Bringing Sustainability Down to Earth: Heihe River as a Paradigm Case of Sustainable Water Allocation

Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics

Volumn 29, Issue 5, 2016, Pages 835-856

  Ott, Konrad ^a   Kerschbaumer, Lilin ^a   Köbbing, Jan Felix ^b   Thevs, Niels ^c,d  

^a UNIVERSITY OF KIEL   (Germany)

^b Klasmann Deilmann GmbH   (Germany)

^c World Agroforestry Center   (Kyrgyzstan)

^d UNIVERSITY OF GREIFSWALD   (Germany)

Author keywords

Agricultural demands; Heihe River; Nature conservation; Sustainability; Tugai forest; Water allocation

Indexed keywords

ARID REGION; CONFLICT MANAGEMENT; FOREST; IRRIGATION; NATURE CONSERVATION; RESOURCE ALLOCATION; RIVER BASIN; SUSTAINABILITY; WATER MANAGEMENT;

CHINA; EJINA OASIS; GANSU; HEI RIVER; NEI MONGGOL; ZHANGYE;

EID: 84988697456     PISSN: 11877863     EISSN: 1573322X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s10806-016-9640-9     Document Type: Article

References (76)

1. Birch, T. (1993). Moral considerability and universal consideration. Environmental Ethics, 15(4), 313–332.
2. Cao, X., Xiao, D. N., Ouyang, H., & Chern, G. (2004). Analysis of landscape change drivers in the Ejinas natural oasis. Acta Ecologica Sinica, 24(9), 1895–1902.
3. Castro, W. V., Heerink, N., Shi, X., & Qu, W. (2010). Water savings through off-farm employment? China Agricultural Economic Review, 2(2), 167–184.
4. Chan, K. M., Satterfield, T., & Goldstein, J. (2012). Rethinking ecosystem services to better address and navigate cultural values. Ecological Economics, 74, 8–18.
5. Chen, Y., Zhang, D., Sun, Y., Liu, X., Wang, N., & Savenije, H. H. G. (2005). Water demand management: A case study of the Heihe River Basin in China. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, 30, 408–419.
6. Chiriacy-Wantrup, S. V. (1985). Natural resource economics: Selected papers. Boulder: Westview Press.
7. Cirella, G. T., & Zerbe, S. (Eds.). (2014). Sustainable water management and wetlad restoration strategies in northern China. Bozen: University Press.
8. Coenen, F. H., & Bressers, J. T. A. (2012). Trends, drivers and dilemmas in the transition towards sustainable water management. In J. Meadowcroft, O. Langhele, & A. Ruud (Eds.), Governance, democracy and sustainable development (pp. 34–54). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
9. Costanza, R., D’Arge, R., Groot, R., Farbe, S., Grasso, M., Hannon, B., et al. (1997). The value of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital. Nature, 387, 253–260.
10. Daly, H. (1996). Beyond growth: The economics of sustainable development. Boston: Beacon Press.
11. Ejina Banner Statistics Bureau (EBSB). (2013, June 30). Ejina 2012 nian guomin jingji he shehui fazhan tongji gongbao [Ejina Banner National Economic and Social Development Bulletin 2012]. Retrieved from Ejina Banner Statistics: http://www.ejnqtj.gov.cn/uploadfiles/jpg/201307/20130712173444115.doc
12. Esfeld, M. (2001). How a social theory of meaning can be connected with realism. Facta Philosophica, 3, 111–131.
13. Eusemann, P., Petzold, A., Thevs, N., & Schnittler, M. (2013). Growth patterns and genetic structure of Populus euphratica Oliv. (Salicaceae) forests in NW China—Implications for conservation and management. Forest Ecology and Management, 297, 27–36.
14. Feng, Q., Cheng, G. D., & Endo, K. N. (2001). Towards sustainable development of the environmentally degraded River Heihe basin, China. Hydrological Sciences, 46(5), 647–658.
15. Gethmann, C. F., Carrier, M., Hanekamp, G., Kaiser, M., Kamp, G., Lingner, S., et al. (Eds.). (2015). Interdisciplinary research and transdisciplinary validity claims. Berlin: Springer.
16. Gries, D., Foetzki, A., Arndt, S. K., Bruelheide, H., Thomas, F. M., Zhang, X. M., et al. (2005). Production of perennial vegetation in an oasis-desert transition zone in NW China—Allometric estimation, and assessment of flooding and use effects. Plant Ecology, 181, 23–43.
