6th China-EU Round Table
27-28 October, Stockholm
Water Resources Utilization and Sustainable
Development in China
Dr. Gan Hong
CESC Rapporteur
Deputy Director, Department of Water Resources, IWHR
1. INTRODUCTION
China is a large country with an extensive territory, a huge population and rapid economic
development. Situated in the eastern part of Eurasia within the westerlies in the northern
hemisphere and under the control of the Pacific’s warm, humid current and the East Asian
monsoon, the amount of precipitation and water resources in China are limited and vary greatly
within a year and from year to year, limiting the per capita amount of water resources. China’s
demands for resources, particularly water resources, have increased continuously since the start of
the 1980s economic recovery. Also, the 21st century has brought more water resource problems
with global climate change effects on water resources, such as water shortages, water pollution
and deterioration of water environment and ecology, becoming more serious. Therefore, water
resources are one important factor restricting sustainable economic development in China.
Increasingly severe and frequent water-related conflicts are predicted in the 21st century as the
limit on water resources grows into the most serious problem threatening human society.
Throughout its history, limited water resources have troubled China’s economic development
and the lives of the Chinese people. In the last 20 years, the Chinese government and various types
of organizations have taken active measures, including formulating mid- to long-term strategic
plans, constructing water works for water supply, flood control and ecological conservation,
formulating and improving water legislation and intensifying the reform of water resources
management systems to solve water problems, remedy the unfavorable conditions caused by
limited water and prevent the worsening trend, which are all indispensable for achieving
sustainable economic and social development. Hopefully, consensus on solutions to water
problems will be reached at this meeting of the China-EU Round Table.
2. CHARACTERISTICS AND CURRENT STATUS OF WATER RESOURCES IN
CHINA
With a vast territory and numerous rivers, China is divided into ten class I water resources regions
based on river basins, including the Yangtze River Basin, Yellow River Basin, Songhua River
Basin, Liaohe River Basin, Haihe River Basin, Huaihe River Basin, Pearl River Basin, Southeast
Rivers, Southwest Rivers and Northwest Rivers. Precipitation and water resources vary greatly as
affected by physiographical conditions. The inter-year and intra-year ratio of the maximum annual
precipitation to the minimum ranges 2-10 to 1; and 60-80% of the annual precipitation is
concentrated within June to September. The regional distribution of annual precipitation is less
than 10 mm in the northwestern inland region, but may be up to over 2600 mm in the southeastern
region. The temporal and spatial distribution of water resources is similar to that of precipitation.
The total amount of water resources in China is 2840 billion m3, of which 814 billion m3 may be
exploited for economic and social uses, i.e., the proportion of exploitable water resources is 29%.
China ranks sixth in the total amount of water resources, after Brazil, Russia, Canada, the United
States and Indonesia. However, because of the huge population, China’s per capita amount of
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natural water resources is at present only about 2100 m3, less than 30% of the world average,
ranking China 54th among the 77 countries with a population of 10 million or more, or 9th among
the 11 countries with a population of 100 million or more. As the water resources are
geographically unevenly distributed, there are nine provincial administrative regions including
Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, and Shanxi. With extremely scarce water resources, each region has a per
capita supply of water resources of less than 500 m3.
In addition, water resources are relatively rich in the southern and eastern regions and relatively
poor in the northern and western regions, but the distribution of land, energy sources and mineral
resources is opposite. North China and the Central Plains are densely populated with a highly
developed economy, but the water resources are very scarce. The southwestern region is rich in
water resources, but the population there is relatively sparse and the economy less developed.
Therefore, the distribution of water resources is not consistent with that of population, other
resources or productivity.
Between 1949 and 2007, the national water supply increased from 103.1 billion m3 to 581.9
billion m3, or by 4.6 times, and the degree of water resources exploitation increased to 20.5%.
Surface water accounts for 81.5% of the national water supply and groundwater 18.4%. With the
proportion of exploitable water resources at 29%, the per capita exploitable amount of water
resources in China is less than 650 m3. The present per capita water supply is already 440 m3; the
potential for further water resource development is limited and the difficulty and cost of
development are continuously increasing. In particular, in the Haihe River Basin, which suffers
serious water scarcity and where the proportion of exploitable water resources is 64%, the degree
of water resources exploitation is already up to 106% through groundwater over-abstraction.
Agricultural water use accounts for 61.8% of the total amount of water use, industrial water use
24.2%, domestic water use 12.2% and eco-environmental water use/supplement 1.8%. After
deducting return of water to the natural water bodies, the national water consumption is 302.2
billion m3, and the average rate of water consumption is 51.9%.
