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In this paper, we attempt to answer the following questions: Which factors determine college students' water-saving behaviors? The answer can enable colleges to take targeted water management measures to promote water-saving behaviors of students. Based on the theory of planned behavior and the combination of attitude-situation-behavior theory, this paper built a comprehensive theoretical model with sociodemographic characteristics, psychological characteristics as external dependent latent variables, situational factors as moderating variables, and water-saving behaviors as internal dependent latent variables. The research investigated 742 students in China colleges, and used corresponding methods to analyze the different types of the influencing factors of students' water-saving behaviors. The results show that the sociodemographic characteristics of college students have no significant impact on water-saving behaviors; the psychological characteristics have a significant impact on individual water-saving behaviors; the situational factors have a significant moderating effect on individual water-saving behaviors of students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Managing transboundary river basins proves a challenge for China when encountering disagreements with its neighbors that experience different political and social conditions. This paper analyzes what happens when China characterizes water as a security issue, examining China's fluid securitization practices, where changes can be identified indicating that the Chinese government values the various water security concerns differently. Two cases are adopted for comparison. In the case of China sharing the Mekong River, the Chinese government has shown a willingness to incorporate more issues found both inside and outside of the water sector. In contrast, in the case of the sharing of the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna, China's security agenda has been limited to the consideration of water availability and has led to military security concerns. The findings indicate that China's water security agenda is not only driven by a concern for water management over specific rivers, but also judgments that incorporate strategic military consideration with regard to countries that they are involved with. The case of China thus suggests that water security is a complex domain that demonstrates competing values and concerns in (de)politicizing water. Therefore, water-related security issues cannot be understood solely from an environmental policy perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaporation is important basic information for irrigation decision making in water resources management. Developing countries usually use a small pan to observe surface evaporation, but the relationship between evaporation in different small pans is not sufficiently clear. In this paper, we use an extreme learning machine (ELM) model to predict and convert E20 (diameter 0.20 m) and E601 (diameter 0.62 m) pan data for 38 meteorological stations in southern China. Firstly, we obtained the best combination of meteorological parameters for forecasting E20 and E601, respectively, and we also found that the accuracy of the model can be significantly improved by adding pan data. Secondly, we found that during the conversion between E20 and E601, the model performance when using E601 data to predict the E20 evaporation is better than that when using E20 data to predict the E601 evaporation. Finally, the geographical factors were analysed, and the model performance was found to be relatively poor in the coastal area and the North–South junction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governing and managing water sustainably is a critical issue globally. Given its rapid economic development and the effects of global climate change, China faces serious water challenges including water shortages and pollution. The Chinese government has long been considering governance reforms which will improve water and river management. Conscious of the negative effects of fragmented institutions and the lack of incentives to support environmentally-sustainable management, China has recently established and implemented the 'He-Zhang' system - a network of River Chiefs and River Keepers across the country and at all administrative levels. This paper outlines the origins, purpose and structure of the system; summarizes progress with its implementation; and identifies some of its future challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impacts of China's intensified efforts to engage in regional and global environmental governance is widely noted and debated. With rapidly increasing economic and political influence, China has been gradually changing its attitude and strategy in negotiations over some of the most challenging cross-border environmental crises. In this paper, we examine two cases of multinational environmental negotiations, where China exhibited leadership potential and efforts, namely the climate change regime and Mekong river governance system. Our analysis focuses both on the leadership activities around institutional, moral, and financial contributions to the governance regime, and on the efforts for China to take up exemplary actions at domestic level. We argue that in both cases, China exhibited both determination and commitment to shape the course and outcome of the negotiations, whilst applying two clearly different strategies. In the case of climate change, China is using its entrepreneur power to facilitate the deals and portray itself as the moral leader of the climate change course, while in the Mekong river case, financial and institutional inputs are the major instruments for Chinese to assume the leadership role. Yet in both cases, China exhibited a notable shift from an un-cooperative and coercive veto power to a more constructive player in the multinational environmental negotiations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lack of consideration of environmental water requirements (EWR) in water resource allocation has caused several environmental problems in the Haihe River Basin, North China. This highlights an urgent need to study EWR and ensure instruments for sustainable water resource management in the basin. In this study, EWR scenarios were calculated for 2010 and 2030, giving values are 6.58 billion m³ in 2002, 9.22 billion m³ in 2010, and 11.62 billion m³ in 2030. Three policies and management instruments were used to address EWR, including the South-North water transfer scheme, water price policy modifications and agricultural water saving. Compared with lack of adoption of such measures, these three management instruments may mitigate acute water scarcity and lead to some improvements. This paper attempts to establish a link between adoption of measures, impact on water user sectors and environmental consequences. It also provides a basis for discussion about the effectiveness of these measures and notes additional controversies among technical, political and economic instruments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]