Enforcing the science and policy interface - Experiences from ACEDP Inland River Basin Project

1. Enforcing the science and policy interface-Experiences from ACEDP Inland River Basin Project Dr Yongping Wei Australia-China Centre on Water Resources Research the University of Melbourne Dr Hang Zheng Tsinghua University

2. Capacity building Policy/ practice Science/ research Philosophy of managing river basins

3. Natural similarity between Australia and China Sule Northwest of China Hei Shiyang Tarim River • Similarity: • Drought • Water shortage • Ecological Degradation • Adaption to Climate Change • … Murray-Darling Basin Murray-Darling Basin Shiiyang Basin

4. Institutional similarity between Australia and China China Australia • National No.1 Document, 2011– the only one of water as No.1 since 1949. • “Three Red Lines” for water use: quota, efficiency and quality. • Australia’s National Water Initiative • National Water Quality Management Strategy • Water use cap and basin cut in MDB National level • The twelve Five-Year plan of Gansu • The regulation of water use permission and fee collection in Gansu. • Integrated water use planning in Gansu • Northern Region Sustainable Water Strategy • Recycling • Living Melbourne, Living Victoria State/Province • Guide to the Proposed Basin Plan of Murray Darling • Integrated water resource management in the Goulburn Broken Catchment • Integrated water resources restoration plan in the Shiyang River Basin • Integrated plan for water utilization and ecological protection in Shule River Basin River Basin • Rubicon Canals controlling system • Northern Victoria Irrigation Renewal Project • Water trading among the farmers • Canals lining • Agricultural & irrigation water saving • Water rights system for the farmers Farmers

5. National Annual Cap(2020): 670,000 GL Water Use Volume Water Use efficiency National average irrigation water consumption rate: 55% Water Quality National security of drinking water (urban and rural) Comparative study- national level China Australia Caps in 1994 Three Red Lines

6. 2011-2015 2006-2010 2001-2005 1996-2000 1991-1995 Comparative study- State level China-Gansu Australia-Victoria Five Years Planning Victoria Sustainable Water Strategies Planning Index of Gansu, 2011-2015

7. Comparative study- Catchment level China Australia Duration Based Water Allocation(1800s-2011) Capacity Sharing(1980s-2011) Evaporation Supply Inflow The concept of the duration-based water rights is similar to capacity sharing in Australia. Both of the systems promote decentralized management by allowing individual water users to exercise a degree of control over storage decisions. Thus, both approaches are helpful to address the problems of hydrological risk, asymmetric information and transaction costs of water delivery in centralized water management. The water entitlement is expressed by the fixed number of water extraction days within a year. Water users can manage and store stream flow independently during their allocation duration. The water authority is only responsible for water use planning and accounting. The hydrological risk is taken by water users while they get more flexibility to make their own decisions on storage and use.

8. Comparative study- Farm level China Australia

9. Science inform policy-an example

10. Expected outcomes by the end of the project An approach for enforcing the science and policy interface toimprove the river basin manager’s capacity of managing the threats to sustainable water resources development in the context of river basins interactively connected to the national-level, state-level and farm level water management activities.

11. Outcomes: scoping projects together • Managing river basins for more resilient ecosystems and more sustainable consumptive uses: an international comparative study-ARC-linkage ($ 941k, Submitted); (Tsinghua University); 2011 • Understanding cultural and ecological triggers for policies against water catchment degradationfunded by Chinese Natural Sciences Foundation Committee; (3 m Yuan, CAS); 2011 • Australian Endeavour Award for Professor Qi Feng from CAS; CAS’s Distinguished Overseas Professor Award for Professor John Langford from the University of Melbourne; 2010 • Systemic and adaptive water governance: lessons for Australia from China and South Africa-ARC-linkage project;(CAS), 2009 Farms, Rivers and Market funded by Australian National Water Committee ( $20m ) and Heihe River Basin Research Program funded by Chinese Natural Sciences Foundation Committee (150 m Yuan), 2009

12. Outcomes: co-production of knowledge Journal Papers • Yongping Wei, Hang Zheng, John Langford, Guodong Cheng. 2011.变化环境下流域管理的知识创新机制. 地球科学进展 (accepted) • Hang Zheng; Zhongjing Wang; Hector Malano; and Yongping Wei. 2011. A water allocation-trading framework for duration-based water rights system in China，Agricultural Water Management(submitted); • Shuai Wang, Bojie Fu and Yongping Wei (30%). 2011. Finding the Third Hand to Manage Ecosystem Services. Ambio (Accepted) • Hang Zheng; Zhongjing Wang; Siyi Hu; and Yongping Wei.2011. A comparative study of the performance of public water rights allocation in China，Water Resources Management. (accepted) • Yonggang Yang, Honglang Xiao, Yongping Wei, Liangju Zhao, Songbing Zou, Zhenliang Yin and Qin Yang. 2011. Hydrologic processes in the different landscape zones of Mafengou River basin in the alpine cold region during the melting period. 2011. Journal of Hydrology. (in press) • Yonggang Yang, Honglang Xiao, Yongping Wei, Songbing Zou, Liangju Zhao, Qiu Yang. 2011. Hydrological processes in the different landscape zones in alpine cold region in wet seasoncombining isotopic and hydrochemical tracers. Hydrological Processes.(accepted) • Bo-Jie Fu Chang-Hong Su Yongping Wei Ian R. Willett Yi-He Lu Guo-Hua Liu. 2011. Double counting in ecosystem services valuation: causes and countermeasures. Ecological Research. 26:1-14. Policy briefing • Recommendation to the Ministry of Water Resources on how to implementing the three red lines of No.1 Document based on Australian Basin Plan (under way); Incorporation of Australian experiences into the basin plan of the Shiyang River Basin and Shule River Basin

13. Outcomes: friendship-based partnerships • Integrated catchment management, Cold and Arid Regions Environment and Engineering Research Institute; Chinese Academy of Sciences; • Application of remote sensing in water resource management, Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower research, the Ministry of Water Resources; • Water and environmental governance under climate change, Policy Research Centre for Environment and Economy, Ministry of Environmental Protection; • Catchment ecosystem services, Research Centre of Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences; • Water allocation and water trading, Tsinghua University.

14. Benefit for Australia • Exchange Eco-hydrological modelling; • Demonstrate Australian water market and river basin management approach in Chinese inland river basins; • Showcase Australian water stewardship approach to Chinese river basin management; • Export Australian Rubicon channel control system to China; • Improve Australian scientists to access to Chinese funding.

15. Lessons: adapting to changes • Wider project objectives; • More flexible team; • Joint-activities; • Parallel and complementary projects.

16. Thanks