Bridging gaps between environmental flows theory and practices in China

Chen, Ang; Wu, Miao; Wu, Sai-nan; Sui, Xin; Wen, Jingya; Wang, Pengyuan; Cheng, Lin; Lanza, Guy R.; Liu, Chunna; Jia, Wan-lin

doi:10.1016/j.wse.2019.12.002

Cited by 35 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Second, for implementation to be effective, there needs to be processes to ensure agreements are being implemented transparently and implementers are accountable (Arthington 2012;Harwood et al 2018). Whereas political will to implement effectively can wane over time (Harwood et al 2018), well-crafted regulations can maintain accountability (Chen et al 2019). Accountability requires continual and secure funding for scientific guidance (Arthington 2012;Pahl-Wostl et al 2013;Harwood et al 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…From the early 1980s, there was increasing recognition of the importance of hydrological variability in sustaining ecosystem function and structure (Postel and Richter 2003). In the late 1980s to mid-1990s came recognition of the ecologically harmful impacts of hydrological alteration on water-dependent ecosystems, and the need to use e-flows to mitigate further damage (Poff et al 1997;Postel and Richter 2003;Arthington 2012;Poff and Matthews 2013;Chen et al 2019). In the late 1990s, this dynamic between hydrologic variability and ecosystem function was described by the Natural Flow Regime Paradigm, comprising five main components of flow, magnitude, frequency, duration, timing, and rate of change (Poff et al 1997).…”

Section: E-flow Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Snowy River environmental flows post-2002: lessons to be learnt

Bender

Pittock

Roberts³

2022

Mar. Freshw. Res.

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In 2002, the Australian, New South Wales and Victorian governments agreed to the Snowy Water Inquiry Outcomes Implementation Deed for environmental flows to (in part) restore the health of the Snowy River in south-eastern Australia. This was the first legally binding commitment to deliver annual environmental flows in Australia. Twenty years on, we assess this Deed and its implementation to derive lessons that can inform environmental flows agreements globally. Information from governance documents, flow release data and interviews with stakeholders are used to evaluate the effectiveness of the Deed. The target of 212 GL year −1 from 2012 has not once been reached. In turn, we find that implementation has been hindered by release of too little water, overly complex institutions that lack ownership and accountability, and no provision for review of the Deed. The lessons for effective environmental flow institutions are: (a) set clear, science-based environmental restoration objectives with stakeholders; (b) make roles and responsibilities for implementation clear; (c) enable independent and transparent monitoring, reporting and regulation; and (d) undertake periodic review to incorporate new knowledge, and to adapt to climatic and other unanticipated changes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: E-flow Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Snowy River environmental flows post-2002: lessons to be learnt

Bender

Pittock

Roberts³

2022

Mar. Freshw. Res.

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“…To improve the single threshold value applied in national e-flow management, four thresholds of the four dam classes should be determined in future research. E-flow regionalization and regional e-flow threshold values have been discussed, and the results were not good [55,56]. For further e-flow research in classified dams, the threshold value for each class should be discussed.…”

Section: Multi-threshold Value Determination Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Classifying Dams for Environmental Flow Implementation in China

Chen

McClain

2019

Sustainability

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The implementation of environmental flows is of the utmost importance for ecosystem protection and restoration in dammed rivers. A key challenge in optimizing dam regulation is the uncertainty of the ecohydrology relationship between flow release and ecological response. In the present paper, we develop a framework of dam classification to organize the categories of the ecohydrology relationship for implementing environmental flows. Dams are classified from three major categories that differ in dam properties, hydrological alteration, and downstream hydrobiological diversities based on the relationship of hydrology and ecology. Finally, 773 dams in China are screened and ranked into four classes involving a great diversity of environmental flow components. A classification of dams that utilizes the implementation of environmental flows is presented. (1) Class 1 includes dams with rare and endangered fish species in the downstream. It is the category with the highest priority for environmental flow releases and regulation, requiring continuous flow and flood pulse components for fish spawning and migration. (2) Class 2 includes dams with significant hydrological alteration in the downstream. It is the category with second priority for environmental flow releases and regulation, requiring natural hydrological regimes simulation or complete flow component recovery for optimizing the flow duration curve and mitigating adverse impacts of dam operation. (3) Class 3 includes dams with a high degree of regulation where there is urgency for environmental flow releases and regulation, requiring that minimum flow is guaranteed by cascade reservoir regulation. (4) Class 4 includes dams with a low degree of regulation where there is less urgency for environmental flow releases and regulation. This classification method is important for future research, including environmental flow release regulation and the effectiveness evaluation of environmental flow adaptive management. It will be useful for guiding the implementation of environmental flows.

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“…These studies provided feedback on the best water distribution schedule to protect ecological objectives, thus providing a rational basis for the recommendations of e-flows and allocation of water resources for different stakeholders. However, the influence of temporal and spatial discrepancies in the water allocation process has received little attention thus far, which may reduce the water distribution potential, especially in arid and semiarid areas [20]. Exploring these factors could help us to provide the best solutions for managing e-flows.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rethinking Environmental Flows for the Yellow River Estuary by Trading Off Crop Yield and Ecological Benefits

Pang

Zhao

et al. 2021

Agriculture

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To solve the water use conflicts between agriculture and ecosystems in arid and semiarid areas, a multi-objective trade-off analysis method was applied to determine the environmental flows (e-flows) for the Yellow River Estuary, by considering the temporal and spatial discrepancies in water allocation. The results showed that during average years, a loss of 3.7 × 108 yuan was caused with every 1 × 108 m3 of e-flows under the baseline scenario. The crop growth stages of April–July are sensitive periods for water requirements, and over 5000 yuan/ha production losses were caused by prioritizing e-flows during this time in dry years. The stages from July–October require more water by ecosystems than other stages, and the recommended e-flows during this time accounted for 57% of the e-flows during the total year. Under scenarios 1–3, which represent the short-term, medium-term and long-term scenarios, more water resources were supplied by underground water and water diversion projects; however, alleviating the water use contradiction remained difficult in dry years. During average years, e-flows between 148 and 168 × 108 m3 are recommended to meet the ecological objectives of survival, reproduction and biological integrity of species for the Yellow River Estuary. The recommended e-flows in wet years could meet higher ecological objectives but still barely achieve the targets of sediment transport and ecosystem dynamic balance. In dry years, the economic losses may be beyond the acceptance of irrigation stakeholders if more water is allocated to improve e-flows. In this case, 71 × 108 yuan would be paid to them to compensate for their losses. This study proposes an e-flow recommendation framework that is economically and ecologically optimal in areas with irreconcilable water-use contradictions.

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Bridging gaps between environmental flows theory and practices in China

Cited by 35 publications

References 25 publications

Snowy River environmental flows post-2002: lessons to be learnt

Snowy River environmental flows post-2002: lessons to be learnt

Classifying Dams for Environmental Flow Implementation in China

Rethinking Environmental Flows for the Yellow River Estuary by Trading Off Crop Yield and Ecological Benefits

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