Jianfeng YANG, Liyan ZUO, Yun YU, Cuiguang ZHANG, Benyan XU
Humanity’s current water problems range from local-scale issues such as water supply to regional- and global-scale issues including protecting ecosystems, responding to global changes, sustaining the earth system, etc. Water resources exploitation, land utilization and climate changes have intensified pressure on water cycle through water distribution, interconnection, and virtual flows. The impact of anthropogenic pressure on water cycle has extended beyond the catchment-scale, with human activities becoming the primary driving force behind changes in regional, continental and global water cycle. Estimations by planetary boundaries framework indicated that development of global blue water and green water is approaching or beyond water planetary boundaries posing increased rising risks to earth system stabilization. Current water governance, which is focused on catchment scale and water-centric approaches, struggles to address the complexity of these issues. Governance must shift to manage not only increasing water use for economic and societal development, but also the roles and functions of water cycle in sustaining biosphere and Earth systems. Moreover, it should consider the equitable distribution of ecological services provided by water cycle. Concepts of water resilience and the economics of water as a common good enhance the conventional understanding of the water cycle, highlighting its essential role in sustain Earth systems and the cross-scale effects of human activities. Future, water resources governance is likely to evolve in three directions: from blue water management to blue-green water management, from integrated water-centric management to integrated land-water-ecosystem management, and from integrated river basin management to multi-scale management. It is critical for promoting transformation of water governance to strengthen cooperation among scientists of different fields in research of basic theory of water cycle, management policies and governance institutions.