate responsibility for planning and management. This commission should include representatives of central government, be chaired by a State Council member, and also include representatives of all provinces. The roles of this commission are to formulate relevant policies, plans and targets, to coordinate activities and resolve conflicts that may arise between administrative regions or stakeholders. The management commission needs to be supported by suitable legislation that provides it with the powers to operate effectively in pursuing the implementation of IRBM. These powers may include a tightening of controls and monitoring to regulate, and where necessary punish those that fail to comply with pollution controls, water allocations etc.

　　(iv) Under this governance structure, existing river basin management organizations report to and support the work and actions authorized by the new river basin commissions, in this way being drawn together to work cohesively for integrated outcomes.

　　(v) Operating under, and reporting to the river basin commissions are tributary-based management bodies, comprising provincial governments, local administrations and stakeholder representatives. Where appropriate, tributary-level management commissions may establish more local bodies to take on a coordination role for actions at that scale.

　　Figure 1: Recommended short-term institutional arrangements for the staged implementation of IRBM in China

　　 

　　

　　

　　4.2 Stakeholder and public participation

　　Key policy issues:　　

•  Establishing a participatory management framework

　　Successful implementation of IRBM relies on the principle of participatory management; a model that seeks to engage and empower stakeholders within society to work with their government counterparts to achieve sustainable development outcomes.　　

•  Raising awareness and building understanding of IRBM

　　Underpinning IRBM is the assumption that there is understanding among community stakeholders about the benefits and processes needed to make it work effectively. This requires investment in raising awareness and building the capacity of stakeholders to participate in planning, decision making and on-ground actions.　　

•  Promoting information sharing and consultation

　　Providing non-government stakeholders with opportunities to access management and development-related data is central to gaining their support, involvement and commitment for implementing IRBM.　　

•  Fostering local scale actions as part of a river basin management master plan

　　While the overall management scale is the river basin, community engagement is best achieved through promoting local level actions by townships; stressing that these local scale actions all contribute to achieving improvements to the health and productivity of the river system.

　　Recommendation 2:

　　The CCICED's IRBM Task Force recommends to the State Council to initiate programs directed at raising stakeholder awareness and encouraging public participation in river basin management.

　　Those activities considered priorities for achieving this outcome are:

　　(i) Development of mechanisms to allow river basin stakeholders to openly and freely access the information relating to development proposals, impact assessments, IRBM planning and management actions and monitoring.

　　(ii) The establishment of a Development and Conservation Forum in each large river basin to become a platform for cooperation, communications and consensus building between different provinces and between the government and non-government stakeholders.

　　(iii) Community engagement in the IRBM effort needs to be promoted at the level of tributaries, with local townships taking responsibility for planning and implementation to achieve local scale outcomes contributing to the overall river basin master plan efforts.

　　(iv) Teaching the principles of IRBM, and showcasing its benefits through school-based learning, and to all sectors of civil society, key industry and rural sectors and the government service.

　　4.3 Economic measures and financial incentives

　　Key policy issues:　　

•  Operationalising key economic and incentive-related provisions of the Water Law 2002

　　The Water Law 2002 contains important provisions that can underpin the implementation of IRBM. These relate to improvements in water use efficiency, tighter controls over water management by applying the twin principles of total quantity control and quota management and reinforces the concepts of permits for water users and fees for supply. The legislation also sets down the principles of water pricing reform, namely, cost compensation, reasonable return, high price for high quality and equitable sharing of cost. These, plus the establishment of a water market and the punitive measures for polluters (for example) are all important tools to be used within the framework of IRBM to move water resource management onto a more sustainable footing. 　　

•  Developing and applying a range of incentives measures

　　Introducing suitable incentives to encourage and compensate land and water users to adapt their activities to more sustainable approaches is important and will also foster restoration of areas that can assist to manage floods, improve water quality and fisheries production and see biodiversity conserved. It is important that among the incentives used are mechanisms by which downstream beneficiaries of upstream actions compensate those upstream for the costs associated with their actions.　　

•  Ensuring assessment procedures consider all environmental, social and economic cost implications of economic development activities

　　Undervaluing ecosystem services and a failure to consider the full social as well as economic costs of development proposals undermines efforts to move land and water use toward sustainability. It is critical that river basin level planning and management be based on economic valuation of the natural assets (forests, wetlands etc) so that cost-benefit based conclusions are not skewed toward economic gains at the cost of undermining natural capital.

　　Recommendation 3:

　　The CCICED's IRBM Task Force recommends that a range of economic and incentives measures (perhaps to be piloted within the Yangtze River Basin) to encourage sustainability in land and water use practices at all levels (landholders, water users, local administrations). Development and planning decisions should be based on impact assessment procedures that include the valuation of both ecosystem services as well as social and economic costs and benefits.

　　Those activities considered priorities for achieving this outcome are:

　　(i) Identify obstacles to the effective implementation of economic instruments (such as, lack of people trained in their application, scarce equipment for monitoring and data gathering and unreliable basic data) and, where possible, demonstrate the practical application of appropriate economic instruments both in rural and small urban areas.

　　(ii) Undertake trials to demonstrate the use of Habitat Equivalency Analysis both in the valuation of environmental damage claims and to estimate the compensation to be paid by downstream beneficiaries of upstream generation of environmental services.

　　(iii) Support economic valuation exercises that will collect data and make use of well-known valuation techniques, put values on multiple constituents of the four categories of ecosystem services identified in the Millenium Ecosystem Assessment and examine the implications for environmental management of accurate pricing of ecosystem services.