17. Gua, Q., Yang, Y., Li, J., & Chen, Z. (2011). Ecological water requirements for vegetations in Ejina Oasis. Journal of Arid Land Resources and Environment, 25(5), 1–5.
18. Guo, Q., Feng, Q., & Li, J. (2008). Environmental changes after ecological water conveyance in the lower reaches of Heihe River, northwest China. Environmental Geology, 58(7), 1387–1396. doi:10.1007/s00254-008-1641-1.
19. Hausman, D. M. (2012). Preference, value, choice, and welfare. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
20. Hedin, S. (1942). Auf großer Fahrt. Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus Verlag.
21. Houdret, A., Dombrowsky, I., & Horleman, L. (2014). The institutionalization of River Basin Management as politics of scale—Insights from Mongolia. Journal of Hydrology, 519, 2392–2404.
22. HRBAB – Heihe River Basin Administration Bureau. (2007). Western branch of Ruoshui filled with water in the spring. http://www.yellowriver.gov.cn/trsweb/heihe/hhyw/200707/t20070720_24128.htm. Accessed 23 August 2013.
23. Jax, K., Chan, K. M. A., Ott, K., et al. (2013). Ecosystem services and ethics. Ecological Economics, 93, 260–268.
24. Ji, X., Kang, E., Chen, R., Zhao, W., Xiao, S., & Jin, B. (2006). Analysis of water resources supply and demand and security of water resources development in irrigation regions of the middle reaches of the Heihe River Basin, Northwest China. Agricultural Sciences in China, 5(130), 140.
25. Kellerwessel, W. (1995). Referenztheorien in der analytischen Philosophie. Stuttgart: Frommann-Holzboog.
26. Kerschbaumer, L. (2016). Water ethics, governance and sustainability—Theory and case study on northwest China. Marburg: Metropolis-Verlag.
27. Kerschbaumer, L., & Ott, K. (2013). Maintaining a river’s healthy life? An inquiry on water ethics and water praxis in the upstream region of China’s Yellow River. Water Alternatives, 6(1), 107–124.
28. Kuzmina, Z. V., & Treshkin, S. Y. (1997). Soil salinization and dynamics of Tugai vegetation in the southwestern Caspian Sea region and in the Aral Sea coastal region. Eurasian Soil Science, 30, 642–649.
29. Liu, Q., Hao, P., Li, J., Tan, Z., & Luo, J. (2011). Effect of stand age and individual growth on seed germination of Populus euphratica in the Ejina Oasis, China. Forestry Studies in China, 13(3), 183–188. doi:10.1007/s11632-011-0301-9.
30. Liu, J., Li, S., Ouyang, Z., Tam, C., & Chen, X. (2008). Ecological and socioeconomic effects of China’s policies for ecosystem services. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 105(28), 9477–9482.
31. Lu, L., Li, X., & Cheng, G. (2003). Landscape evolution in the middle Heihe River Basin of north-west China during the last decade. Journal of Arid Environments, 53, 395–408.
32. Lu, X., Wei, Y., Xiao, H., Zou, S., Ren, J., & Lyle, C. (2015). Trade-offs between midstream agricultural production and downstream ecological sustainability in the Heihe River basin in the past half century. Agricultural Water Management, 152, 233–242.
33. Marshall, A. (1890). Principles of economics. 9th Voriorum edn., (Vol. 1). London: Macmillan.
34. Meadowcroft, J. (2002). Politics and scale: Some implications for environmental governance. Landscape Urban Planning, 61, 169–179.
35. Meng, J., Wu, X., & Li, Z. (2003). Landuse/landcover changes in Zhangye oasis of Hexi Corridor. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 13(1), 71–75.
36. Millenium Ecosystem Assessment. (2005). Ecosystems and human well-being. Washington, DC: Island Press.
37. Moss, T., & Newig, J. (2010). Multilevel water governance and problems of scale: Setting the stage for a broader debate. Environmental Management, 46(1), 1–6.
