The Adaptability Of The Water Law Under The Background Of Climate Change

In2010, the UN-water Policy Brief explicitly pointed out that the water plays avital role in the climate change adaptation process. Accordingly, adaptive water legalsystem has become an important part of the adaptive legal system for climate change.This thesis is intended to take the climate change adaptation as the starting point,extensively discuss the adaptability of the water law, not only study the constructionof the adaptive water law system from the perspective of climate change whichfocuses on the vulnerability and is adaptability-construction oriented, but also try todiscuss the challenge and legislative demands from the adaptive water management,water risk management and integrated water management, and the possibility of thewater law responses and adapts to those problems effectively which are from the pointof water governance reform and based on the theory of uncertainty and complexity.The thesis is divided into four chapters, the main content are followed:Chapter1justifies the notion of adaptive law. Through tracing how theadaptation evolutes from climate change strategy to the international legal system, ithas been proved that adaptation has become a formal legal problem and the adaptivelaw has become an independent law section with clear connotation and primaryframework. In the international law level, the thesis summarizes the adaptationclauses in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, theadaptive action out of the Convention and the adaptive institutional process after theConvention. It also defines the concept of the adaptive law in domestic law systemand the important position of the water law in that system.Chapter2defines the conception of adaptive water law. Based on thetechnological report of the IPCC, Climate Change and Water, it demonstrates theimpact on water and the challenge the water management facing caused by theclimate change, as well as the response strategy of the water management. Threetheoretical solutions for the water law adapting to climate change have been reviewed,including Emergency mode, Centralization mode and Systemaltization mode.Through analyzing the evolution of the theory of climate change adaptation and thegeneral strategy for uncertainty, the vulnerability is defined as the core of the theory of climate change adaptation and based on the vulnerability concern, the view hasbeen put forward that the adaptive water legislation should take the adaptabilityconstruction as its goal.Chapter3analyzes the transformation of water governance beyond theconsideration of climate change. Via the theoretical interpreting on adaptive watermanagement, water risk management and integrated water management, as well as theinterpreting on the adaptive management by Environmental Pragmatism, differentsolutions for uncertainty and complexity, and legislative demands for water law bydifferent management ideas have been formulated. Its perspective has been turnedfrom sole nature science to the combination with social science.Chapter4further interprets the adaptability of water law from the perspective ofthe transformation of the water governace. The adaptive challenge from thetransformation of the water governace to the water law has been analyzed. Based onthe theory of the adaptability of law, the special adaptability of water law has beendescribed and the adaptability of law itself has been expanded. It has been proved thatthe adaptability of water law not only refer to the water law adapting to thetransformation of water governance, but also refer to the adating to the climate changeadaptation. Taking the China as an example, the thesis also makes a case study and anempirical analysis on the adaptability of the water law, and finally, it defines thelimitation of the water law adaptability with the theory of Complex Adaptive Systemand Open Complex Giant System.