The twin challenges of accessing water and energy for food and agriculture are central to reducing poverty and hunger in Asia. GWP’s latest Technical Focus Paper compares and contrasts the ways in which India and China tackle the challenge of harnessing water resources under growing water scarcity and competing demand. It argues that a global water battle is likely to be focused on Asia.

More than 100 participants from over 40 organizations participated in a workshop on implementing an integrated approach to managing the Yellow River in Zhengzhou on 6 November 2012.

The Yellow River is the second-longest river in China, providing water for 140 million people and irrigating 74,000 km² of land. 

The High-Level Roundtable on Water Resources Management System Development in China was organized by GWP China on April 20, 2012, in Beijing. The meeting aimed at establishing water management mechanisms with well-defined duties, rights and responsibilities, coordination mechanisms for the development of river basins, and facilitating stricter and better water management through the integrated water resources management approach.

Participants at the High-Level Roundtable on Water Resources Management System Development in China, organised in April 2012 by GWP China, discussed the setting up of a water resources management system with well-defined duties, rights and responsibilities, standard and collaborative operations, and coordination mechanisms for river basin and regional development, using the IWRM approach.

Setting up of institutional mechanisms, legal status issues, and developing biological monitoring standards, were discussed at a workshop on monitoring and assessment methods for river and lake health, organized by GWP China on January 13, 2012, in Beijing.

Experts on water, urban construction, science and technology, forestry and agriculture agreed at a recent meeting that plans for an urban water environment should focus on the optimal allocation of water resources, be adequately funded and have an operational management system. Such a system must also play a functional role in flood control.

Following the central government's policy document on Reform and Development in the Water Sector in early 2011, water resources management has become the top government priority at all levels in China.

The protection of the water resources of the Yellow River Basin, emergency response to environmental pollution and case studies of emergency response to water pollution in other countries were the main topics at a workshop on Water Resources Protection and Emergency Response Mechanisms to Water Pollution of the Yellow River.

GWP China-Fujian, with support from the Fujian Provincial Water Resources Department, carried out a survey on water resources, including rural drinking water safety. The purpose of the investigation was to ensure an integrated and sustainable approach to water resources management for the planned construction of an economic zone.