Speech at the Opening Ceremony of the 19th International Congress of the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID) and the 56th International Executive Council Meeting (IEC)

H.E. Mr. Wang Shucheng    Minister of Water Resources, P. R. China
(September 15th, 2005)

  His Excellency Vice Premier Hui Liangyu, His Excellency Mr. Keizrul bin Abdullah, President of ICID, His Excellency Mr. Gopalakrishnan, Secretary General of ICID, Ladies and Gentlemen,

  Today, the 19th International Congress of the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID) and the 56th International Executive Council Meeting (IEC) of ICID are grandly inaugurated.  First of all, on behalf of the PRC Ministry of Water Resources and the Organizing Committee of the Congress, I would like to extend a warm welcome to all the guests, experts and friends present here.

   To ensure food security and sustainable economic and social development through sustainable use of water and soil resources is a pressing task that all governments and the international society are confronted with, and an important strategic issue to the developing countries in particular.  I am delighted to exchange with friends from the international irrigation and drainage community about the challenges that China faces in making sustainable use of water and soil resources, our philosophy in response to such challenges and our approaches and experiences thereof.

  I would like to talk about three aspects.

  I. Water conservancy in China plays an essential role in ensuring food security and sustainable socioeconomic development.

  China is a county of a large population, limited arable land and frequent occurrence of floods and draughts.  The particular Chinese climatic, geographic and social conditions determine that promotion of water conservancy and elimination of water hazards have always been a major issue for good governance and social stability in China.  Over the recent 5 decades, water conservancy in China has attracted high attention and achieved rapid development, as a result of which a fairly complete system for disaster mitigation and insurance through water conservancy has taken shape.  By the end of 2004, China had constructed 277,000km river dikes; 85,000 reservoirs with annual water-supply capacity of 600billion m3; total irrigation area had reached 56.25million ha; 21.20million ha of waterlogged area and 920,000 km2 of soil eroded area had been brought under control.  All these have provided basic assurance for development of the national economy, well being of the people and improvement of the eco-environment.  At the same time, China has realized the historical transformation from long-term shortage of agricultural produce such as grain to basic balance of aggregates and surplus in harvest years thanks to upgraded grain productivity and substantial growth in grain output.  China has ensured grain security and rapid economic development with only about 1/3 of the world average per capita arable land and less than 1/3 of the world average per capita water resources.  Such achievement is attributable to a substantial extent to the assurance role played by water conservancy.

  With socioeconomic development and population growth plus changes in natural conditions, China faces severe challenges in the field of water resources.

  (1) Floods and draughts still occur frequently and exhibit an intensifying trend

  The distribution of water resources in China is uneven both temporally and spatially and fails to match the distribution pattern of land resources, i.e., abundant water but shortage of land in the south as compared to limited water but plenty of land in the north.  Half of the arable land in China lies in arid and semi-arid areas of water shortage while about 1/3 of the arable land is situated in the middle and lower reaches of major rivers exposed to flood threat.  Natural disasters resulting from draughts, floods and logging are natural calamities that cause the heaviest losses in China.  Due to causes such as climatic changes, floods and draughts in China are intensifying.  In the 1970s, about 11million ha farmland in China suffered from draught annually, which figure grew to over 20million ha in the 1980s-90s and further went up to over 33million ha over the recent 5 years.  Decline in grain output due to draughts has taken up about 5% of national average grain output for the same period.  For the 51 years between 1950 and 2000, annual average area of Chinese farmland affected by floods and logging was 9.37million ha and rose to 15.90million ha during the decade of 1990-2000.  Decline in grain output due to floods took up about 3% of national average grain output for the same period.

  (2) Land for agriculture is reduced while shortage of water for agricultural consumption is intensified.
  Urbanization and socioeconomic development have led to occupation of large amount of land and a sharp rise in the demand for non-agricultural irrigation consumption of water.  The conflicts between agricultural and industrial water consumption, rural and urban water consumption, production and domestic water consumption, production and ecological water consumption are further intensified.  Although China has taken the strictest measures for protection of arable land, large quantities of farmland and headwater for agricultural irrigation are occupied by cities and industries.  While it is difficult to reserve the trend of declining arable land resources, the pressure of water shortage is further increased.  For over 20 years from 1980 to 2004, China achieved rapid economic development, in parallel to which, national aggregate water consumption increased by 25%.  There was, however, basically no increase in aggregate water consumption for agricultural purpose, but a continuous decline in the proportion of agricultural water consumption in aggregate water consumption, i.e., going down from 88% in 1980 to 66% in 2004.

