Zheng Wenjun and Wang Yiliang
Tianjin research institute for water
transportation engineering ,
ministry of communication of China,Tianjin
,300456
Tel:022-25708650 , e-mail: zwj4609@163.net
Abstract: A consensus has emerged that a more comprehensive approach to water resource management is needed- one that is cross sectoral, integrates ecological and development needs, and is based on holistic analyses of the carrying capacity of the water environment. The common denominator or the integrating factor is water. This focus on water and its interrelationship with other natural resources and their use is what distinguishes integrated management from other natural resource management strategies. This comprehensive approach, with its need to modify man’s sectoral activities so that the capacity of the water environment to support those activities is not exceeded, relies on joint activities among neighboring province and regions as well as active coordination to make needed changes in sectoral activities. A basic understanding of hydrology is fundamental to the planning and management of water resources for sustainable use on a watershed. Hydrology enters explicitly and directly into the design of water resource projects, including reservoirs, flood control structures, navigation, irrigation and water quality control. Knowledge of hydrology helps us in our attempt to balance demands for water with supplies, to avoid floods, and to protect the quality of streams and lakes. With the clear awareness of the linkages between uplands and downstream areas, we should be able to plan and develop long-term, sustainable solutions to many natural resource problems-and, at the same time, avoid many kinds of environmental degradation.
The international water programme, GloBallast programme, provides the opportunity for us to promotion of groups of our country would learn and work together with one or more International Implementing Agencies to first identify the priority ballast water-related environmental concerns and the sectoral policy causes of the problems experienced by the particular waterbody and than formulate a agreed strategic action plan to addressing the common water-related issues.
Keywords: water–related environmental
issues, water resources protection, comprehensive approach
When mankind
enters the 21st century, a century full of hopes, a revolution in economic
management is occurring throughout the developing world. We should grasp the
opportune time in the changing world to expand opening up to the outside world.
Executive, worker and technician, each one would not be a slave and as a master,
should team up to help to bridge over the difficulties in the context a
transitional economy from central planning to market mechanisms in China, and
help China better to take in and learn from advance sciences and technologies,
management expertise, and all other useful knowledge and culture, for the
promotion of ethical progress.
Despite this real world of disaggregated,
independent political, and economic actions, it remains a fact that water and
its constituents flow downhill and ignore political boundaries. The common global hydrologic cycle
dynamically links many watersheds, air sheds, estuaries, and coastal and marine
waters through transboundary move of water, pollutants and other living
resources and nonliving resources. Water and related land degradation are
increasingly recognized as major barriers to global sustainable development. “
Unless action replaces rhetoric, the number of people experiencing water
shortages and stress is projected to rise to 2.3 billion, representing more than
a quarter of humanity” [1]. Most of these people will be the poor in the
developing world, where degradation of watersheds is acceleration and
inefficiency and waste dominate irrigation and urban water systems in many
regions. The result is lack of service for the poor and devastating effects on
human health and the global environment.
The world’s
water resources are under enormous stress, and the ecosystems, people, and
economic, developments that depend on these resources are facing a precarious
future. Global environmental concerns relating to international waters include:
(1) Degradation of the quality of transboundary water resources, caused mainly
by pollution from land-based activities (toxic chemicals, nutrients, pathogens,
oxygen-demanding wastes, sediment, and debris); (2) Physical habitat degradation
of coastal and near-shore marine areas, lakes and watercourses (for example,
wetlands, mangroves, estuaries, coral reefs), as a result of inappropriate
management (for example, land conversion, dredging, coastal construction, and
irrigation)；(3)
Introduction of nonindigenous species that disrupt aquatic ecosystems and cause
toxic and human health effects (untreated ballast water discharges from ships,
for example)；(4) Excessive exploitation of living
and nonliving resources due to inadequate management and control measures (for
example, overfishing , and excessive water withdrawal).
