China’s ‘old’ and ‘new’ Mekong River politics: the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation from a comparative benefit-sharing perspective

This article analyzes China’s Mekong River politics before and after the establishment of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) from a comparative benefit-sharing perspective. China’s pre-LMC approach focused too much on the creation of economic benefits from and beyond the river while neglecting ecological benefits to the river. Moreover, despite the problems this ‘old’ approach caused for China and its downstream neighbours, China’s current LMC strategy seems to essentially replicate its former approach. While sustainable water resources management is identified as a priority area, actual cooperation and benefit sharing in this field remain insufficient.     

Protection through property: from private to river-held rights

ABSTRACT

This article explores how private owners can protect bodies of water through private property rights. It compares the use of conventional property rights in the Netherlands and New Zealand with a novel approach whereby a New Zealand river owns itself.     

Exploring place attachment and visions of nature of water-based recreationists: the case of the longitudinal dams

This study concerns an innovative project in the Dutch river Waal: the construction of longitudinal dams. By splitting the river into a main and secondary channel, these dams significantly impact the river landscape and the way it is used by different stakeholders. We report the results of a baseline study of the expectations local water-based recreationists (fishermen and boaters) had of the longitudinal dams before they were constructed. In addition, we explore their levels of place attachment, and use the visions of nature approach to elicit their lay philosophy of nature. We found that fishermen were more strongly attached to the area than boaters. Though expectations of the dams were generally negative, this differed significantly between fishermen and boaters, and between different dimensions of landscape change. We demonstrate the relevance of place attachment and visions of nature for understanding how recreationists perceive landscape change.     

Short‐term effects in a reduced flow stretch: The case of the Antas River in South Brazil

The building of adduction channels (penstocks) that conduct water from reservoirs to turbines, which are located kilometres from the dam, is becoming common, optimizing the electricity generation in small dams. This design creates a river stretch with reduced discharge between the dam and the powerhouse. This study evaluates the short‐term impacts of the below‐dam decrease in river flow on fish assemblages. Samples were collected in the reduced flow stretch of the Castro Alves Hydropower Plant (Antas River, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil) before the reservoir started operating (January 2008; mean discharge of 103.7 m³/s) and immediately after operation began (March 2008; mean discharge of 12.4 m³/s). Sampling was conducted in distinct habitats of the reduced flow stretch (slow waters—gillnets, sand beaches—seining nets, structured littoral—electrofishing, and fast waters—cast nets) with a strongly standardized effort. The attributes of the fish assemblages were not negatively affected by the flow reduction in any habitat sampled. However, distinct changes in the spatial structure were observed considering the different types of habitat predominantly used by the species, which represents an entire reorganization of the fish assemblages in the short term. It is fundamental that these short‐term aspects be considered in the licensing of hydropower plants in addition to the long‐term changes.     

澜湄环境利益共同体模式的评价与选择研究

推进澜湄合作是构建周边命运共同体的具体实践，以“同饮一江水，命运紧相连”为主题的澜湄合作机制也为构建澜湄国家命运共同体提供了推进方向。环境问题是澜湄流域最为核心的问题之一，面向澜湄合作中的环境利益问题，文章结合共同体的理念，基于霍尔三维结构理论，总结出合作伙伴环境利益共同体模式、合作联盟环境利益共同体模式与一体化环境利益共同体模式的三种环境利益共同体模式，通过建立环境利益共同体模式的评价指标体系，利用网络层次分析法对澜湄环境利益共同体模式进行评价，选择适合澜沧江-湄公河的环境利益共同体模式。结果表明，在当前的澜湄现状下，以“澜湄六国通过开发流域资源发展本国经济而同时受到其他主体监督以保证不破坏澜沧江-湄公河的生态环境”为主要内容的合作联盟环境利益共同体模式更适合澜湄流域各国，这一模式可以有效解决流域各国经济与环境“两难重”的困境。     

扬子江城市群工业能源碳排放与经济增长脱钩水平及驱动因素

扬子江城市群地处长江经济带的下游重要门户地区，是江苏省“1+3”重点功能区发展的龙头引擎，打造扬子江城市群的绿色生态走廊对建设“强富美高”新江苏和落实长江大保护均具有重要战略意义。论文聚焦扬子江城市群工业能源碳排放脱钩及其驱动因素分析，研究得出：1）扬子江城市群整体工业碳排放量呈现波动上升的变化趋势，其中南京市和苏州市的碳排放增量明显大于其他城市；2）扬子江城市群工业能源碳排放脱钩大致经历了扩张连接、强脱钩以及弱脱钩3个阶段，整体上脱钩水平逐渐提高，但稳定性不高，各城市工业能源碳排放脱钩水平差异较大，但在逐步优化中；3）从驱动因素看，碳排放强度效应和能源强度效应对脱钩水平有促进作用，工业经济规模效应、区域经济比重和能源结构则相反。基于此，论文提出加强低碳城市试点建设、探索构建全域碳权交易市场、调整优化能源结构、推动科技创新等建议，以促进扬子江城市群工业建设高质量发展。     

红河流域径流演变分异及其特征

红河流域径流演变分异研究对于揭示流域径流的形成、演变规律及跨境水管理具有重要意义。选取红河流域9个代表站点,利用累积距平法、滑动t检验和Mann-Kendall-Sneyers法研究了红河流域的径流演变分异。结果表明,径流演变空间差异显著,各控制断面波动不一致;流域各站点(除大东勇站)均出现径流突变,但突变时间不一致,且越往下游,突变时间越晚;此外,各站点丰枯转化时段不一致。     

五大发展理念视角下的南流江流域综合管理研究

随着"创新、协调、绿色、开放、共享"五大发展理念的提出,广西壮族自治区在新时期对重要江河的流域管理方面有了新的要求。为了适应新的发展理念,以南流江流域为例,开展了流域综合管理方面的专项分析研究。研究发现,南流江流域存在着水文灾害多发、环境污染较严重、地下水超采、水土流失等一些自然问题以及法律法规不健全、流域管理机构单薄、规划不完善、忽视公众力量和缺乏新技术支撑等一些社会管理方面的问题,在这种背景下以前的流域管理模式显然已不再适用。因此,针对研究结果,基于五大发展理念,借鉴国外成功的经验并结合南流江流域的实际情况提出了一些相应的对策与建议,以提升流域的综合管理水平。