For thousands of years, the agricultural economy dominated China’s economy, water was the lifeblood of agriculture, and waterways supported navigation. Therefore, it is essential to consider rainstorms, droughts, floods, and overwintering while developing China’s water resources ( Jiang 1997). Unlike the valley civilizations of Egypt and Babylon, China’s Yellow River basin belongs to a monsoon climate and sits at a higher latitude in which climate disasters are frequent. There are a variety of water governance systems at different spatial and temporal scales and under different cultural backgrounds and different national systems, which have been spread and promoted as important wisdom regarding water control ( Angelakis and Zheng 2015).Īs the cradle of oriental civilization, China has a vast land area, abundant resources, and a complex natural geographical and hydrometeorological environment. 2004), and sole water supply management has evolved into combined water supply and demand management ( Chen et al. The management of water resources in silos has evolved into integrated water resources management ( Biswas et al. Government-oriented water allocation has evolved into market-oriented allocation ( Bakker 2005).
The ancient engineering development of water resources has evolved into modern water resources management ( Huitema et al. With the global degradation of ecological catchment systems, humans’ attitude towards water issues has changed from ignoring to active governance ( Motesharrei et al. After thousands of years of flood control, irrigation, and navigation, modern society with large populations and a high intensity of urbanization has been faced with new challenges, namely large-scale water supply, water pollution, and ecological protection ( Varis and Vakkilainen 2001).
Water governance in human society has undergone a long evolution. Such governance involves water management institutions, such as government administration structures, market mechanisms, and public participation, setting up water policies and making water-related decisions. Water governance refers to the whole enabling environment in which water management actions take place to promote efficient water allocation and use, prevent and control water disasters, and ensure sustainability. Numerous problems with water resources make water governance a major issue concerning human survival and social stability ( Rogers and Hall 2003 Tortajada 2010).
The exploitation and use of water by human beings have broken the natural water cycle, and in some areas, water use exceeds the carrying capacity of water resources, leading to many pressures on water resources, such as scarcity, pollution, and extreme weather disasters ( Cosgrove and Rijsberman 2014). On the one hand, the spatiotemporal nonuniformity and mobility of water resources make it more difficult to manage on the other hand, water is a common-pool resource with externalities, and the “tragedy of the commons” may occur for water resources without appropriate governance ( Ostrom 1990). The unique properties of water in natural and social systems make the governance of water resources different from that of other resources ( Wang et al. Water is one of the most important components connecting nature and society, being involved in water resources, water disasters, water environment, and water ecology. In particular, over the last 70 years, China’s water governance has experienced fundamental changes, which can be grouped into four stages: (1) engineering development and project management underlying national and regional planning and administrative command (1949–1978) (2) water resources management characterized by water withdrawal permits and initial attempts for integrated water resources management (1979–2001) (3) more established integrated management combining watershed management and regional water management and adopting growing market mechanisms for water resources allocation (2002–2016) and (4) since 2016, ecological civilization construction intended to strengthen the systematic, comprehensive management of rivers, lakes, and basins by implementing the River Chief system in the whole country. This paper presents an overview of the development and evolution of China’s water governance before and after the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Over thousands of years, water governance in China has evolved from flood control, irrigation, and navigation to modern large-scale water supply, water pollution control, and ecological protection, with sustainable water resources management being the major challenge today.
Water governance has been handled as a critical national issue in China since ancient times.
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