  (3) Soil erosion in China is not effectively controlled; the ecology is still fragile.

  Numerous mountains and hills plus monsoon storms make China very liable to soil erosion.  At the same time, irrational development and utilization of water and soil resources have intensified soil erosion.  At the moment, a total area of 3.56million km2 in China suffers from soil erosion, taking up 37% of the national territory with annual soil eroded reaching 5billion tons.  Severe soil erosion has led to land degradation, ecological deterioration and sedimentation in lakes and river courses and intensified floods and logging at lower reaches of rivers.  Draughts and excessive grazing have resulted in grassland degradation and desertification.

  (4) Drastic increase in pollution load worsens pollution of the water body.
 
  In 2003, total emission of wastewater nationwide reached 68billion tons, more than doubling the amount in 1980.  With large quantity of industrial and domestic wastewater directly discharged into water without any disposal plus extensive use of fertilizers and pesticides in agricultural production, some water bodes are heavily polluted.  Water pollution has not only intensified shortage of usable water resources for irrigation and placed a severe constraint on water consumption for grain production but also directly impacted safety of drinking water, grain production and crops, resulting in enormous economic losses.

  (5) Rural infrastructure for water conservancy needs to be improved.
 
  No irrigation facility is available at about 55% of the arable land in China while over 300million rural population has no access to safe drinking water.  More than 1/3 of the national irrigated area only yields low to medium outputs.  Most of the existing irrigation and drainage projects were built in the 1950s and 1960s.  Constrained by the economic and technological conditions prevailing at that time, some irrigation and drainage projects were of low standards and incomplete matching facilities.  After operation for decades, many projects are inefficient in water use efficiency for irrigation purpose due to severe obsolescence and declining returns.  As such, China has much potential to tap into in terms of saving water and upgrading grain productivity of the land.

  II. uphold the scientific development concept and respond to challenges that China faces in the field of water resources with the philosophy of harmonious co-existence between man and nature

  China has a long history of water training.  The beginning of the Chinese civilization can be traced back to the origin of  irrigation and flood control.  Water-training practice for thousands of years has enabled us to accumulate rich experiences.  Over the recent years in particular, in face with the challenging situation of water resources, China has summarized historical experiences and lessons.  Highlighting all these and through the Chinese practice of responding to the catastrophic flood along the Yangtze River in 1998, the dry-off of the Yellow River, invasion of sandstorm in North China and pollution of rivers, at the end of 1999 the PRC Ministry of Water Resources put forward the philosophy of harmonious co-existence between man and nature and advocated ongoing improvement of the philosophy by the water sector in its water training.

  Adherence to the water-training philosophy of harmonious co-existence between man and nature means that we need to change our previous thinking that “Man will surely conquer nature”, that we need to respect the rule of nature, that we need to make rational use of and protect water resources in line with requirements of sustainable development, that we need to preserve a coordinated and balanced relationship between man and nature to achieve harmonious development between mankind, resources, the environment, the economy and the society and that we may not seek short-term development by sacrificing the conditions of later generations for development.  In this aspect, I will talk about four main issues.

  (1) Promote the construction of a water-saving society on all fronts and upgrade water use efficiency and effectiveness
  Construction of a water-saving society is the most fundamental and effective strategic measure for China to address its problems of draught and water shortage and mitigate the conflict between water demand and supply.  By constructing a water-saving society, China will upgrade its resource use efficiency, improve its eco-environment, enhance its capability for sustainable development and push the entire society towards the civil development path that features better production development, affluent life for the people and a sound ecology.