Degradation of
freshwater and marine systems, and of surface waters as well as groundwater
resources, is causing irreversible environmental effects, hardship for the poor,
real losses to the economy, human health concerns, and the need for costly
investments to mitigate the damage, Marine and freshwater systems constitute
important sources of income and food for a large part of the world’s
population whose food and water supplies are now at risk. For example,
globalization of destruction have depleted fish stocks to dangerously low levels
and placed food security in jeopardy in many areas, Downstream or transboundary
international issues of global significance have yet to be effectively
addressed. [2]
The deterioration
of ecosystems is a common issue in the world. Based on analysis of global
environmental conditions and trends, together with up-to –date factual data on
natural resources in over 150 countries, “World Resources 2000-2001”
described: Half of the world’s wetlands were lost in the last century. Logging
and conversion have shrunk the world’s forests by as much as half. Some nine
percent of the world’s tree species are at risk of extinction. Tropical
deforestation probably exceeds 130,000km2 per year. Fishing fleets
are 40 % larger than the ocean can sustain. Almost 70% of the world’s major
marine fish stocks overfished or are being fished at their biological limit.
Soil degradation has affected two-thirds of the world’s agricultural lands in
the last 50years, Some 30% of the world’s original forests have been converted
to agriculture. Dams, diversions or canals fragment almost 60% of the world’s
largest rivers. Twenty percent of the world’s freshwater species are extinct,
threatened or endangered; At least 10,000 freshwater fish species are threatened
globally [3]. The scientists warned in this report that if the decline in
ecosystems continues, the consequences could be devastating for human
development and the welfare of all species. “Overall, our analysis shows that
there are considerable signs that the capacity of ecosystems, the biological
engines of the planet, to produce many of the goods and services we depend on is
rapidly declining”.
The world’ s
water resources are under enormous stress, and the ecosystems, people, and
economic development, that depend on these resources are facing a precarious
future, Degradation of freshwater and marine systems, and of surface waters as
well as groundwater resources, is causing irreversible environmental effects,
hardship for the poor, real losses to the economy, human health concerns, and
the need for costly investments to mitigate the damage, The natural disaster
caused 600 billion dollars last decades. Marine and freshwater systems
constitute important sources of income and food for a large part of the world’s
population whose food and water are now at risk. Downstream or transboundary
international issues of global significance have yet to be effectively addressed
[4].
China had
crackled with the dynamic of change during the past twenty year. Twenty years
ago, China was among the world’s poorest countries, with 80% of the population
living on incomes of less than US$1 a day, and now consumption has more than
doubled and the poverty rate has declined, as 200 million Chinese living in
absolute poverty have been raised above the minimum poverty line [5]. Despite
the impressive record of economic growth and poverty reduction, about 270
million Chinese continue to live on less than a dollar a day. The rural poor are
concentrated in resource constrained remote upland area in the interior
northwest and southwest, where the low quality of land makes it impossible to
achieve even a subsistence level of crop production.
Before 1980s,
China’s the level of economic development, especially industrialization and
urbanization, was relatively low and largely dependent on the local primary
resources thus, pollution input associated with human activities was relatively
small. In the 1980s, the opening policy has been begun implemented in China.
This policy has set new requirements for the use and management of watershed
natural resources, particularly its lands and waters along the bank and coast.
As a consequence, industrialization and urbanization accelerated; population
growth increased; uses of water resources and other nature resources diversified
and intensified resulting in severe space competition, resource-use conflicts,
and pollution. These adverse consequences of unregulated economic growth and
population increase resulted in the reduction and deterioration of natural
habitats and living resources, siltation and erosion, retreat of shoreline, and
blocking of navigation channels.
China’s past two decades of
rapid economic growth, urbanization, and industrialization have been accompanied
by steady deterioration of the ecosystems. China is currently ranked 6th in the
water resources, with 2,800 billon cubic meters, however, available freshwater
per capital is only a quarter of the world’s average. Water shortages are
experienced throughout the country, especially in urban areas, the concentration
of water pollution are among the highest in the world, causing damage to human
health and lost agricultural productivity. The overwhelming use of high-sulfur
coal as a fuel has polluted the air and produced acid rain, which is damaging
forests. Soil erosion, deforestation, and damage to wetlands and grasslands have
resulted in deterioration of China’s national ecosystems and pose a threat to
future agricultural sustainability. Industrial effluents have contaminated the
water, and much of the population does not have access to potable water, less
than 10% of receives treatment. Approximately one-fifth of agricultural land has
been lost to soil erosion and economic development during the last three
decades, and deforestation, and desertification. China today has just 20% of
their original forest cover. Of these remaining forests, less than 10% can be
classified as frontier. [6] Needless to say, China faces environmental
challenge. Water shortages and pollution cause bottlenecks in the economic
development of the country.
