River Basin Governance:IRBM in the European Union and

China(RiBaGo)

http://www.geog.cam.ac.uk/research/projects/ribago/

Co-Reach

River Basin Governance:IRBM in the EU and China (RiBaGo)

Aims

..to study European structures for water management, to help understand key water governance challenges and attempts to solve them. .. workshops and research will offer an interdisciplinary, international platform to integrate natural science knowledge and social science research in IBRM, focusing on public policy, regulatory frameworks, institutional change, distributional equity, sustainability, and social impact...to analyse drivers, constraints and processes of integration in river basin management in both the EU and China, by:

(i) exploring the history of IBRM in the EU through appraisal of its various interacting institutional strategies, its development of trans-boundary river basin institutions, and its relationship to scientific research needs;

(ii) assessing the need for IBRM in China, the constraints which limit the capacity to improve its water environment, and the potential for learning from the European experience and adapting it.

Co-Funding Developments

(i) UK Economic & Social Research CouncilInternational Training and Networking OpportunitiesEspecially Early Career Researchers

(ii) International Institute of Macau/Macau Foundation Support for involving additional Chinese participants

(iii) EU-China River Basin Management ProgrammeSupport for participation of Chinese and European water management practitioners (Simon Spooner)

(iv) Fundação Portuguesa para a Ciência e TecnologiaSupport for André Silveira to do research on the topic in between the workshops

Enabling an extension to length of project (to 30 months), and three full workshops of 35-45 participants, each with a mix of academics, practitioners, senior, PostDocs, graduate students.

Workshop 1

Macau-Guangzhou (Nov 2009)

General overview of river basin management institutionsHeld partly at IIM (Mr Rufino Ramos), partly at SunYatSen Univ (Professor Chen Xiaohong).Mainly based on presentations, with some participation in break-out groups.

Workshop 2

Cambridge (August 2010)

Focus on local-scale institutional partnerships in water managementCase study of the Fens of Eastern England (field trip and presentations by stakeholders)Similar mixture of participants and presentations, but greater emphasis on discussion.Some emphasis on research methods (ESRC).

Workshop 3

Beijing-Miyun-Zhengzhou(Aug-Sept 2011)

Focus on higher-level institutions – government departments, government-province interactions, role of river basin commissions.

Focus on “learning” processes

Also a focus on climate adaptation.

Field trips - to Miyun; watershed protection and water supply: and for some, thanks to the EU-China RBMP, to Zhengzhou and the Yellow River.

Other activities

ResearchGate WebsiteAll Workshop materials, other documents, discussion threadsOver 70 users

International Journal of River Basin ManagementMay be willing to publish a set of papers from the RiBaGo group; we will discuss these on Friday

Workshop at TU DelftOrganised by Sandra Junier, Eric MostertFocus on local-scale institutions in environment similar to the Fens

ESF Workshop on Water GovernanceClaudia Pahl-Wostl (University of Osnabrueck)Several contributions by RiBaGo participants.

1979

2006

Xiaolangdi Dam

Yellow River

Thank you!to IIM and Macau

Foundation for their support