Rebuilding water rights system from the perspective of usufruct

As the source of life,water is indispensable to human beings.Being aware of the water stress imposed by population growth,climate change,rapid urbanization,pollution,many scholars and decision makers argue that the establishment of water rights and their system is the primary measure to tackle the water crisis problem.However,no consensus has been reached regarding the definition,nature and content of water rights both practically and academically.By examining the existing theories regarding water rights,this article tries to redefine the entitlements from the aspect of civil law.Meanwhile,it provides a system which classifies various rights by the four functions of usufruct.

Defect and Innovation of Water Rights System

The rare deposition of water resources conflicts with its limitless demand. This determined the existence of the water rights transaction system. The implementation of the water rights transaction system requires clarifying the definition of water resource right above all distinctly. At present, it is a kind of common right system arrangement which needs the Chinese government to dispose of water resources. Though a series of management systems guaranteed the government＇s supply of water resource, it hindered the development of the water market seriously and caused the utilization of water resources to stay in the inefficient or low efficient state for a long time. Thus, we should change the government＇s leading role in the resource distribution and really rely on the market to carry on the water rights trade and transaction. In this way, the water rights could become a kind of private property right relatively, and circulate freely in the market. As a result of this, we should overcome the defects of common right, make its external performance internalized maximally and achieve the optimized water resource disposition and use it more effectively.

Comparative Study on Collective Forest Tenure Reform and Water Rights System Reform in China

Collective forest tenure reform and water rights system reform are two types of resource system reform initiated by the Chinese government since the implementation of the reform and opening policy of the 1980 s.Forest tenure reform has been completed and water rights system reform is ongoing.This study analyzes key points and problems with collective forest tenure reform and summarizes four typical successful reform measures and lessons that will have implications for the developing water rights system：the collective forest-cutting quota system,collective forest tenure compensation,collective forest tenure confirmation,and collective forest tenure trading center.A flexible water permission index,compensation measures in water rights trade,water rights approval,and various forms of water rights trading platforms are proposed as reform measures.This study fills a gap in comparative studies between two important resource system reforms in China and provides a reference for further reform and development of water rights systems locally and abroad.

Study on the Changes of China's Water Right System

Irrigation was developed in ancient China.The management of water resources has existed since ancient times when the embryonic form of water right system was established.From perspectives of environmental law,the water rights system in ancient China,especially the water rights system after Ming Dynasty,gave no explicit concept to water rights,but the participatory management of water users was included in implementation.Such management had the same connotation with the modern concept of water rights and thereby it has an instructional significance to perfect the water rights system of in modern China.

Principal-subordinate hierarchical multi-objective programming model of initial water rights allocation

The principal-subordinate hierarchical multi-objective programming model of initial water rights allocation was developed based on the principle of coordinated and sustainable development of different regions and water sectors within a basin. With the precondition of strictly controlling maximum emissions rights, initial water rights were allocated between the first and the second levels of the hierarchy in order to promote fair and coordinated development across different regions of the basin and coordinated and efficient water use across different water sectors, realize the maximum comprehensive benefits to the basin, promote the unity of quantity and quality of initial water rights allocation, and eliminate water conflict across different regions and water sectors. According to interactive decision-making theory, a principal-subordinate hierarchical interactive iterative algorithm based on the satisfaction degree was developed and used to solve the initial water rights allocation model. A case study verified the validity of the model.

Study on the Definition and Allocation of the Rights to Water Utilization in the Ecological Environment

With the rapid development of population and economy, the conflict between the supply and demand of water resources is becoming outstanding increasingly, In China, many people concern about the problems of ecological environment water expenditure.However, owning to the shortage of water resources and indefinite water rights, “the hustle effect” of per capita water resource is appeared, Moreover. it caused a series of environment problems. This article differentiates and analyzes the relevant concepts about the ecological enviromnent, and puts forward the defined concept of the rights to the ecological environment water utilization. In addition, it points out the characteristic of those rights, and does elementary study on the allocation principle, methods, and steps on the rights.