Take Bohai Sea
for example, The Bohai is the largest internal sea in China. Three out of nine
potential mega cities in China, namely, Beijing, Tianjin and Shenyang are within
the coastal area of the Bohai Sea. The Bohai Sea is a major economic and
maritime hub in China. It is a maritime outlet for the Northeast and the Great
West of China and accounts for one-third of the national ocean contribution to
the gross domestic product. It is also a critical habitat for some important
migratory species. The long-term sustainability of the Bohai Sea however is
threatened by pollution. Water quality in forty percent of the Bohai Sea was
estimated to be below national standards. The overall water exchange between the
Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea, through the Bohai Straits takes sixteen years. This
means the persistent pollutants will remain in “enclosed ponds” for at least
this period [7].
Thought there are
more than 5,800 nature rivers and 900 lakes, the fresh water resources is at
scarcity in China. Among 669 urban city, there are 400 municipal city is at
shortage of fresh water supply. But on the other hand, China is losing an
average of 20 natural lakes every year because of land reclamation for
agricultural use and over-use of water for irrigation; the loss of water storage
capacity in lakes increases the danger of seasonal floods along the Yangtze and
other rivers. [8]
Water pollution exists
throughout China and is especially serious in the country’s rivers and lakes.
About 80% of industrial sewage is said to be discharged into rivers without
treatment. In 1993, the volume of polluted water into the Yellow River reached
750 million m3 while in 1998, the number soared to 930 million m3,
up 22% percent in five years. Most of China’s cities face serious water
pollution problems. [9] A survey of more than 700 rivers in China revealed that
46% of them were polluted. On a scale of five in the government’s water
quality rating system, grade one water is clean while grade five is considered
undrinkable. 10% of the rivers were rated grade five and 46% fell within grade
four and five. [10] It impacts on the ecosystem, deterioration of habitat and
fisheries, human health, and finally impacts on society: brought about by the
impairment or reduction of services provided by the natural resources (e.g.,
shipping, fisheries, tourism, coastal development).
Water pollution
caused 144 billion Yuan of economic losses in China annually in the late 1990s,
according to a survey conducted by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences [9].
Government efforts have continued to improve the management of natural resources
through soil conservation projects, investments in water transfer, storage and
irrigation, and the planting of forests for both timber and fuel wood. China has
already taken some steps to reduce pollution and deforestation, and has staved
off an abrupt worsening of environmental conditions in general. A system of
pollution control programs and institutional networks for environmental
protection is now in place at the national and local levels. As part of the
recent government reorganization, China’s environmental agency, the State
Environmental Protection Agency, has been upgraded to full ministerial rank For
better urban and industrial pollution control, China has focused increasingly on
river basin management, greater use of economic incentives, and increasing use
of public information campaign, and the Coastal zone management has been
introduced [5].
The government
plans to invest 1.2 billion Yuan over the next 10 years in reforestation and
grassland conservation projects in northwest China [8]. China’s positive
measures to fight against water pollution are also included: The State
Environmental Protection Administration plans to strengthen the control on
enterprises that discharge pollutants and accelerate the deconstruction of
sewage-treating plants. The Ministry of Water Resources vows to reinforce the
supervision on water quality and make drinking water reaches state standards.
Some131 wastewater disposal factories are still needed in the rivers of Huaihe,
Haihe and Liaohe and the lakes of Taihu, Dianchi and Chaohu. At present there
are already 28 such factories in operation while 125 are under construction.
Some local governments are also making efforts to avoid further water pollution.
