Strengthening research capacity of China and South Africa (SA) in sustainable water resources management with UK and Australian experiences

Both China and South Africa (SA) face enormous challenges in water scarcity and management. Institutionalizing ecosystem services which also have potential to alleviate poverty within unfolding climate change is a significant theme in water resource management. Implementation of the European Union's Water Framework Directive (WFD) and Australia's integrated catchment management in the Murray-Darling Basin provide potentially valuable lessons for China and SA. However, there are significant differences in the socio-political and geographic contexts among these four countries. The opportunity to collaborate in both comparative and parallel research and knowledge exchange offers significant potential for mutual progress and a more global solution for sustainable water management. The objective of this project is to strengthen research capacity in China and SA as well as providing a platform for reflexive learning by all parties for sustainable water resource management. This will be achieved through the joint preparation of a five year research programme to elucidate and improve the systemic relationships between poverty alleviation, integrated and sustaibable water management through use of ecosystem services in Baiyangdian Lake catchment in China and the Inkomati catchment in SA. This project of 10 scientists with multi-disciplinary expertise from the U.K., Australia, China and SA will run for 11 months; the main activities included are the Baiyangdian Lake Workshop (BLW), Inkomati Catchment Workshop (ICW) and final virtual conference (VC). The BLW will be preceded by a systemic, contextual analysis. A 'learning system' already under development with Inkomati stakeholders will be used to guide the design of the BLW. It will be adapted to include one-day's evaluation, one-day's study tour; two-day's presentations (every investigator presents his/her research programme in combination with his/her research background contextualised to the Baiyangdian Lake situation), half-day's training on GIS tool and management of research projects and half-day's summary. The BLW will provide an initial experiential event in which tentative research agendas will be developed. These will be complemented and reinforced by the ICW, then consolidated through a combination of a VC and written exchanges. The expected outputs of this project are a) strengthened research capacity in China and SA through the process of developing a five-year research programme for two major case studies to showcase sustainable water resource management balancing ecosystem services and poverty alleviation in China and SA; b) two peer-reviewed papers; c) a GIS-based tool for spatially presenting the ecosystem services, poverty alleviation and linking the two; d) an established inter-disciplinary partnership and on-going research projects to exchange experiences and information and to address together the pressing ecosystem services and poverty issues; e) a contextual evaluation of China and SA capacity building to manage research and f) refinement and elaboration of the Watercourse 'learning system' now being implemented in SA. The prepared five-year research programme will be used by the local governments, water and environment mangers, various stakeholders, international agencies and NGOs to develop scientific understandings and policies for poverty alleviation through improving catchment ecosystem services. The resulting datasets will be used in the on-going research projects through the research network among four countries established by this proposed project. A detailed report including scientific methods and policy recommendations based on the findings at the case study sites is intended to reach a wide audience and have a beneficial effect on poverty alleviation through improvement of catchment ecosystem services in both China and SA through press release, follow up media work and symposia.