INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR ON ENVIRONMENTAL AND RESOURCES LAW

FUZHOU, CHINA 15-18 NOVEMBER, 2001 BY PROFESSOR LU ZHONGMEI AND MR YOU MINGQING (SOUTH CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS AND LAW, WUHAN, PRC) AND ALEX GARDNER (FACULTY OF LAW, THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA)

The sustainable management of major river systems is an issue of concern for both Australia and China. The purpose of this paper is to compare the legal framework for the management of the Yellow River in China with the Murray-Darling River Basin in Australia. These two rivers share the problems of an over-allocation of water to human uses (especially agriculture) and the degradation of the quality of the water (primarily from agricultural land use. There is also the problem that the rivers pass through more than one Province (in China) or State (in Australia), so that issues of interjurisdictional co-operation complicate the management of the whole catchment on an integrated basis. This paper will, firstly, describe the management problems that concern each of the rivers. It will then review the main legal principles that apply to the management of the two rivers in respect of the following points: l The institutional structure for making inter-provincial / inter-state decisions about water allocation and the protection of water quality; l The existing principles applied to decide the allocation of water between different Provinces / States; l The existing principles applied to protect water quality between different Provinces / States; and l A comparative analysis of the management regimes for the two rivers and some suggestions for the development of a model of legal principles for the sustainable management of inter-provincial / interstate rivers. THE MANAGEMENT PROBLEMS THE YELLOW RIVER [please describe the problems] THE MURRAY-DARLING BASIN The Murray-Darling Basin is the catchment of the Murray and Darling Rivers (and their tributaries), which extends over much of the inland area of south-eastern Australia from southern Queensland through New South Wales and Victoria to the “Murray mouth” in South Australia. There are more than 20 major rivers and a number of important groundwater systems in the Basin, which extends over more than one thousand square kilometres. A map of the Basin is in Attachment A. Aboriginal Australians have lived in the Basin for more than 50,000 years. In a little over 200 years, non-aboriginal settlement of the Basin has greatly changed the use of the land and water resources. Most of the land area of the Basin is heavily impacted by agriculture. At least half of the Basin’s native vegetation has been cleared. The total area of crops and pastures irrigated in the Basin is 1 472 241 hectares. This is 71.1% of the total area of irrigated crops and pastures in Australia (2 069 344 hectares). The area of the Basin generates about 40 percent of the national income derived from agriculture and grazing. Manufacturing industries in the Basin have a turnover of more than $10.75 billion. (Note, all these figures are based on 1992 estimates.) The rivers and groundwaters are important sources of fresh water for not only for agricultural production and industry, but also for domestic consumption. The rivers of the Basin provide domestic water for over three million people, more than one third of whom live outside the Basin, principally in Adelaide, the capital city of the State of South Australia. Environmental values of the Basin Problems of degradation: degradation of land and waters with salinity, loss of biodiversity, nutrient pollution caused by over allocation of water to human uses, changed patterns of flow, INSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURES FOR INTER-PROVINCIAL / INTER-STATE MANAGEMENT THE YELLOW RIVER THE MURRAY-DARLING RIVER BASIN PRINCIPLES FOR THE ALLOCATION OF WATER THE YELLOW RIVER THE MURRAY-DARLING RIVER BASIN PRINCIPLES FOR THE PROTECTION OF WATER QUALITY THE YELLOW RIVER THE MURRAY-DARLING RIVER BASIN A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS ATTACHMENT A THE MURRAY-DARLING BASIN Taken from Figure 1 The Murray-Darling Basin, Basin Statistics, http://www.mdbc.gov.au/naturalresources/basin_stats/statistics.htm ATTACHMENT B LAND USE IN THE MURRAY-DARLING BASIN Figure 1 Land use in the MDB (source based on MDBMC 1987) http://www.mdbc.gov.au/education/encyclopedia/Land_Use/Land_Use.htm