Clean water

China's presence at the recent World Water Forum was imposing. Red, gold and blue stands showcasing the latest innovations in terms of water technology and huge projects such as the Three Gorges Dam took up much of it exhibition space.

"The country is becoming much more of a supplier on the environmental market," said Thomas Stratenwerth from the German ministry of the environment. "It is interesting to observe this from a political point of view, but from the perspective of German companies it is a problem. The Chinese are beginning to supply developed technologies at affordable prices that German companies have to compete with."

While China is promoting itself as an expert for water solutions and massive dams abroad, the picture is not so rosy at home.

The country is home to a fifth of the world's population and yet it only has access to 7 percent of the world's freshwater resources.

Rapid industrialization and the recent economic boom have caused huge water shortages and pollution, which are problems Beijing wants to resolve with the help of the EU.

China Europe Water Platform

The China Europe Water Platform that was launched in Marseille is all about sustainable water and river management.

It will replace the "EU-China River Basin Management Programme" (RBMP) that has existed since 2007 and into which Europe Aid has already pumped some 25 million euros (around 33 million US dollars).

The new platform is not an aid project - it is a "real partnership" that the Chinese themselves are co-financing, said Simon Spooner, Water Resources Management Specialist and principle consultant for the RBMP. However, the goal remains the same: an integrated approach to water policy.

The idea is to "get some synergy between both the water and the environmental aspects, which in Europe is taken for granted, but in China it is a fairly new concept."

Spooner added that although the sharing of data could be a "real problem, there are some kind of deep cultural and institutional changes beginning to happen."

Chinaand the EU are working together on "pollution load management." Calculations are made as to how much pollution a river can withstand and then cities and companies have to keep within the limits. China wants to implement this policy nationwide and the EU is providing advice.

A shift in awareness

Spooner pointed out there had been a shift in people's perception of the environment in China. Whereas party functionaries used to receive instructions about economic growth rates and birth control, they now get letters with clear goals pertaining to the environment too.

He also understood that China was intent on undertaking huge projects such as the South-North Water Transfer scheme to "allow the expansion of cities that would be very difficult to manage in another way."

"For industrial and urban development you need a lot of water in one place and it's very difficult to do that from existing sources. You have to bring it in from a distance - just as the Romans did with their cities, they had to build aqueducts. Los Angeles had to build huge aqueducts. That's what China is doing now."

Not everybody is so understanding. Over and over again, critics have slammed China for not adhering to environmental regulations in the construction of dams, especially in Africa where Chinese funds are being used in a number of projects.

Chen Lei, China's Minister for Water Resources, has rejected such criticism, saying his country is "a global partner for water solutions." At home, he has promised 300 million inhabitants in China's rural regions that they all have clean drinking water by 2013.

Author: Monika Hoegen / act
Editor: Sarah Berning