Comparative research on integrated development of large river basins: a case study of the Yangtze and the Rhone

Since 2001, the French and Chinese researchers have done a cooperative research on the comparison of integrated development of large river basins. The Yangtze River was chosen as a crux of this research and linked with other older river experiments like the Rhone, the Nile and the Mississippi. This research includes not only the environmental issues but also economic and social issues. One special issue journal has been published in French for our research results. Other two collective and comparative books in French and Chinese will be finished at the end of this year. In the future, the comparison should be widened to Italy (the Po), Egypt (the Nile development planning) and the United States (the Mississippi Basin) and we would like to enlarge our research group and want to link up different teams and research projects, in order to get a global understanding of large river regions phenomenon.