The existing water laws in China include the Water Law, the Flood Control Law, the Law for Soil
and Water Conservation, and the Law for the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution. Other
laws concerned with water include the Environmental Protection Law, the Land Law, the Forest
Law, the Grassland Law, and the laws of the sea. There are more than 70 water-related
administrative regulations promulgated by the State Council, including the Regulation for Flood
Control, the Regulation for River Channel Management, and the Regulation for Water Abstraction
Permit and Collection of Water Resources Fee. In addition, there are hundreds of ministry
regulations and local laws and regulations concerned with water. So, China has formed a relatively
comprehensive water legislation system and is playing an active role in water resources
management.
According to the Water Law, water resources are owned by the state, and the Ministry of Water
Resources (“MWR”) under the State Council is authorized to implement unified water resources
management with a system of basin management in conjunction with administrative region
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management. River basin authorities have been established by the state for important river basins
as detached offices of MWR to exercise their responsibilities for unified water resource
management within their jurisdictions. Altogether, there are seven such river basin authorities, and
they are responsible for coordinating inter-provincial water resources issues within the national ten
class I water resources regions. Since the 1990s, by learning from water management experiences
of European countries, many cities in China have tried a type of urban water management system
in which water affairs, such as water supply, water use, drainage, wastewater treatment, reuse of
reclaimed wastewater, flood control, and water and eco-environmental protection, are integrated,
thus effectively overcoming the problems of the previously fragmented management, such as
overlapping and unclear responsibilities.
3. CHALLENGES
(1) Water Scarcity and Shortage
Water resources in China are distributed unevenly in time and space and the per capita amount of
water resources is small; thus, water scarcity and shortage are serious. Sixteen provincial level
administrative regions, accounting for one-third of the national population, have a per capita
amount of water resources less than 2000 m3, in which six have a per capita amount of water
resources less than 500 m3, with Tianjin having the smallest amount of 168 m3. The six class I
water resources regions in northern China account for 64% of the national territory, 46% of the
national population and 64% of the national farmland, but only 19% of the national water
resources. In particular, the Haihe River Basin, the region with the most serious water shortage in
China, has a per capita amount of water resources less than 300 m3. It is estimated that the national
average annual water shortage is about 36 billion m3, or the rate of water shortage is about 6%. In
a moderately dry year (P=75%), the water shortage is 42 billion m3, and the rate of water shortage
in an extremely dry year is over 10%. At present, the annual average agricultural water shortage is
about 30 billion m3, and the urban and industrial water shortage is about 6 billion m3. Two-thirds
of more than 660 cities see water shortage to a varying extent, and one-sixth of them suffer from
serious water shortage. On average, drought and water shortage affect about 20 million ha of
farmland, 20 million urban population and 250 billion Yuan of industrial added output value each
year.
Though water resources are a type of renewable, clean resource, because of the increase of water
demands by economic and social water uses, the amount of water consumption has increased
continuously, thus water resources depletion has occurred similar to that of mineral resources.
According to a recent study, the national amount of water resources depletion was 27.2 billion m3
in 2005, and the largest component was 12.6 billion m3 occurring in the Haihe River Basin. If
water resources depletion were to continue, inestimable impacts would be produced on the natural
water cycle and the economic and social systems, and sustainable utilization of water resources
would be impossible.
(2) Serious Water Pollution
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Since 1978, China has experienced 30 consecutive years of rapid industrialization and
urbanization. During 1980 to 2005, the population increased by 320 million, the industrial added
output value increased by 4.2 times, and the rate of urbanization rose from less than 20% to 42%
with a urban population of more than 500 million. At the same time, urban and industrial water
use increased in a large amount and the amount of wastewater discharge increased from 31.5
billion t in 1980 to 71.7 billion t in 2005. In addition, uses of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in
agriculture and excrement of poultry and livestock increased in a large amount to create extensive
non-point pollution sources. As a result, the rivers, lakes, shallow groundwater and sources of
domestic water supply have been polluted to a varying extent.
The national industrial wastewater discharge was 48 billion t in 2005. Though most of the
wastewater is discharged after being treated to the specified standard, because of the low treatment
standards and small amount of river flow, the concentration of pollutant is still much higher than
the national acceptable standard for water environment. The national annual urban sewage
discharge was 24 billion t, but the rate of centralized treatment was less than 50%, and two-fifths
of China’s more than 660 cities still do not have a wastewater treatment plant. With the
development of large-sized animal cultivation enterprises, the annual amount of excrement of
poultry and livestock has increased to about 2 billion t, but the rate of harmless treatment is very
low. With the growth of urban population, the annual urban domestic garbage has increased to
about 150 million t, but the rate of harmless treatment is also very low.
