Sustainable management of water resources in the Yellow River basin: the main issues and legal approaches

The Yellow River basin, which is one of China's most important river basins, is facing serious challenges of a rapidly developing society demanding more water while previous over-exploitation and climate change mean less is becoming available. Based on reviews and analysis, developments in the legislative and administrative arrangements in the Yellow River basin, the goal of this research is to achieve integrated management of quantity and quality, surface and ground water, river and watershed. The question is how to bring about the necessary regulatory controls and behavior changes by legal instruments or by policy and administrative means, by developing a special Yellow River Law or by developing national legislative and political mechanisms and implementing appropriately to the special needs of the Yellow River basin.