Response Mechanisams Of Chinese Agricultural Water Resources Management Under Climate Chang

As representatives of government, the academic and reseach communities, andinternational development institutions, we share the same objectives: improvement of thelives of people and quality of the environment. There are few issues that have greater impacton our lives and the life of the planet than the management of our most important naturalresource-water. After decades of water waste, water pollution and inability to provide basicwater services to the poor, we must fundamentally change the way we think about andmanage water. We also have a new appreciation for how little freshwater there is on earth.Water is critically scarce in many places. Issues of scarcity have placed water at the top of theinternational political agenda. While we have a renewed appreciation for the multifunctionalrole of water in our lives, we are also more aware of our failure to properly manage theresources.Our water policies and management practices are not sustainable from anyperspective-social, economic, or environmental. There is a multitude of problems, but they areall part of four principal failures: First, most places refuse to treat water as an economic good.Second, we rely too much on government to collect, treat, distribute, and dispose of water.Third, management of water is fragmented between sectors and institutions, with little regardfor conflicts or complementarities between social, economic and environmental objectives.Fourth, health and environmental concerns are badly neglected. Agricultural output andproductivity are also declining because of environmental degradation resulting from poordrainage and irrigation practices.New stresses require a new approach. Population pressure will increase the demand forfood, while climate change putting further pressure on water supplies. The problem is that it isbecoming increasingly difficult to sustain irrigation expansion. The performance of irrigatedsystems has also generally been below expectations, producing low economic and financialreturns and discouraging investment. Clearly, we cannot continue along our current path toresponse climate change.The challenges are daunting. However, our successes and failures during the last decadeshave taught us enough to be confident about the direction we should take. We can identify four overaching lessons:1. Water must fit squarely into a long-term vision for nationaldevelopment.2. Water must be managed comprehensively.3. Decentralization and greaterstakeholder participation are essential for proper water management.4. Markets and pricesimprove the allocation of water among competing users.5. While China as a developingcountry, which has great potentialities of strengthening carbon sinks and has significantimpact on water cycle, ought to conduct tecological preservation and develop hydrauliccapacity in order to strengthen and foster the remedial functions of natural carbon cycle andwater cycle against greenhouse effect.The lessons of collective experience compel us to make a decisive break from pastpolicies to embrace a new approach that is comprehensive, market-oriented, participatory, andenvironmentally sustainable. This approach is consistent with the consensus that has emergedin Agenda21.