Because of the increase of point and non-point pollution sources in a large amount, the quality of
the national water environment has shown a trend of continuous decline. In particular, the densely
populated and economically developed areas, such as the areas of the Three Rivers and Three
Lakes (the Liaohe, Haihe and Huaihe rivers and the Taihu, Chaohu and Dianchi lakes), have the
most serious water pollution problems.
(3) Deterioration of Water Ecology
Because of irrational development and use of water and land resources, particularly in the northern
regions, which are rich in land but poor in water resources, many problems have occurred, such as
serious scarcity-induced shortages, over-exploitation of water resources and extensive occupation
of water for ecological use of river channels by economic use, resulting in the drying up of river
channels, reduction or even disappearance of lakes and wetlands, sustained decline of groundwater
level because of long term over-abstraction, ecological deterioration of river estuaries and deltas
and continuous deterioration of water eco-environment. For example, the lower reach of the
Yellow River was dried up almost every year during 1972 to 1999 (unified regulation of the main
Yellow River has been implemented since 1999, and no drying up has occurred for a consecutive
ten years). Over 60% of the rivers of the northern Haihe River have run dry, and the Liaohe and
Huaihe rivers have also run dry many times. Because of the reduction or cessation of river flow,
many wetland and lakes have shrunk or disappeared in Northeast and North China. For example,
Baiyangdian Lake, known as “A Pearl of North China”, has frequently faced threats of drying up,
and long distance emergency water diversion has been implemented to salvage the lake.
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(4) Frequent Flood and Water Logging Disasters and Serious Soil Erosion
China has the most serious flood and waterlogging disasters in the world. According to historic
records, 1,092 relatively heavy flood and waterlogging disasters occurred in China between 206
BC and 1949 AD, or one every two years. Between 1950 and 2005, more than 30 relatively heavy
flood and waterlogging disasters occurred in the major river basins, or two every three years.
According to the statistics for 1950 to 2005, flood and waterlogging disasters caused on average
4,836 deaths, affected 9.92 million ha of farmland and destroyed 2.05 million houses each year.
Particularly since the 1990s, China has entered a period of high frequency of flood and
waterlogging disaster occurrence, causing heavy losses. Between 1991 and 2005, flood and
waterlogging disasters caused a total direct economic loss of 1758.1 billion Yuan, or 117.2 billion
Yuan annually. In 1998, the economic loss was up to 255.1 billion Yuan, accounting for 3.3% of
GDP of that year. Since the start of the 21st century, storm tide disasters in the coastal areas, flash
floods of small and medium rivers, mud-rock flows and landslides in mountainous areas and
waterlogging in urban areas have shown an increasing trend.
China also has the most serious soil erosion in the world. According to the second national
remote-sending survey conducted from 1999 to 2000, the national area of soil erosion is 3.56
million km2, accounting for 37% of the national territory, in which 1.91 million km2 belongs to
wind erosion areas (occupying one-third of the world total), 1.65 million km2 hydraulic erosion
area (occupying 15% of the world total), and the amount of soil loss is about 5 billion t annually.
Soil erosion has resulted in land sandification, grassland deterioration, ecological deterioration and
increased sandstorm disasters, and has also silted rivers and reservoirs and worsened flood and
waterlogging disasters. In particular, soil erosion has caused serious damage to the environment
for agriculture, animal husbandry and the human habitat. It is estimated that the direct economic
loss caused by hydraulic soil erosion was 56.8 billion Yuan in 2000; the direct economic loss
caused by wind erosion and sandification is 54 billion Yuan annually, and the indirect economic
loss may be more than two times that direct economic loss.
(5) Low Levels of Management, Development and Use of Water Resources
Because of the floating nature of water resources, water resources management and control is
difficult and has a high cost. Moreover, the legislation, institution, instruments and capacity of
water resources management in China is still deficient. Therefore, though the level of water
resources management has improved greatly in China, there is still a big gap between China and
advanced countries in the concept, instrument and institution of water resources management. In
China, efforts still need to be made to further improve water legislation and intensify legislation
enforcement; streamline water management institution and modernize management instruments;
establish and improve the water rights system and mechanism for interests coordination; and
intensify water resources research and water knowledge dissemination among the public.