38. Neumayer, E. (2004). Weak versus strong sustainability. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
39. Norgaard, R. B. (2010). Ecosystem services: From eye-opening metaphor to complexity blinder. Ecological Economics, 69, 1219–1227.
40. Norton, B. (2005). Sustainability. A philosophy of adaptive ecosystem management. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
41. Novikova, N. M. (2001). Ecological basis for botanical diversity conservation within the Amudarya and Syrdarya River Delta. In S. W. Breckle, M. Veste, & W. Wucherer (Eds.), Sustainable land use in deserts (pp. 84–94). Heidelberg: Springer.
42. Ogar, N. P. (2003). Vegetation of river valleys. In E. I. Rachkovskaya, E. A. Volkova, & V. N. Khramtsov (Eds.), Botanical geography of Kazakhstan and middle Asia (Desert region) (pp. 13–339). Saint Petersburg/Almaty/Tashkent: Komarov Botanical Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences/Institute of Botany and Phytointroduction of Ministry of Education and Science of Republic Kazakhstan/Institute of Botany of Academy of Sciences of Republik Uzbekistan.
43. Ott, K. (2008). A modest proposal of how to proceed in order to solve the problem of inherent moral value in nature. In L. Westra, K. Bosselmann, & R. Westra (Eds.), Reconciling human existence with ecological integrity (pp. 39–60). London: Earthscan.
44. Ott, K. (2014a). SUWAREST, the “Third Culture” and environmental ethics. In G. T. Cirella & S. Zerbe (Eds.), Sustainable water management and wetlad restoration strategies in northern China (pp. 11–26). Bozen: University Press.
45. Ott, K. (2014b). Institutionalizing strong sustainability: A rawlsian perspective. Sustainability, 6(2), 894–912.
46. Ott, K., & Döring, R. (2008). Theorie und praxis starker nachhaltigkeit. Marburg: Metropolis.
47. Ott, K., & Gordon, E. (2016). On the meaning of eudemonic arguments for a deep anthropocentric environmental ethics. New German Critique, 43(2 128), 105–126.
48. Pearce, D. W. (1998). Cost-benefit analysis and environmental policy. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 14(4), 84. doi:10.1093/oxrep/14.4.84.
49. Qi, S. & Luo, F. (2004). Desertification and sustainable development of the Heihe River Basin in Arid Northwestern China. Chinese Journal of Population. Resources and Environment, 2(4). http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10042857.2004.10677385#.U2ktZF4irbQ. Accessed 30 April 2014.
50. Qi, S. Z., & Luo, F. (2005). Water environmental degradation of the Heihe River Basin in Arid Northwestern China. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 108(1), 205–215. http://www.springerlink.com/content/n826487775551q22/fulltext.pdf. Accessed 30 April 2014.
51. Robbins, L. (1932). An essay on the nature and significance of economic science. London: Macmillan.
52. Sepänmaa, Y. (2014). From theoretical to applied environmental aesthetics. In M. Drenthen, & J. Keulartz (Eds.), Environmental aesthetics (pp. 87–98). New York: Fordham University Press.
53. Solmecke, U. (2014). Starke Nachhaltigkeit im interkulturellen Kontext. Theoretische Überlegungen und praktische Implikationen am Beispiel des Tourismus in der VR China. Marburg: Metropolis.
54. Su, X., Kang, S., & Tong, L. (2006). A dynamic evaluation method and ist application for the ecosystem vales of an inland river basin: A case study on the Shiyanghe River Basin in Hexi Corridor of Gansu Province. Acta Ecologica Sinica, 26, 2011–2019.
55. Swyngedouw, E. (1997). Neither global nor local: “Glocalization” and the politics of scale. In K. R. Cox (Ed.), Spaces of globalization (pp. 137–166). New York: Guilford Press.
56. Swyngedouw, E. (1999). Modernity and hybridity: Nature, regeneracionismo, and the production of the Spanish waterscape. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 89(1), 443–465.