  The construction of a water-saving society reforms production relationship and is both a type of institutional development and a profound revolution.  Carrying capacity of water resources is an objective existence in a region or a river basin.  We need to tailor our action to the specific situation of water resources, i.e., formulate plans and adjust economic structures and development mode in a scientific manner according to specific position of water resources in a region with consideration given to the overall interests.  We need to develop and reform our management systems so that we can establish a management system for water resources that is based on water right and water market theory, clarify initial water right, define the “macro-control targets” and “micro quota targets” for water resources, determine region-specific, sector-specific, department-specific and unit-specific targets of water use right, fix scientific quota for water consumption by the manufacturing or service sector, create a water-saving mechanism focusing on economic means, upgrade water use efficiency and effectiveness and promote coordinated development of the economy, resources and the environment.   At the same time, we need to exert great efforts to set up organizations such as associations of water users and water use cooperatives so that we can absorb farmers to participate in water management. 

  Over the recent years, China has achieved continuous progress in constructing a water-saving society, improved water use management, initiated efforts to promote the control of aggregate water consumption and quota management system nationwide and enhanced water-resource demonstration of water taking and water consumption related to construction projects and management of water taking licensing.  Repetitive use rate of water consumed for industrial purpose has risen by 7% during the recent five years.  Pilot projects for constructing a water-saving society as represented by the one in Zhangye of Gansu Province have achieved remarkable results.

  Agriculture is a major water user.  Vigorous extension of water-saving irrigation is the fundamental way out for addressing the issue of agricultural water consumption.  In a fairly long time to come, the Chinese population will continue to grow, as a result of which the demand for grain will also increase.  Our objective is to prevent aggregate agricultural water consumption from further increasing and ensure that water demand for grain security will be satisfied through agricultural water saving and enhancement of water use efficiency.  For this purpose, we have furthered our efforts in development of irrigation areas and water-saving renovations.  At the moment, agricultural water-saving irrigation area in China has reached 20.35million ha, 36% of national effective irrigation area.  Water use efficiency for agricultural irrigation has been upgraded by about 10% over the past decade.  Despite the fact that aggregate agricultural water consumption remaining almost unchanged for the recent two decades, grain production in China has achieved fairly rapid development thanks to improved water use efficiency.

  (2) Provide a way out for floods and achieve harmonious co-existence between man and flood

  It is neither possible nor necessary for human beings to control floods of all severities.  The only viable option is to control flood risk within certain extent through project development and institutional arrangement.  In terms of attributes, floods are both natural and social.  Both attributes are fundamental to the definition of disaster; the lack of either fails such a definition.  With regard to floods, we have many experiences and lessons, the most important of which is to provide a way out for floods.
  Because of this, providing a way out for floods shall not only be incorporated into the period of flood fighting, but also become guiding principles for the entire flood-control task.  As such, we shall attach high attention to this particular issue in socioeconomic development. In this end, we need to regulate socioeconomic activities of human beings so that they will cater to the rules of flood development.  Human activities should provide more freedom for flood detention and storage instead of occupying space for flood so that we can reduce or avoid social drives for occurrence of flood disasters, promote benefits and avoid damages.  For instance, in urban planning, attention should be paid to providing certain extra width for the river course instead of squeezing into the flood-releasing river course so as to avoid adverse consequences resulting from human constraints on the river course.  In flood prevention, we should reinforce the application and management of flood diversion and storage areas for rational and scientific diversion and storage of floods.  In our attitudes towards floods, we should regard floods as resources and make use of floods by all possible means.

  China embodies this philosophy in its post-flood re-construction along the Yangtze River.  In 1998, an exceptionally catastrophic flood hit the Yangtze River Basin, causing heavy losses. In the post-disaster re-construction along the Yangtze River, we upheld the principle of harmonious co-existence between man and nature, and gradually transformed from disorderly and unconstrained competition between man and water for land to orderly and sustainable harmony between man and flood.  For this purpose, while constructing the Three Gorges Water Control Project, the Chinese government has invested dozens of billions of Yuan in large-scale construction of integrated flood-control systems along the Yangtze River since 1998.  The priority is to reinforce dike and control project development, actively implement programs such as “farmland for lakes (rivers)”, “grain for green”, dredging of rivers and lakes and township development for relocated population.  After over 4 years’ efforts, thousands of trunk dikes at the middle and lower reaches have basically satisfied set criteria; “farmland for lakes (rivers)” programs have relocated nearly 2.42million people to the nearest locations and recovered water surface of 2,900km2 and increased flood detention and storage volume by 13billion m3.  This is the first time throughout the several thousand year Chinese history that China took the initiative to transform from lake enclosure for land creation and competition between man and nature to large-scale return of farmland to lakes and providing a way out for floods.  When a major flood hit the middle reach of the Yangtze and the Dongting Lake District in 2002, both the river and lake remained sound and intact.

