Abstract as per original application
(English/Chinese): |
This Project analyses the legal framework for inter-jurisdictional cooperation on water preservation the Greater Bay Area (GBA). Water is under pressure with as many as 8 out of the 11 GBA cities facing water shortages, including major economic centres, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Macao. Three Pearl River tributaries – Xijiang, Beijiang and Dongjiang – are the main drainage channels in the GBA, providing water services to vital sectors of the economy and to a collective population of 70 million people. Local measures on improving water quality are insufficient to address the watershed challenges for the entire GBA. The “Framework Agreement on Deepening Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Cooperation in the Development of the GBA” aims “to build stable and safe water supplies systems”, but omits specific cooperation mechanisms. This Project asks what would inter-jurisdictional cooperation in the GBA entail? This Project fills a gap in the water law scholarship in analysing the multi-faceted complexities of riparian and non-riparian stakeholders in a legal framework of cooperation for the GBA. The GBA consists of 9 riparian cities and their provinces regulated under laws of China and special administrative regions, Hong Kong and Macao, with their own legal systems. The legal framework underpinning inter- jurisdictional cooperation in GBA relates to issues of (i) status of riparian cities and their relationship with provincial governments and the Central Government Ministry of Water Resources; (ii) existing riparian policies and river basin problems; (iii) regime interaction between China’s national, provincial and municipal laws governing cooperation in river basins; (iv) the legal authorities upon which environmental cooperation between the PRC riparian cities is premised; (v) the relationship with existing water governance frameworks including water eco-compensation mechanisms; (vi) upstream economic inequality issues; (vii) lessons learned from the Dongjiang River Basin Organisation, Pearl River Water Resources Commission, Yangtze River Commission and Yellow Basin Commission; and (viii) the position of Hong Kong and Macao as recipients of water benefits and non-riparian stakeholders. As non-riparian stakeholders, the water security of Hong Kong and Macao is dependent on sustainability of freshwater supplies upstream. (i) to (viii) deepens understanding of stakeholders and non-stakeholders’ roles who are interested in GBA cooperation premised on water preservation for sustainability and water security of the GBA. This Project contributes to progressive institutional developments and a future possible GBA integrative framework on inter-jurisdictional cooperation within existing or a new river basin commission.
本研究項目分析大灣區（GBA）跨區水資源保護合作的法律框架。大灣區水資源面臨壓力，流域一帶11 個城市中有多達 8 個城市（包括香港、深圳、廣州及澳門等主要經濟中心）正面臨淡水資源短缺問題。珠江三大支流 — 西江、北江與東江 — 是大灣區的主要水系，為區內高達 7,000 萬人口的重要經濟區域提供淡水資源服務。然而，當地提升水質的措施仍不足以應對整個大灣區流域所面臨的挑戰。《深化粵港澳合作 推進大灣區建設框架協議》提出「建立穩定及安全的供水系統」的目標，但至今仍未有具體合作機制。本研究旨在探討大灣區跨區合作「建立穩定及安全的供水系統」應涵蓋的範圍。
本研究分析在大灣區合作法律框架下涉水（riparian）與非涉水（non-riparian）利益關係者面對的多重複雜問題，從而填補水法學術有關這類研究缺口。大灣區包括 9 個涉水城市及其省份依從中國法律規範，而特別行政區香港與澳門則擁有獨立的司法制度。對於大灣區跨法域合作的法律框架提出以下議題： 一）涉水城市省政府及中央水利部的關係；（二）現有涉水政策及流域治理問題；（三）中國國家、省級及市級法律在流域合作中的制度互動；（四）中國涉水城市間環境合作的法律依據；（五）與既有水治理框架（包括水生態補償機制）的關係；（六）上游地區經濟不平等問題；（七）從東江流域機構、珠江水利委員會、長江委員會與黃河委員會的經驗中汲取的教訓；（八）香港與澳門作為受益方及非涉水攸關方的地位。
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