http://www.paper.edu.cn Equitable Utilisation and Effective Protection of Sharing Transboundary Water Resources in international Rivers of Western China He, Daming (Asian International River Centre, Yunnan University, Kunming, 650091; E-mail:[email protected]) Liu, Xiujuan (Australian Mekong Resource Center, Sydney University, Sydney, Australia) Abstract: Western China includes 12 provincial divisions (the 7 provinces of Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Shangxi, Gansu, Qinghai and; 5 autonomous regions of Tibet, Ningxia, Xinjiang , Inner Mongolia and Guangxi; and one city of Chongqing), which comprise 71.4% of the national land area, 28.5% of the national population and produce 17.5% of the national GDP in China. There are 17 countries that have riparian relationships with wester n China, most of which are water -short countries. All are listed by UN ESCAP as countries with potential water crisis. The co-operative development and coordinated management of international rivers in western China is an important step toward the implementation of the national Great Western Development program. Taking into account of the national strategy and object hierarchy, as well as the development demand of the western region, it is necessary to pursue the multi-disciplinary study of the equitable allocation, utilisation, and eco-environment protection of transboundary water resource in the region. Such efforts will undoubtedly provide scientific evidence and support for the decision-making of the environmental protection and ecological construction and management in the western region, the enforcement of the sub-regional economic co-operation, mitigation of trans-boundary conflicts, and enhancing bio-diversity conservation. 1. Introduction Recently, some important international institutions, like the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank, have pointed out that there will exist in water crises, water conflicts, and even water wars in the 21th century. The equitable utilization and co-ordinated management of the shared freshwater resources in international watercourses (sharing rivers, lakes, and underground water layers) were particularly emphasised and are turning out to be the international hotpoint and staggering issues for the resolution of regional conflict. Countries such as Egypt and Israel have listed the cross-border freshwater resource as the most urgent strategic resource and the most important protection target for the military forces. Currently there are over 261 international rivers and approximately 300 underground water-bearing stratums and underground reservoirs shared by various countries, which comprise of 50% of the earth’s land area and almost 50% of the world’s population, sharing almost 50% of the global river runoff. Since the 1990s, the study on international rivers has become even more important. On March 19-21, 1998, more than 1000 ministers and experts from over 80 countries gathered in Paris to discuss the strategic themes on the management and protection of global freshwater resources, and water resources in international rivers was one of the three major themes discussed. On March 21-22, 2000, water management ministers from over 80 countries took part in the ministerial meeting of Water Security in the 21st Century, in which the integrated water resources management, the equitable utilisation of shared 中国科技论文在线 http://www.paper.edu.cn water resources in trans-boundary international rivers and national sovereignty were major themes, and it was proposed that till 2005 a co-operative mechanism be established and strengthened in the riparian countries sharing the major international rivers. Furthermore, by 2015, an agreement on water-sharing be signed. Tow key issues were raised for consideration: one is how to develop trans-boundary river basins under the precondition of respecting sovereignty, and the other is how to enforce pubic participation in the making and implementation of policies of trans-boundary river basins at the international level. Under the tendency of sustainable development in the new century, to realise th equitable utilisation of trans-boundary water resources and sustainable maintenance of trans-boundary eco-environment has become the key factors in ecosystem preservation of international water courses and the integrated and co-ordinated development of social, economic and environmental systems with catchment as the basic unit. It has become the new action goal for the efforts to deal with water shortage, population explosion, water pollution and to protect bio-diversity, as well as the efforts to ensure food, water and ecological security, to eliminate regional conflict, to enforce regional stability and the multi-polarisation of the global political economic situation. It has become the new focus of the multi-disciplinary study including geography sciences. In China as a whole, such effort remains to be in the initial stage. In the Schematic Report of the Tenth Five-Year-Plan(FYP) of national social economic Development, China’s Premier Zhu Rongji stated that the emphasis of the ecological construction of the Great Western Development is “to focus on the protection, conservation and development of water resources, to strengthen planning and reasonable allocation, and to manage to increase the efficiency of water utilisation”. The study on equitable utilisation of water resources in the international rivers in western China and ecological preservation is not only the key to the socio-economic development and ecological construction of the western China, but also has strategic importance, obvious comprehensive benefit and wide practical prospects to the national sustainable development, the regional co-operation and friendly relationship between China and West Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia, and further the water and ecological security of the whole Asia. 2. International challenges Among all the continents, the per capita GDP of Asia is the lowest. Asia is also one continent that possesses the most international rivers, with 65% of its land area falling into the category of international river basins.1 In this context, the equitable utilisation, allocation of international river water resources and the preservation of its ecological environment should be put more attention to. In the past 50 years(ADB, 2000), due to the increasing population, the average per capita usable water resources have decreased by 70% in South Asia and Middle Asia, by 60% in North Asia and 55% in Southeast Asia. Over 30% of water resources in 8 countries in these regions comes from the international rivers, they are Bangladesh, Cambodia, Kazakstan, Pakistan, Tajikhstan, Thailand, Uzbekhstan and Vietnam. Among them, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Uzbekhstan, and Vietnam have more than 65% of their water resources with foreign sources. Taking into account of the rapid population increase and socio -economic 1 This number doesn’t take into account the new international rivers due to the separation of the former USSR. 中国科技论文在线 http://www.paper.edu.cn development, the decrease of usable water resources is bound to deteriorate, which leads to the future world water issues. The downstream countries related to the western China will surely be concerned about the changes of the water resource system and its ecological environment in the international rivers in the west. For example, on December 24, 2000, Indian Foreign Minister claimed that water and energy issues are becoming key issues of the foreign policies in India. He said that due to the climatic changes, in the last two years the Himalayan glacier from which major rivers in India originate has lowered by about 30m. If the tendency continues, serious water disaster will dawn these rivers. He also estimated that water will become the most important global issue. The Foreign Affairs Ministry of Japan also sees the international water issue as an important part of its foreign diplomatic policy. Now, the average per capita water resource is 2300m³ in China. It is estimated that the population will increase to 1.6 billion in 2030, and the average per capita water resource will decrease to 1760m³, which indicates that China becomes a nation with a water stress. Among the 30 provinces, autonomous regions and cities, the top five with the richest per capita water resource are all located in the western part of China: Tibet, with a per capita water resource of 206 892m³, Qinghai 13 978m³, Yunnan 5953m³, Xinjiang 5774m ³, and Guangxi 4415m³. Most of these regions are located in the upper reaches or sources of major rivers, and are the strategic base for water security of the sustainable development of China and the key regions for ecological security. If the Pearl River is seen as an international river, then most areas of these regions fall within the international river basins except Qinghai. Of the 15 major international rivers, 11 are located in the western part of China, which makes the western China the “Water Tower” of Asia. In total, an amount of 395 billion m³ of water flows out of the China West each year, accounting for about 90% of the total water amount flowing out of China. Most of the 17 riparian countries are listed as potential water stress countries except Laos and Burma. In particular, the neighbouring Afghanistan, India, Iran, Korea and Pakistan, which are all downstream countries compared with China, were listed as highly potential water stress countries. In this vein, the external conditions of water development in the international rivers in