  （3）Fully rely on the self-recovery capability of Nature, enhance prevention and control of soil erosion and protect water and soil resources

  It is imperative for us to fully rely on the self-recovery capability of Nature to address serious soil erosion in China.  Adoption of measures such as “grain for green” and enclosure of mountains to ban grazing and lumbering provides Nature with the opportunity to rehabilitate and enables human beings to protect water and soil resources.  At the same time, human control efforts are requisite for creation of conditions for self-recovery of Nature. 

  Over the recent years, China has enhanced its prevention and control of soil erosion and adopted a series of measures to recover the ecology and protect the environment.  Every year, China implements enclosure, cultivation and protection measures such as “grain for trees (grass)”, enclosure of mountains for cultivation of forests and prohibition of grazing for the over 100,000km2 eco-fragile areas that suffer from soil erosion.  Each year, over 50,000km2 of soil eroded area is brought under control through human efforts.  In order to address issues including grain sufficiency, economic development and poverty eradication for the population in eco-restored areas and to create the necessary conditions for natural rehabilitation, China has built polder dams at the severely soil eroded areas at the middle reach of the Yellow River to intercept sediment, warp the land for grain growing and develop local economy.  Furthermore, China has made vigorous efforts to improve water conservancy in grazing areas, develop irrigated land for growing of fodder grass and practice prohibition of grazing as well as rotation and fallow grazing in natural grassland to protect and restore such grassland.  In mountains that are rich in water resources, China has actively developed hydropower so that farmers with access to energy will reduce the lumbering of forests.  At the lower reaches of Talimu River and Hei River that suffer from severe ecological deterioration, water transfer and replenishment have been carried out to restore the ecology.  These efforts have led to positive results.  While reinforcing our confidence in achieving economic development and eco-environment improvement, such efforts have also consolidated the foundation for ensuring grain security in China.

  (4) Develop a green economy and carry out strict management of pollution discharge right to prevent and control water pollution in China

  With regard to the entire layout of the economic structure and the course of economic development, from the perspective of macroscopic management we need to attach great importance to developing a green economy and restricting the development of those industries that feature high water consumption, high land consumption, high energy consumption and heavy pollution.  Only by developing a green economy may China solve its water pollution from the root causes.

  Carrying capacity of the water environment is an objective existence in certain areas and water bodies.  Management of such carrying capacity is reflected in the management of pollution discharge right in a concentrated manner.  Just as a water-saving society means a whole set of systems established on the basis of water right and water market theory, management of pollution discharge right should also set up two set of targets, namely, macro control targets and micro quota targets, practice paid transfer of and trade in pollution discharge right, carry out strict management of such right and protect water resources. 

  At the moment, China is gradually constructing a management system for water function zones.  By dividing water bodies into different functional zones, defining pollution absorption capacity of different water areas and restricting aggregate emissions, China will reinforce management of outlets that discharge pollution into rivers and enhance the control over sources of pollution.  In particular, China attaches high attention to protection of headwater for drinking water and ensure safety of drinking water for the general public.

  III. Develop integrated planning and take all aspects into overall consideration for step-by-step solution to Chinese problems related to water resources

  This year is the last year for China to execute its 10th Five-year Plan.  Next year, China will implement the 11th Five-year Plan that extends from 2006 to 2010.  The period of the 11th Five-year Plan will be the critical period for China to construct a well-off society on all fronts and improve its socialist market economy mechanism.  Success in water conservancy during this period will be of great significance to ensuring safety of water supply, safety of flood control, grain security and safety of water eco-environment in China.

  During the 11th Five-year Plan period, in our water conservancy work, we will continue to uphold the scientific development concept, focus on the goal of constructing a well-off society on all fronts, regard the realization of harmony between man and nature as the core philosophy, adhere to the principles of all-round planning, overall consideration, addressing problems by looking at both symptoms and root causes and implementing integrated control measures, and endeavor to solve problems that are related to water resources.  With all these, we will provide the Chinese efforts to construct a well-off society on all fronts with powerful support and assurance from the perspective of water conservancy. 