Central China’s Hubei Province is now implementing a huge project to clean
polluted water. Chongqingin southwest China will invest three billion Yuan in
the coming four years to treat its contaminated water. The appending is more
than the total amount spent on cleaning its rivers and lakes in the past
decades. [9]
(1) Weak
institutional capability for watershed water pollution prevention and
mitigation; multiple resource-use conflicts; (2) Poor law enforcement;(3) Weak
marine environmental consciousness among the policy-makers and lack of awareness
by the general public; (4) Lack of sound scientific basis for management
intervention; (5) Scattered database and lack of interdisciplinary and
cross-sector exchange, analysis, and assessment; (6) Transboundary issues;(7)
Lack of integrated planning, unregulated uncoordinated or marine resource
development;(8) Single sector-oriented policy making and ineffective
coordination;(9) Inadequate legislation for effective resolution.
A multiple use perspective is needed to achieve sustained, integrated water-related issues management. In practice, activities using water resources are decided upon and undertaken by individuals, local governments and various groups that control water in a political framework that has little relationship to, and in fact most often ignores, the boundaries of a watershed. Activities are undertaken independently, often with little regard to how they affect other areas [11]. It also is true that much of the intensive farming, grazing, and wood harvesting that takes place in our country is leading to water-related environmental degradation and adverse downstream impacts.
The severe summer floods
occurred in 1998 highlighted the need not just for increased investment in these
areas, but for a more sustainable approach to development. The government is now
fundamentally rethinking the way entire watersheds should be developed in the
future. But, Coordination of government actions continues to be a problem. There
exist many contradistinctions between different sectional planning approaches,
and in the absence of a holistic institutional framework of management
mechanism. Coastal and marine resources are being destroyed. Apparently, China’s
Traditional coastal management system could not keep up with its rapid economic
development as the many multiple resource conflicts and increasing pollution
threats require innovative and holistic management interventions.
The degradation
occurring in international waters represents a warning that the carrying
capacity of transboundary freshwater basins, coastal areas, and marine
ecosystems has been approached in some places and exceeded in others by
inappropriate sectoral development policies and projects as well as unwise use
of the water resources. Fragmented institutions inadequate policies and legal
systems, and shortage of funds have contributed to water scarcity and
environmental degradation.
From 1970s the
world’s water resources specialists have recognized that a more comprehensive,
cross-sectoral approach to managing water resources is needed to achieve
sustainable development. The 1982 U.N. Convention on the law of the Sea provides
a global framework for the protection and management of the marine environment
and its living and nonliving and nonliving resources and recognizes that global
environmental objectives are achieved by actions taken in a region- by –
region framework.
A consensus has
emerged that a more comprehensive approach to water resources management is
needed-one that is cross-sectoral, integrates ecological and development needs,
and is based on holistic analyses of the carrying capacity of the water
environment. In this approach, the river basin, groundwater system, coastal
area, or large marine ecosystem typically serves as a management unit on which
to base changes in the way that sectoral development activities are conducted
and how priority environmental interventions are made. In many instances, action
programs are needed to restore is new to most countries, difficult to implement,
and even harder to achieve when actions must be coordinated among countries.
Conventions and
agreements relating to land-based sources of pollution, port reception
facilities, coastal dumping, offshore facilities, emergency response, marine
fisheries, protected areas designations, hazardous substance transport and
disposal. international trade, endangered species, and the biodiversity, climate
change, and desertification conventions all play a role in achieving global
protection of international waters. The RAMSAR convention, in particular, is
important of identifying wetlands in need of protection of international waters.
The plan of Agenda 21（UNCED）for future national and international action in
the field of environment and development and the Climate Change and Biological
Diversity Conventions also have special linkages, The Barbados Programme of
Action for the Sustainable Developmental of Small Island Developing States, the
Intergovernmental Conference to Adopt a Global Programme of Action for the
Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities adopted as the
“ Washington Programme of Action” in November 1995, the U.N. Convention to
Combat Desertification, and the recently negotiated Agreement on Straddling Fish
Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks have action programs associated with
them.
