Review and reflection on the development of integrated water resources management strategy in European basins

Philippe Gourbesville; Lu Wenjing; Ma Qiang

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1000-1123.2024.10.003

Abstract：Water resources are the foundation and lifeline for maintaining human survival and promoting socio-economic development,and are irreplaceable and important natural resources.Currently,freshwater resources that can be utilized by humans only account for 2%of global water resources,and their spatial distribution is uneven.The impact of climate change,the threat of population growth,and the unprecedented scale of urbanization have led to increasingly prominent scarcity and competitive challenges in integrated water resource management.Under the most severe form of prediction,global competitive water demand by 2030 will lead to 40%of the world's regions facing water supply shortages.In order to better cope with the challenges of water resource supply and demand coordination,water ecological development protection,and water disaster prevention and control under the dual driving force of nature society in the future,water administrative departments need to formulate more scientific,inclusive,and sustainable water resource management strategies and policies.According to the analysis of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development(OECD),due to differences and diversity between and within countries,there is no universally applicable water management strategy that can be used to solve water problems on a global scale today.However,the strategy of managing water resources based on the fluidity and integrity of water resources,with"river basins"as the unit,has been increasingly adopted by more and more countries.This article reviews a series of management strategies,policies,and regulations formulated and promoted by developed European countries since the 1960s when they recognized the necessity of comprehensive water resource management.It proposes ideas for addressing the constantly changing water challenges,in order to provide reference for the formulation of comprehensive water resource management strategies in China.