The Chinese Way of Water Management: legislative and institutional framework

Abstract

Unprecedented economic development gave rise to a severe water crisis, in which scarcity and pollution concur to undermine China's economy, food safety and the health of the people and the environment. Chinese legislators have worked strenously to set up a framework for water resources management: their efforts will be analysed in this paper, considering each of the main laws for the regulation of water resources,and the enforcement problems derived both by the laws and the institutions. The institutional set-up in force until 2018 will be presented and will serve as a benchmark for the analysis of the new institutional framework that resulted from the State Council reforms of 2018.