Before the start of economic reforms in the 1980s, water resources management in China was
crude and the methods of water use were backward, resulting in low benefits. After 30 years of
efforts, the level of water resources management and the efficiency of water use have improved
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greatly. For example, the water use per 10,000 Yuan RMB of GDP was 9820 m3 in 1980, and
decreased to 229 m3 in 2007. However, based on the currency exchange rate, it is still three-times
the world average and five- to ten-times the average of advanced countries. In China, the reuse
rate of industrial water was less than 20% in 1980, and had increased to about 60% in 2007, which
is still far from that of advanced countries, at over 80%. The agricultural irrigation water
efficiency was about 0.3 in 1980, and increased to 0.47 by 2007, which is also far from that of
advanced countries, at over 0.7. Therefore, the key to alleviating water shortages and achieving
sustainable use of water resources is to further intensify water conservation and improve water use
efficiency.
(6) Climate Change Threats
China is a developing country with a huge population, a low level of economic development,
complex climatic conditions and a fragile eco-environment; and it is vulnerable to climate change.
According to recently issued observations by the China Meteorological Administration, over a
period of 100 years, from 1908 to 2007, the average ground surface temperature rose by 1.1℃ in
China. In the last 50 years, the distribution of precipitation in China has changed significantly,
with precipitation increasing in the West and South China and decreasing in most of North and
Northeast China. Extreme climatic events, such as high temperature, drought and heavy rainfall,
have increased in frequency and intensity. In the last 30 years, the coastal sea surface temperature
has risen by 0.9℃ and the coastal sea level has risen by 90 mm.
According to research results, the climatic warming in China will continue to intensify and the
frequency of extreme weather and climatic events may increase; the uneven distribution of
precipitation will become more obvious; the frequency of both heavy and insufficient rainfall will
increase. The climatic warming will cause changes in the distribution of water resources in China,
expand the gap between water supply and demand, promote the occurrence of flood and
waterlogging disasters and aggravate the deterioration of the water eco-environment.
The latest research achievements show that, under the effects of global climate change and
large-scale economic development, the water resources situation in China is changing. By
comparing the 1980–2000 hydrological series with the 1956–1979 series, it can be seen that
precipitation has decreased by an average of 6%, the amount of surface water resources by 17%
and the total amount of water resources by 13% in the four water resources regions of Yellow,
Huaihe, Haihe and Liaohe. The amount of water resources has slightly increased in the southern
regions. The precipitation has increased by 2% and the amount of water resources by 6% in the
three water resources regions of Yangtze, Pearl and Southeast Rivers, and the probability of flood
occurrence has also increased. At the same time, under the conditions of global warming, the
frequency of extremely serious drought and the scope of drought occurrence have both increased.
In the past, droughts mainly occurred in the dry northern regions, particularly the northwestern
region, but in recent years, droughts have also expanded in both scope and intensity in the
southern and eastern humid and semi-humid regions. Now the scope of drought occurrence has
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expanded to all regions of China. At the same time, the effects of drought have expanded from
agriculture to industries, cities, and ecosystems, and the competition for water between industry
and agriculture and between cities and rural areas and the effects of shifting of ecological water to
economic uses are becoming increasingly serious. The duration of droughts has also increased.
Consecutive spring and summer drought or consecutive summer and autumn drought have often
occurred in many areas; even year-round drought and multi-year drought have occurred, resulting
in heavy losses and impacts.
4. COUNTERMEASURES
(1) Establish a New Approach to Water Resources Management
Establish a new approach to water resources management with harmonious coexistence of man
and nature and coordinated development of man and rivers as the basic concepts, and establish
three guarantee systems for flood control safety, water supply safety and ecological safety by
following the principle of “putting people first and achieving comprehensive, coordinated,
sustainable development”. Flood control efforts need to shift from controlling and conquering
floods to managing and scientifically using floods by following the natural regularities, providing
outlets for floodwater and coordinating the relationship between man and flood. Water supply
efforts need to integrate urban and rural water supply and gradually increase the guarantee for
basic water sources and water quality for rural residents, while ensuring the quality of water
supply for urban residents. Drought control efforts need to shift from passive drought prevention
to proactive drought control and from agricultural drought control to combined agricultural,
industrial, urban and ecological drought control, and both structural and non-structural measures
need to be adopted to establish a guarantee system for urban and rural water supply safety. For
ecological safety, it is necessary (i) to continuously promote the concepts of “man-water harmony”
and “ecological water rights”, (ii) rationally arrange domestic, productive and ecological water
uses, (iii) adapt the development of water and land resources and the layout of cities and industries
to the carrying capacity of water resources and water environment, (iv) strengthen ecological
remedies and protections, gradually establishing a mechanism for ecological compensation, and (v)
improve the policies for people resettlement.
