Reframing water governance: a multi-perspective study of an over-engineered catchment in China

Abstract

Climate change, over abstraction, pollution and questionable engineering-based paradigms are contributing to a state of crisis in water governance. This paper reports on preliminary research in Lake Baiyangdian catchment, China, which has the potential to realise more systemic and adaptive forms of water governance through development and use of a method that reframes water catchment management in the form of social learning. A cross-disciplinary research group worked together with multiple-department managers and stakeholder representatives within a purposefully designed ‘learning system’ to create an insipient social learning platform. The results demonstrate the potential to reframe water catchment management in Lake Baiyangdian so as to better address the questions: who should manage the water catchment and what in the catchment should be the focus of managing?

Keywords:

• social learning
• water governance
• catchment management
• resource and environmental degradation
• policy framings
• China

Acknowledgements

The research reported here is part of the 'Strengthening research capacity of China and South Africa (SA) in sustainable water resources management with UK and Australian experiences' project (2009-10; contract NE/G008582/1) funded by the ESPA2 (Ecosystems Services for Poverty Alleviation Program), with support from NERC (UK Natural Environment Research Council), DfID (UK Department for International Development) and the ESRC (UK Economic and Social Research Council). This research is also partly funded by the Australian Research Council through the project ‘Systemic and adaptive water governance: lessons for Australia from China and South Africa’ (Project No: LP100100546). The authors give their special thanks to all participants in their inquiry process and particularly other team members including Professor John Langford and Professor Deli Chen, the University of Melbourne, Australia; Professor Jun Xia, Dr Suxia Liu and Dr Chesheng Zhang, Institute of Geography and Natural Resources Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Professor Baoguo Li, Chinese Agricultural University; Mr Sam Chimbuya, Khanya-African Institute for Community-Driven Development, South Africa and Mr Myles Mander, Eco-futures, South Africa.

Notes

1. Following this argument we will refer to managing in this paper except where it would be historically inappropriate to do so.

2. In both the UK and Australian team one researcher had primary research experience in South Africa and China respectively.