The Conference

The Global Lake Basin Management Expertise Initiative Conference for Lake Dianchi was held on September 26, 2007 in Kunming City, Yunnan Province, People's Republic of China.

The conference was organized in response to an invitation by the Vice Mayor who is the Chairperson of Dianchi Management Committee of Kunming Municipal Government, to help Yunnan Province and Kunming Municipality develop integrated lake basin management (ILBM) systems for the lakes in the Province and share its experiences with experts in the world. The conference is to complement programs relating to lake management in the Province, including the GEF-funded Lake Dianchi Bio-diversity Program and proposed World Bank-financed Yunnan Urban Environment Project (YUEP), currently under preparation, as well as many other donor funded programs currently underway.

This first conference is focused on Lake Dianchi and is to be followed-up by annual conferences in future, with possible broader donor assistance.

Presenters and participants

The main presenters were:

Dr. Stephen Lintner, Senior Technical Advisor of the World Bank; and
Dr. Xia, Jun, Director and Leading Professor, Center for Water Resource Research, Chinese Academy of Science. 

The conference was hosted by the following high ranking officials of the Yunnan Provincial Government and Kunming Municipal Government:

Mr. Gu, Zhaoxi, Vice Governor, Yunnan Provincial Government
Mr. Wan, Junqiang, Deputy Secretary General, Yunnan Provincial Government
Mr. Gan, Xuechun, Deputy Director General, Yunnan Province Foreign Affairs Bureau
Mr. Wang, Jianhua, Director General, Yunnan Province Environment Protection Bureau
Mr. Wan, Daoxing, Vice Mayor, Kunming Municipal Government

The conference was facilitated by Mr. Yang, Zhiqiang, Deputy Director General, Yunnan Province Environment Protection Bureau, and Mr. Zhou, Bo, Director, Foreign Cooperation Division, Yunnan Province Environment Protection Bureau. Mr. Taku Kamata, Task Manager of YUEP of the World Bank in Washington DC and Mr. Liping Jiang, Senior Irrigation Engineer of the World Bank Beijing Office, were opening speakers. The participants included officials of Development Reform Commissions, Finance Bureaus, Construction Bureaus, Urban Bureaus, Water Resource Bureaus, Agriculture and Forestry Bureaus and Industry Bureaus of Yunnan Provincial Government and Kunming Municipal Government, as well as Lake Dianchi Management Bureau.

Ms. Cindy Suh, Senior Corporate Strategy Officer of the World Bank in Washington DC, organized the conference, with support from Ms. Chen, Xin and Ms. Guo, Xuemei of the World Bank Beijing Office. 

Presentations and discussions

Dr. Stephen Lintner presented comprehensive framework of the integrated lake basin management approaches in his presentation, "Challenges and Opportunities in Integrated Lake Basin Management", based on lessons learned through many empirical examples, including a Bank-led major multi-donor initiative whose findings are summarized in a 2005 report "Managing Lakes and Their Basins for Sustainable Use: A Report for Lake Basin Managers and Stakeholders". His presentations, both in English and Chinese, are attached below. Following his presentation, an extended question and answer session was held. Questions raised were centered around best practices of inter-agency cooperation such as Baltic Sea case and Nile River Basin case, key triggers to initiate ILBM, relations between economic development and environment conservation, and challenges of non-point pollution control such as the in case of Chesapeake Bay in U.S. 

Dr. Stephen's Presentation

Dr. Xia, Jun presented a conceptual framework to develop integrated lake basin management master plans in his presentation, "Integrated River Basin Masterplan for Protection of Lake Dianchi: Conceptual Framework and Tools", identifying underlying causes of the current status of Lake Dianchi and presenting methodology to develop integrated masterplans. The integrated lake basin master plan is medium & long-term strategic planning and management processes to coordinate socioeconomic development and natural resource/environment protection for entire basins, based on understanding of water cycle systems and comprehensive carry capacity. Issues discussed at the follow-on discussion session encompassed practicality of data collection and knowledge sharing, relationship between the proposed integrated masterplan and on-going plans, significance of political leadership in developing and utilizing integrated masterplans. The presentation is attached below.

Xia Jun's Presentation

Conclusion and way forward

Two presentations signified two key complementary dimensions of integrated lake basin management – broad qualitative aspects to enable ILBM approaches to work and quantitative methodology to develop integrated masterplans. The participants appreciated the depth of experts' knowledge and hoped that it could be applied to the management of lakes in the Province.

Since there are other prefectures which are keen to implement ILBM for major water bodies in their jurisdictions, such as Er' Hai in Dali Prefecture and Lake Puzhehei in Wenshan Prefecture, a broader audience inside and outside of Yunnan Province could be invited to future events under this initiative.