  By 2010, major objectives and tasks of water conservancy development will cover the following major aspects.

  (1) Allocation and assurance of water resources
  Regarding the construction of a water-saving society as the foundation, we will reinforce institutional development and construction of water-resource allocation projects and take a step-by-step approach to set up a management system that combines control of aggregate water consumption with quota management.  We will regard solution to safety of drinking water as the primary task of water conservancy.  Our specific targets include 98% of urban residents accessing water supply, 60% of rural residents accessing tap water supply, and 80million rural population enjoying access to safe drinking water.  The first phase of the Eastern and Middle Route of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project will be completed, which will effectively mitigate water shortage in Beijing, Tianjin as well as medium to large cities in North China and the Shandong Peninsular. 

  (2) Flood control and disaster mitigation
  Priorities will be placed on improving deficiencies in flood control systems such as reinforcing construction of flood detention and storage areas and ensuring normal operation of frequently used flood detention and storage areas.  Meanwhile, river courses, lakes, key water projects and flood detention and storage areas will be arranged in a scientific manner so as to continuously improve integrated flood control systems and make rational use of rain and flood resources.  We will ensure that important trunks and tributaries of major rivers nationwide will be placed under basic control, and that integrated flood control systems will be developed for major rivers in combination with reservoir construction along such trunks and tributaries.

  (3) Develop water conservancy in rural China
  We will reinforce the development of water-conservancy infrastructure in rural China and upgrade integrated grain production capacity.  We will increase water-saving irrigation area by 10million ha through project development and basically complete continuation, supplementation and water-saving renovation of backbone projects in key large-scale irrigation areas in existing major grain production bases.  At the same time, we will upgrade the coefficient for effective use of irrigation water nationwide to 0.50 and basically realize zero increase in national aggregate water consumption for irrigation purpose.  For major grain production bases, their capacity of draining waterlogged areas should be able to cope with loggings of 3-5 year return.  We will also protect and restore 10million ha of natural grassland ecology and increase installed hydropower capacity in rural China by 21million KW.

  (4) Protection of water resources and harnessing of the ecology
  Priorities include protection of headwater sites and rehabilitation/improvement of water-body functions.  Our aims are more than 65% of water function areas along major rivers and lakes nationwide and over 95% of major urban headwater sites will satisfy the concerned criteria of water quality.  In terms of fully realizing the self-recovery capacity of the ecology, we will realize eco-rehabilitation area of 500,000km2 and bring an additional soil-eroded area of 250,000km2 under control.  Furthermore, we will restore rivers that are ecologically fragile or suffer from severe ecological damages.

  To achieve the above objectives, we need to develop scientific plans and insure coordinated development of water conservancy, the environment, the economy and the society.  We need to increase input for reinforced development of infrastructure for water conservancy.  We need to establish and improve a legal framework for water to regulate various water activities.  We also need to stress upon scientific progress and technological innovation so as to push forward modernization of water conservancy through application of information technology.  We must emphasize and encourage public participation, mobilize all stakeholders and facilitate concerted efforts by the whole society.  Furthermore, we should also strengthen exchanges and cooperation with all other countries and relevant international organizations.  We have both the confidence and capability to address China’s water issues, ensure grain security in China and achieve sustainable development of the environment.

  Ladies and Gentlemen,
  China has long been engaged in sound cooperation with the ICID and many other international organizations in the field of irrigation, drainage and flood control.  Since joining the ICID in 1983, China has participated in all ICID activities with enthusiasm, carried out multiple cooperative research projects, boosted international cooperation and exchanges, reinforced Chinese understanding of the latest international progress in irrigation, drainage and flood control, learned advanced philosophies and technologies and promoted development of the water conservancy cause in China.  On behalf of the PRC Ministry of Water Resources, I would like to extend our sincere gratitude to all members of the ICID and related international organizations for their support and help to China.  We very much hope that in the future we will further strengthen our cooperation and exchanges in renovation of irrigation areas, development and protection of water resources, water and soil conservation and flood control.

  Finally, I would like to wish the congress a great success and all the delegates good health.

  Thank You!