Sub-theme
6. Innovation for Water Governance and Management
Topic
6-7. Role of national and international law
Body
China shares more than 110 transboundary rivers and lakes with 18 States, including 14 neighboring States and 4 States further downstream. A large proportion of these transboundary waters originate in China. Also, the length of water borders crossing shared rivers and lakes (7,300 kilometers) is about one-third of China's land border. China’s utilization of shared water resources on its territory is criticized as the hegemony of upstream states and easily causes discomfort in downstream States, in particular for rivers in southwest China. Indeed, over the past 70 decades, China has made gradual efforts to establish international and national water laws that regulate the utilization, development, protection, and management of transboundary waters. At the international level, China is not a party to either the UN Watercourse Convention or the UNECE Water Convention. Nevertheless, China’s practices in international water law are anchored in a number of water and water-related agreements concluded with riparian States including boundary agreements and transboundary water agreements. Based on these agreements, shared waters are utilized through, among other things, the construction of river bridges and water conservancy facilities, the establishment of common economic utilization zones, as well as shipping, fishing, and timber floating. At the national level, China’s national water law system applies to its transboundary waters in the broadest sense. In the meanwhile, specific rules have been legislated for the utilization of transboundary waters on China’s territory, including water resource dispatching, water abstraction, and construction projects. This article explores the extent to which the interplay between national and international water laws ensures the equitableness and reasonableness of China’s utilization of transboundary waters. To this end, this article analyses: 1) the meaning of the principle of equitable and reasonable utilization enshrined in China’s transboundary water agreements and boundary agreements and national water laws, taking into account the two global water conventions; 2) the ways in which China uses shared waters individually and/or jointly under national water laws and transboundary water agreements and boundary agreements; 3) the interface between national and international water management mechanisms established under national and international water laws respectively to apply the principle of equitable and reasonable utilization. In summary, China’s national water law and transboundary water agreements concluded by China form a unified and complementary legal system that regulates the utilization of transboundary waters shared by China. On this basis, national and international water management mechanisms coexist and complement each other in promoting equitable and reasonable utilization of shared waters.