Water Stewardship in China

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　　Water is the source of life, a key factor in development and the essence of a harmonious¹ ecosystem². With China's water environment deteriorating³, and growing competition for water resources causing more disputes, both authorities and NGOs are realizing the importance of Water Stewardship⁴, a sustainable water management mechanism⁵. Li Dong has the details.

 

　　At a lecture recently held by the World Wide Fund or WWF, Li Lifeng, the WWF's Freshwater department director emphasized that water consumption is making the world increasingly interconnected.

 

　　"For instance, I live in Switzerland, but the vegetable and fruits I eat come from other countries. If I want to maintain my current consumption status, I need to care about the origin of these agricultural products and the sustainability of the ecosystem of the region."

 

　　To better integrate the world's water resources, Li Lifeng is introducing the idea of Water Stewardship. Water Stewardship or WS engages relevant stakeholders in processes of mapping shared risks, enhancing tradeoffs to meet the respective interests of different companies, improving governmental administration and supporting water conservation efforts, in order to achieve a common ground of sustainability.

 

　　Since Water Stewardship was launched in China, the WWF has been working jointly⁷ with the government, businesses and other stakeholders to explore the way to guarantee the successful development of water stewardship.

 

　　According to the WWF, a complete working system has been established to reduce risks for the mutual⁸ benefit of different stakeholders, by integrating the actions of the Government, corporations, research institutions and other organizations in the Water Stewardship China Network.

 

　　By identifying the shared water risks as well as opportunities, Water Stewardship helps businesses, governments and other organizations work together to better manage water resources, through joint⁶ actions. Li Lifeng believes it may be worthwhile to trial an eco-compensation mechanism for the balance of resource usage and protection.

 

　　"When people at the upper streams of the river conduct actions which may affect the environment at the lower stream, the two parties need to work together. In some circumstances, people at the lower stream can provide some compensation to encourage people at the upper streams to protect the eco-environment while boosting their economy. Thus, the whole river can provide a sustainable ecosystem to serve people at both ends of the river."

 

　　Li Lifeng says the purpose of Water Stewardship is to ensure water resources and biodiversity are well conserved⁹ along the river, where people thrive in harmony with nature, and aquatic¹⁰ life can breed in clear water.

 

　　He says that currently, some enterprises are gradually realizing the importance of Water Stewardship and are taking action to achieve a higher level of water usage efficiency.

 

　　"Water Stewardship first encourages enterprises to participate, and then individuals. I know that Coca-Cola China announced that by 2020, their goal is to raise water usage efficiency by 25 percent. That's an ambitious plan. I hope more and more enterprises can join our team, because they will benefit from protecting the water environment."

 

　　Li Lifeng says that currently, the idea of Water Stewardship has gradually been accepted by local governments in China, and in some areas in Inner Mongolia, governments based in both the upper stream and lower streams of rivers are cooperating to maintain sustainable exploration of the water resources of the whole river. And similar trials are also being conduced in other places in China.

 

　　For CRI, I am Li Dong.

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