57. Thevs, N., Buras, A., Zerbe, S., Kühnel, E., Abdusalih, N., & Ovezberdyyeva, A. (2012a). Structure and wood biomass of near-natural floodplain forests along the Central Asian rivers Tarim and Amu Darya. Forestry, 81, 193–202.
58. Thevs, N., Rozi, A., Kubal, C., & Abdusalih, N. (2013). Water consumption of agriculture and natural ecosystems along the Tarim River, China. Geo-Öko (Journal of Geoecology), 34, 50–76.
59. Thevs, N., Zerbe, S., Gahlert, F., Mijit, M., & Succow, M. (2007). Productivity of reed (Phragmites australis Trin. ex Steud.) in continental-arid NW China in relation to soil, groundwater, and land-use. Journal of Applied Botany and Food Quality, 81, 62–68.
60. Thevs, N., Zerbe, S., Kyosev, Y., Rozi, A., Tang, B., Abdusalih, N., et al. (2012b). Apocynum venetum L. and Apocynum pictum Schrenk (Apocynaceae) as multi-functional and multi-service plant species in Central Asia: A review on biology, ecology, and utilization. Journal of Applied Botany and Food Quality, 85, 159–167.
61. Thevs, N., Zerbe, S., Peper, J., & Succow, M. (2008a). Vegetation and vegetation dynamics in the Tarim River floodplain of continental-arid Xinjiang, NW China. Phytocoenologia, 38, 65–84.
62. Thevs, N., Zerbe, S., Schnittler, M., Abdusalih, N., & Succow, M. (2008b). Structure, reproduction and flood-induced dynamics of riparian Tugai forests at the Tarim River in Xinjiang, NW China. Forestry, 81, 45–57.
63. Thomas, F. M., Foetzki, A., Arndt, S. K., Bruelheide, H., Gries, D., Zeng, F. J., et al. (2006). Water use by perennial plants in the transition zone between river oasis and desert in NW China. Basic and Applied Ecology, 7, 253–267.
64. Treshkin, S. Y. (2001). The Tugai forests of floodplain of the Amudarya River: Ecology, dynamics and their conservation. In S. W. Breckle, M. Veste, & W. Wucherer (Eds.), Sustainable land use in deserts (pp. 95–102). Heidelberg: Springer.
65. Varner, G. (1998). In nature’s interest?. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
66. Wang, S. J., Chen, B. H., & Li, H. Q. (1996). Euphrates poplar forest. Beijing: China Environmental Science Press.
67. Wang, P., Zhang, Y., Yu, J., Fu, G., & Ao, F. (2011). Vegetation dynamics induced by groundwater fluctuations in the lower Heihe River Basin, northwestern China. Journal of Plant Ecology, 4(1–2), 77–90.
68. Wen, X., Wu, Y., Su, J., Zhang, Y., & Liu, F. (2005). Hydrochemical characteristics and salinity of groundwater in the Ejina Basin, Northwestern China. Environmental Geology, 48(6), 665–675.
69. Weston, A. (2012). Mobilizing the green imagination: An exuberant manifesto. Gabriola Island: New Society Publishers.
70. Wittfogel, K. A. (1931). Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft Chinas. Leipzig: Hirschfeld.
71. Xu, Z., Cheng, G., Zhang, Z., Su, Z., & Loomis, J. (2003). Applying contingent valuation in China to measure the total economic value of restoring ecosystem services in Ejina region. Ecological Economics, 44(2–3), 345–358.
72. Zhang, J. (2007). Barriers to water markets in the Heihe River basin in northwest China. Agricultural Water Management, 87(1), 32–40.
73. Zhang, J., Zhang, F., Zhang, L., & Wang, W. (2009). Transaction costs in water markets in the Heihe River Basin in Northwest China. International Journal of Water Resources Development, 25(1), 95–105.
74. Zhao, W., Chang, X., He, Z., & Zhang, Z. (2007). Study on vegetation ecological water requirement in Ejina Oasis. Science in China, Series D: Earth Sciences, 50(1), 121–129.
75. Ziegler, R., & Ott, K. (2011). The quality of sustainability Science—A philosophical perspective. Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy, 7(1), 31–44.
76. ZYPC (Zhangye Party Committee) & ZYPG (Zhangye People’s Government). (2006). Report on pilot sites for water saving in Zhangye. Zhangye: Personal communication.