The Primary Study on Assessing Social Water Scarcity in China
中国社会化水资源稀缺评价

Based on some discussions on the relationship between environmental capital and economic development, the social adaptive capacity coined by Ohlsson has been introduced. Combined with the classification of water resource management, the authors discussed the interconnection between the natural resource reconstruction and social adaptive capacity. With a view to overcoming water resource scarcity, increased social resources as an alternative way has been emphasized. At the same time, it allows strategic decision-makers to source some effective strategies from political economy system outside the natural resources themselves. To illustrate the effect of social adaptive capacity, a new social resource water scarcity index (SWSI) is developed based on a combination of traditional hydrological indices and our actual assessment index of social adaptability as most readily available proxy for social adaptive capacity. Calculations are made for 31 provinces, 2002. The study demonstrates that the index captures the social impacts of water scarcity more accurately than earlier indices. Finally, with a general concern that traditional technical and economic options for water resource management are no longer adequate for situations of increasing water scarcity. We pinpoint that there is a need to develop policy options to stimulate adaptive processes and strengthen social resources capacity, and consider and apply alternative multidisciplinary options based on critical social resource factors.