　　(iv) Investigate local level tools and mechanisms to address the issue of income disparities and lack of alternatives for the poor, and

　　(v) Through case studies, data collection, monitoring and raising community awareness, continue to examine the issue of water pricing as a perverse subsidy with the goal of achieving "environmental pricing" of water in the future.

　　4.4 Innovative IRBM-related methodologies and technologies

　　Key policy issues:　　

•  River basin master planning

　　A master plan that sets out the management vision and objectives and serves to guide decision-making and priority setting is an essential element of IRBM. Such plans need to consider and find ways to address issues such as how to balance future demands for hydro-power, conserving biodiversity and providing communities with flood protection, potable water and sustainable livelihoods. Tributary and local level plans all must operate under the river basin master plan.　　

•  Provision of decision-support tools at the river basin scale

　　Planning and decision-making at the river basin and tributary scale is reliant on high quality data supported by ongoing monitoring information. Together these offer powerful planning and decision support tools that are vital for fully effective IRBM.　　

•  Adoption and application of existing technologies

　　There are a wide range of innovative IRBM-related technologies available that would benefit the escalation of IRBM in the Yangtze River Basin and China more broadly. Some of these more notable innovations are referred to below. Accessing and applying these technologies should be a priority for those piloting IRBM in the Yangtze River Basin. 　　

•  Financing of innovative technologies

　　There is an urgent need to build a foundation of active research within China to advance the development and implementation of the ecosystem-based approach and related technologies.

　　Recommendation 4:

　　The CCICED's IRBM Task Force recommends that China give high priority to investment in the following in order to support the introduction of IRBM in China:

　　(i) Development of a Master Plan for each large river basin. For the Yangtze River Basin, this Master Plan should be based upon a review of the 1991 Key Points of the Comprehensive Exploitation Plan for Yangtze River Basin and 32-Character principle adopted after the floods of 1998. Through the Master Plan, the river basin commissions should expand application of the ecosystem-based river management methods, including: provision of environmental flows, construction of fishways past dams, restoration of floodplain areas to reduce flood damage, and new environmental standards to minimize the environmental impact of existing and proposed dams.

　　(ii) Integrated Geographic Information System technology that provides natural, geological, demographic, socio-economic and bio-habitat information. Access to platform systems can be shared among different ministries, provincial and local governments and stakeholders and offer powerful decision support tools essential for IRBM-based planning.

　　(iii) The promotion and adoption of existing innovative IRBM-related technologies such as:

　　(a) water use and re-use technologies. The water scarcity problems being experienced in many parts of China, most notably along the Yellow River, indicate the need to give higher priority to improving water use efficiency in both rural and urban areas. In this field there are many new technologies for domestic water (re)use and sanitation.

　　(b) eco-recovery technologies. These accelerate the restoration of natural ecosystems (forests, grasslands, floodplain wetlands) and their associated services;

　　(c) retrofitting technology for dams. These technological advances now allow these structures to generate additional electricity more cost-effectively while being more biodiversity-friendly;

　　(d) the recycling of nutrients, the immobilization of heavy metals, and the degradation of organic pollutants such as pesticides, herbicides.

　　Annex

　　Membership CCICED Task Force on Integrated River Basin Management

　　Co-Chair：

　　CHEN Yiyu

　　Academician, Member of Standing Committee, National People's Congress

　　President, National Natural Science Foundation of China

　　A. J. M. SMITS

　　Professor, Rodbound University of Nijmegen/Erasmus University of Rotterdam/ Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management, the Netherlands

　　Members（Follow the alphabet order of family names）：

　　Jim HARKNESS

　　Country Representative, WWF China

　　HU Zhenpeng

　　Ph.D., Professor, Vice Governor of Jiangxi Provincial Government，President of Mountain-River-Lake Committee of Jiangxi Province

　　KE Bingsheng

　　Professor, Director-General, Research Center for Rural Economy, Ministry of Agriculture

　　W.A. LAURIE

　　CTA of GEF/UNDP Project on Wetland Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Use, GEF China Wetlands Project

　　Guangchun LEI

　　Professor, Senior Advisor - Asia/Pacific, The Ramsar Convention Secretariat

　　David MARSHALL

　　Executive Director, Fraser Basin Council, Adjunct Professor, Simon Fraser University, Canada

　　Jamie PITTOCK

　　Director, Living Waters Programme, WWF International

　　WANG Yi (wangyi@casipm.ac.cn)

　　Professor, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences

　　Masataka WATANABE

　　Professor, Division of Water and Soil Environment, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan

　　WENG Lida

　　Professor, Director, Water Resource Conservation Bureau, Yangtze River Committee

　　Xia Qing

　　Professor, Chinese Academy of Environment Sciences, State Environment Protection Administration

　　Advisor:

　　SUN Honglie, Academician, CCICED Lead Expert

　　Secretariat:

　　YU Xiubo (yuxb@igsnrr.ac.cn)

　　Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resource Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences

　　LI Lifeng (lfli@wwfchina.org)

　　Member of CCICED Lead Experts Group

　　Freshwater and Marine Programme Officer, WWF China

　　Supporting Consultants:

　　WANG Xiaohong, JIANG Tong, CAI Qinghua, LIU Qijing, Derk Kuiper, LIANG Haitang, WANG Liming, Bill Philips, David Williams, Alain Lambert, Meine Pieter van Dijk are invited as collaborators of supporting institutions and actively involve in the Task Force activities. WANG Yahua, WU Guoping and YAN Bangyou are as assistants of Chinese members to support the work.