Development of an Integrated River Basin Strategy in the Yangtze River Basin
Adnan Kaplan
Ege University Faculty of Agriculture Department of Landscape Architecture, Izmir (TR)
The Yangtze, the largest river of China, descends
7500m from the pristine Tibetan Plateau to the East China Sea over the course
of its 6300 km journey. The unique system of forests, rivers and lakes form
the Chinese Eden of Biodiversity. The mighty river with an area of 1.8 million
square km has been extensively modified for thousands of years. The Yangtze
River Basin also holds 40% of China's freshwater resources.
While the basin is recognized as being among the most significant ecosystems
in the world, the region is severely degraded due to that deforestation, soil
erosion, shrinking of lakes, floods and pollution have posed the Yangtze with
a series of challenges for its sustainability. As a result of rapid population
growth, industrial and agricultural development as well as urbanization, the
natural forest coverage across the river catchments has fallen from 30% in the
1950s to only 10% in the 1980s.
Besides the increasing threats, the management of the Yangtze River in China
is very complicated and involves various central government sectors, provincial
and municipal governments. Although government has established some river basin
wide coordination institutions, these institutions are very much focused on
the interest of a single sector, which results in narrow-minded management.
The major two gaps are the lack of a systematic comprehensive river basin plan,
which should, from the perspective of national strategic development, set the
river basin conservation objectives and call for action by all related parties,
and the lack of effective collaboration and cooperation mechanisms among various
governmental departments due to the current sector-oriented river basin management,
and a high degree of centralization. The parallel of two sets of planning and
implementing systems causes inconsistency and conflicts on the ground. There
is an urgent need to establish an Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM) Strategy
in the Yangtze Basin, which should cover the common vision, objectives, goals
and targets.
The IRBM Strategy should be made in a systematic process, the main procedures
include establishment of Task Force, provision of data and information, engagement
of key stakeholders, consultation process, draft vision and goals and objectives,
identification of resources required, and finalization of the strategy.
The implementation of IRBM Strategy needs comprehensive
arrangement, the tools include planning, legislation, institutional setting,
incentives, public and stakeholder participation, engagement/empowerment, and
capacity building/training. Each tool may cover different methods, for example,
price, fee, taxation, payment, compensation, fine are all belong to incentives,
and can be used in specific settings.
Some indicators can be used to evaluate the success of IRBM strategy, including
the increased wetlands, improved water quality, reduced flood frequency and
loss, and restored/maintained biodiversity, social and economic viability. The
IRBM Strategy should be reviewed every 3-5 years by taking into account of partners'
feedback, impact assessment, new opportunities and challenges, update/new information
as adaptive management of the strategy.
Prepared as a case study
for UNITAR Training Workshop on Water, Wetland and Biodiversity, 29 November
- 3 December 2004, Kushiro, Japan