(2) Promote the Building of a Water-saving Society
Take active measures throughout society to promote awareness of conservation and the
establishment of water-saving agriculture, industries, and the public and policy and legislative
systems for water conservation. It is necessary (I) to extensively disseminate information about
water conservation, advocate the concepts of water conservation and establish thoughts and
behavior among the public through media dissemination, school education, government guidance,
social donation and volunteer service, (II) to intensify the extension of water conservation
facilities and products by formulating compulsory standards for water conservation and
implementing preferential policies to encourage water conservation, (III) to promote water
efficiency and benefit of productive water uses (including increasing the reuse rate of industrial
water, the rate of reclaimed wastewater use and agricultural irrigation water efficiency and
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reducing water consumption per unit of output and the leakage rate of urban water pipelines) by
applying water conservation sciences and technologies, and (IV) to increase the central investment
in water conservation to promote self-investment in water conservation and guarantee the interests
of agencies, enterprises, organizations and individuals that practice water conservation.
(3) Establish and Improve the Water Rights System and Promote Water Price Reform
Because of the characteristics of the social system and the state-ownership of water resources, the
theoretical studies of water rights system and the practice of water right assignment started late in
China. At present, there are already some examples of water rights assignments for some rivers,
but the rights of enterprises or individuals to water resources as defined by the Property Rights
Law are still far from fulfillment, and many further studies need to be carried out. On December 5,
2007, the Interim Regulation for Water Allocation was issued with MWR Decree No. 32, which is
the first regulatory document for the assignment of water rights for inter-administrative region
rivers. However, further study is needed, as are experiments and development of the methods to
assign rights and obligations to each level, such as assigning rights to water resources at the river
basin or administrative region level as a type of socialist public right, and to enterprises or
individuals, as a type of private right. Establishing and improving the system of water rights
assignment is one of the instruments for effectively implementing integrated water resources
management, and it is necessary to strengthen the building of the water rights system.
Currently, agricultural water prices in China are set according to the cost of water supply without
consideration of profit or tax; and the rate of industrial water price is set according to water supply
plus profit and tax. To promote water conservation and reduce water charges to farmers, a system
to set the rate of terminal water price by adding the price rate of a last level canal to that of
state-owned water works will be gradually implemented. For industrial water, the systems of
planned water use, norm based management and above-norm progressive price rate setting will be
implemented. For domestic water use, the price rate will be set according to the principle of “cost
recovery, a rational profit and fair share”. In addition, analysis of the science and workability of
water price reform will be intensified; not only will the market rules be followed to reflect the
commercial goods value and scarcity value of water, but attention will also be paid to the public
good and social equity in water distribution. A rational water pricing mechanism needs to be
established according to the cost of water supply and the carrying capacity of society.
(4) Intensify Integrated Water Resources Management
Change the approach to management. It is necessary to establish a system for integrated water
resources management that (I) combines river basin management with administrative region
management, (II) makes overall arrangement for both urban and rural areas, and (III) harmonizes
development and use with conservation and protection. Furthermore, the functions of water
administration agencies that handle water resources management and supervision need to be
intensified to continuously implement capacity building and raise the level of management. The
management needs to shift from supply management to demand management; the priority of
planning needs to shift from development to conservation and protection; water pollution control
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needs to shift from post remedy to prevention; the management methods need to shift from focus
on administration to integrated management.
Improve management system. It is necessary (i) to continuously improve the systems of water
resources justification, water abstraction permit and unified water allocation and regulation, (ii) to
strictly control the quota for total water abstraction with the total amount control and norm based
management systems, and (iii) to intensify unified water allocation and regulation. An indicator
system for water use norms needs to be established to promote water conservation and wastewater
reduction. It is also needed (I) to intensify water resources protection and water function zone
management, (II) strictly control the total amount of pollutant discharge into rivers, (III) intensify
the management of effluent outlet to rivers, (IV) continuously improve the quality of the natural
aquatic environment, and (V) implement strict water resources management systems.
