Identifying China’s transboundary water risks and vulnerabilities – a multidisciplinary analysis using hydrological data and legal/institutional settings

Abstract

This paper identifies the vulnerabilities and risks linked with China’s transboundary waters through an analysis of hydrological data and the legal and institutional settings. The risks and vulnerabilities arise in three areas: (1) serious issues of water security arise, both internally and externally, relating to water quantity and water quality; (2) transboundary waters management is hampered by weak capacity across the region; and (3) underdeveloped legal regimes, including procedural requirements for the exchange of information, prior notification and early warning mechanisms, make it difficult to realize effective international transboundary water cooperation.

Keywords:

• transboundary waters
• vulnerability
• risk
• transboundary cooperation
• China

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Professor Patricia Wouters and Professor Huiping Chen and the China International Water Law (CIWL) research team at Xiamen Law School for their support for this paper. Thanks also to the anonymous reviewers.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Key Project of National Nature Science Foundation of China [grant number U1202232], the Key Project of National Social Science Foundation of China [grant number 11AZD04], and the National Science and Technology Support Program [grant numbers 2013BAB06B03 and 2011BAC09B07]