Optioning Water Rights:A Potential Alternative to the Hanjiang-Weihe River Water Transfer Project,China

China has started shifting from relying on supply management to demand management strategy in addressing its water shortage problems.Water option,a financial derivative for water commodity,has been utilized to manage water demands in the United States and Europe since the 1990 s but is still novel to China.In this study we analyzed the pros and cons of China’s existing system for water rights transfers and proposed an alternative,flexible trading instrument-water options for China.Incorporating the uncertainty to water option pricing,this study first conducted an empirical analysis of the water option in the water-receiving area of the Hanjiang-Weihe River Transfer Project of China,and then evaluated the benefits of the water option applications.Results show that water option trading can bring water cost saving and increase the potential industrially added value for industrial enterprises in the receiving area,and trading of short-and-medium term water options is more favorable than the long-term water options trading.The novel water option trading proposed in this study,once verified through pilot studies,will be helpful in addressing water shortage problems in China.

A study of benef its compensation mechanism for agricultural water rights trading under the restriction of ecological reconstruction:a case study of Shiyang River basin

Agricultural water allocation system based on priority rights has caused regional conflicts and downstream ecological degradation. It is the urgent need to introduce the concept of the initial water rights and establish benefits compensation mechanism to resolve such problems. This paper takes the Shiyang River basin as an example to calculate the opportunity cost of 0.97×10^8 m^3 of agricultural water encroached by the middle reach based on initial water right allocation system under which water is allocated in accordance with the ratio between agricultural population of two different regions concerning the downstream ecological reconstruction needs with Bio-economic model （BEM）. The results suggest that the total economic loss of Minqin County for ecological reconstruction amounts to 2.5 7×10^8 yuan, of which 1.68×10^8 yuan is ecological compensation, representing the economic loss Minqin suffered for ecological reconstruction which shouM burden beneficial groups of ecological reconstruction and 0.89 ×10^8 yuan is the economic loss Minqin suffered due to Liangzhou＇s encroachment behavior which should be compensated by Liangzhou.

Problems and Development Countermeasures of Agricultural Water-Saving Irrigation

Agriculture is the biggest water user in China,and the development of agricultural water-saving has great significance to the national economy and social development. In this paper,the present situation of water used in agriculture irrigation and water-saving potential were analyzed,and the ＂ bottleneck＂ and main problems existing in water-saving irrigation in China were discussed. From the aspects of engineering investment channels,agricultural water-saving policies and management system,reform of agricultural water price and water right transfer,improvement of farmers＇ water-saving consciousness,and promotion of rural land transfer,suggestions were proposed for the development of China＇s agricultural water-saving in future,which will provide a technical support for the sustainable use of agricultural water resources in China.

On the Duty of the Government to Safeguard the Right to Water

The right to water is an emerging sort of human rights aiming to protect the right to water indispensable for the survival and development of individuals. From the perspective of International Human Rights Law, the paper analyzes the standards stipulating the international obligations to safeguard the right to water, inspects the state quo of the protection of the right to water in China and demonstrates the lawful suggestions to safeguard the right to water.

Toward a socio-political approach to water management: successes and limitations of IWRM programs in rural northwestern China

In rural north-western China,the tension between economic growth and ecological crises demonstrates the limitations of dominant top-down approaches to water management.In the 1990s,the Chinese government adopted the Integrated Water Resources Management(IWRM)approach to combat the degradation of water and ecological systems throughout its rural regions.While the approach has had some success at reducing desertification,water shortage,and ecological deterioration,there are important limitations and obstacles that continue to impede optimum outcomes in water management.As the current IWRM approach is instituted through a top-down centralized bureaucratic structure,it often fails to address the socio-political context in which water management is embedded and therefore lacks a complete treatment of how power is embedded in the bureaucracy and how it articulates through economic growth imperatives set by the Chinese state.The approach has relied on infrastructure heavy and technocratic solutions to govern water demand,which has worked to undermine the focus on integration and public participation.Finally,the historical process through which water management mechanisms have been instituted are fraught with bureaucratic fragmentation and processes of centralization that work against some of its primary goals such as reducing uncertainty and risk in water management systems.This article reveals the historical,social,political,and economic processes behind these shortcomings in water management in rural northwestern China by focusing on the limitations of a top-down approach that rely on infrastructure,technology,and quantification,and thereby advances a more holistic,socio-political perspective for water management that considers the state-society dynamics inherent in water governance in rural China.

Causes of Sandstorm Disaster and Strategies against Desertification——A Case Study of Hexi Corridor in Northwest China

This case study outlines the problems faced by the peoples of the Hexi Corridor. These problems are serious and urgent, and are representative of those faced by other communities right across western China. The root causes are outlined and some remedies are suggested. The practical measures proposed under China's National Action Plan to Combat Desertification are described and discussed.