IWRA Proceedings

AbstractChina's water governance mainly depends on the government. To some extent, this leads to insufficient public awareness of the value of water though the public participation is actually very important to the effective management of this common pool resource. To attract the public to participate in water governance, it is necessary to let the public have a correct understanding of the value of water first. This research attempts to analyze and refine the way to realize the value of water ecological products, explore the new path of water governance, and provide support for policy innovation and system innovation for competent authorities. It is expected that through value realization of water ecological products, the whole society will pay more attention to the value of water and consciously reject improper behaviors and habits for water using and take the initiative to assume the responsibility of management and supervision. It is also expected to attract the active participation of the market as it find that water ecological products can bring them economic benefits. Therefore, water governance mode can be gradually shifted from government-oriented to the mode of joint participation of government, market and the public, so as to meet the requirements of high-quality development of economy and sustainable development of human being. The research will take Pujiang, a county of Zhejiang Province as a case for empirical study, attempt to make classification of water ecological products based on their different functions, analyze the relationship between water regime and different beneficiaries and its benefits, seek a relatively scientific accounting method for water ecological products with different functions and reflect its value in the form of monetization, so that the public can more intuitively recognize the value of water. Besides, the research will pay more attention to the will of the public and try to reflect it in the process of policy formulation. Based on empirical study, further exploration on the institutional construction such as ecological compensation, water rights trading, value conversion will be conducted. Relevant ideas, practices and experiences are expected to be used for reference by other watersheds or regions and to be explored more in combination with local realities and put the key elements of water ecological products future water planning, so as to establish an open, fair and transparent water governance system.