The Global
Environment Facility (GEF) announced that it will double its funding for
addressing global water and related land degradation issues, over the next the
years, the GEF pans to program one – half billion dollars for international
waters projects in developing countries and economies-in – transition. [1] The
GEF is positioned to play a key role in addressing four central, inter-linked
aspects of the water crisis: Scarcity, Integrated Land and Water Resource
Management, Conflict Prevention, and Land- based Sources of Pollution. The First
Biennial GEF Conference on International Waters was held in Budapest last
October. In his written speech, Dr. Mohd, chairman of GEF, highlighted the need
for; (1) actions to protect the life support systems for the people and the
economic systems;(2) policies and institutional reforms;(3) more financial
support, and (4) development of partnerships with all stakeholders.
The World’s oceans are under threat from marine pollution, from over-fishing and from physical destruction. As if this is not enough, they are also under threat from alien invaders; marine species transported beyond their natural range and dispersed across the globe by shipping. Shipping moves over 80% of the world’s commodities and transfers around 10 billion tones of ballast water each year. Ballast is absolutely essential to the safe and efficient operation of ships, providing balance and stability when empty of cargo. However, it may also pose a serious ecological, economic and health threat. The problem arises when ballast water contains marine life. There are literally thousands of species that may be carried in ships’ ballast; anything that is small enough to pass through a ship’s ballast water intake pumps. This includes bacteria, small invertebrates and the eggs, cysts and larvae of various species.
As a result, whole ecosystems are being changed
and economic impacts can be massive [12]. The Global Task Force launched a concerted response to this severe
environmental problem. The now initiative, Global Ballast Water Management
Programme, or “GloBallast”, is being deployed through IMO to assist
developing countries to reduce the transfer of harmful marine organisms. This is
being achieved through technical cooperation, capacity bulking and institutional
strengthening activities in six initial demonstration sites in Brazil, China,
Iran, South Africa and Ukraine. Activities to be undertaken include education
and awareness raising, risk assessments and biological surveys, development of
laws and regulations, training of personnel in ballast water management measures
and the implementation of compliance monitoring and enforcement measures.
A more
comprehensive, cross-sectoral approach is needed, as the many multiple resource
conflicts and increasing pollution threats require innovative and holistic
management interventions. This comprehensive approach, with its need to modify
man’s sectoral activities so that the capacity of the water environment to
support those activities is not exceeded, a large number of bilateral and
multilateral agreements and innovative management authorities were established
before environmental consideration came to the fore. Sound protection of water
resources and the sustainable use of their ecosystems must be incorporated into
these institutional arrangements to meet sustainable development goals.
Linkages between
economic sectors and degradation of the water environment should be identified
and preventive measures included in national economic development plans so that
the use, conservation, and development of freshwater and marine resources can be
sustained for the future. This comprehensive approach relies on joint activities
among neighboring sections as well as active interministrial coordination to
make needed changes in sectoral activities.
Recognizing that
a person must learn from the advanced before he can catch up and surpass them,
we really hope our county grasp the opportune time in the changing world to
expand opening up to the outside world. The initiatives of the GloBallast
programme provide us a new opportunity to learn and work together with one or
more International Implementing Agencies to link different programs and
instruments together as a holistic package through the proramme to first
identify the priority environmental concerns of ballast water management and the
sectoral policy causes of the problems experienced by the particular waterbody
and than formulate a agreed strategy action plan (SAP) to resolve the priority
the problems. And help us better to take in and learn from advance sciences and
technologies, management expertise, and all other useful knowledge and culture,
for the promotion of building a better water environment.
[1] Global water issues, from GEF website.
[2] China at a glance ( Agriculture,
natural resources, and environment), from World Bank’s website.
[3] World Expo 2000 Hears Urgent Warning to
Limit Resource Demands, from The LYCOS Network.
[4] Operational Strategy of the Global
Environment Facility, from GEF website.
[5] The World Bank and China, from World
Bank’s website.
[6] The last frontier forests, from
World resources institute website.
[7] Commitment to protect the marine and
coastal environment, from Pemsea website.
[8] China losing its lakes, from 21st
Century January 18,2001.
[9] China Stepping Up Treatment of Water
pollution, from Pollution online website.
[10] Hydrology and the
management of watersheds, / Kenneth N. Brooks.
[11] Chinese show to boost its
water industry, from Asian Water Vol.15.Number 9.
[12] UN moves on alien
invaders, from IMO website.