Integrate management methods. For cross-agency management functions, an active attitude needs
to be adopted to implement consultation, collaboration and coordination and intensify the
communication and cooperation between agencies. For engineering, construction, and
management concerned with the public interests, opinions need to be solicited more extensively,
and the mechanism for public participation also needs to be further strengthened, including the
establishment of (I) a long term, effective system for public opinion survey on engineering and
construction, (II) a system for public hearing on water pricing, (III) a system for farm irrigation
water user associations, (iv) a system for public notification of important affairs, and (V) a system
for supervision by public opinion.
Raise the management level. Considering China’s weak foundation in the monitoring of water use
and wastewater discharge, the monitoring, collection, compilation, and accounting of basic
information on water supply and water use and drainage need to be intensified. Also, the quality of
water information analysis needs to be improved. Capacity building of water resources
management staff at all levels in the aspects of professional ethics, management skills and
professional level needs to be intensified to improve their quality and raise the integrated capacity
and level of water resources management.
5. THE PROSPECTS OF CHINA-EU COOPERATION
China and the European Union have laid a good foundation and gained significant achievements
in water cooperation over the last 30 years.
Since the 1990s, the exchange and cooperation of sciences and technologies between China and
the European Union in the field of water resources have developed rapidly with the scope and
level of cooperation continuously expanded or improved. Through mutual visits, academic
exchanges, training, joint research programs and seminars, the EU and related European countries
have received a comprehensive and deep understanding of the current status of water resources
development and utilization and the main water problems in China. China has also learned from
Europe’s experiences with water conservation, environmental protection, water supply safety and
water pollution control and flood risk and drought crisis management, and integrated river basin
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management and urban water management, thus improving the level of water resources
management and the capacity for sustainable use of water resources in China. Among the projects
being implemented, the EU-China River Basin Management Program is an important one, mainly
including the components of participatory river management, clean technologies audit, Early
Warning and Emergency Response System for water pollution, and water conservation and
pollution reduction technologies.
In the last two years, water resources professionals in China and the European Union have
continuously intensified water cooperation through various international conferences and water
related activities. For example, the Chinese translation of the EU Water Framework Directive was
launched in Beijing in November 2008. At the same time, a Water Expo China was held jointly by
the Messe Frankfurt Co. Ltd. and the Chinese Hydraulic Engineering Society. Also, a China-EU
Water Business Summit and a China-EU river basin management workshop were held, at which
experts from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Austria and China discussed the issues of
China’s water resources, water safety and China-EU water business cooperation. At the Fifth
World Water Forum held at Istanbul, Turkey, the Chinese and European experts from river basin
authorities of the Rhine, Maas, Rhone, Danube, Yangtze and Yellow rivers discussed the effects of
climate change on water resources. In April 2009, an EU-China Dialogue Conference on River
Basin Management was held at the Third Yangtze Forum at Shanghai. An EU-China international
meeting on river basin management was held in Switzerland in July 2009. Technical cooperation
projects between the Chinese MWR and the UK Department for International Development
(DFID) and the Italian Ministry for the Environment, Territory and Sea in the field of water
resources management are also being smoothly implemented.
The cooperation between China and the European Union in water related businesses has lasted
more than 20 years, and is mainly implemented in the field of urban water supply, drainage,
wastewater treatment, and use of reclaimed wastewater, with the scope and scale of cooperation
continuously expanding. The largest water group company Veolia Water and others such as Suez
are the main actors for China-EU water related business cooperation.
The continuous development of strategic cooperation between China and the European Union is
helpful to promoting more comprehensive and deeper cooperation in the field of water resources,
and the prospects of cooperation are very bright. China and the European Union can move forward
on the following.
(1) Further intensify the high level mutual visits and dialogue between the governments of both
sides, formulate a comprehensive plan and establish a long term effective mechanism for the
cooperation in the field of water resources.
(2) Further intensify the study tours, academic exchanges, scientific and technological
cooperation, training and technical assistance by NGOs and non-government circles of both sides
in the field of water resources, particularly on (I) the management of effects of climate change on
water resources, (II) flood and drought risk management, (III) integrated river basin management,
(IV) formulation and improvement of water policies, (V) water conservation and water pollution
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control, (VI) water eco-environment protection, and (VII) public participation.
(3) Based on the continued implementation of the EU-China River Basin Management Program,
study counterpart measures for expanding the scope and scale of cooperation and formulate plans
for their implementation.
(4) Intensify the cooperation between both sides in urban water related businesses. In the 30 years
following China’s initiation of economic reform, the rate of urbanization in China has risen from
18% to 45%, and the current urban population is close to 600 million. There is great potential in
China’s water-related business market.
(5) Extensively implement other water related cooperation projects at multiple levels, through
multiple channels and in multiple forms.
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