What the study found
The study finds that socio-natural resilience can be used to understand how hydrosocial territories are reconfigured in China's Great Yangtze River Protection Programme. It describes this reconfiguration as a political process shaped by power relations, commodification of nature, and the tension between state control and market mechanisms.
Why the authors say this matters
The authors suggest this integrated perspective helps explain complex governance transformations in water governance. They also conclude that resilience is deeply embedded in power dynamics and hegemonic struggles, including upstream-downstream asymmetries shaped by hydro-hegemonic configurations.
What the researchers tested
The researchers analyzed field data from the Great Yangtze River Protection Programme. They combined the concept of socio-natural resilience with the analysis of hydrosocial territories to interpret changes in water governance and the roles of absorptive, adaptive, and transformative capacities.
What worked and what didn't
The study reports that hydrosocial territories with socio-natural resilience integrate technological, physical, social, and natural spaces and relations. It also states that actors navigate these spaces in different ways, such as local river chiefs facing bureaucratic pressure and provinces negotiating the price of clean water.
What to keep in mind
The abstract does not describe specific limitations or compare this approach with alternatives in detail. Its findings are presented in the context of the Great Yangtze River Protection Programme, so the scope described is limited to that case.
Key points
- The study links socio-natural resilience to changes in hydrosocial territories in China's Great Yangtze River Protection Programme.
- It describes reconfiguration of water governance as a political process, not only a technical adjustment.
- The authors say absorptive, adaptive, and transformative capacities help explain how resilience operates in this setting.
- The abstract highlights power asymmetries, including upstream-downstream relations and hydro-hegemonic configurations.
- The study notes that actors such as local river chiefs and provinces navigate bureaucratic and pricing pressures.
Disclosure
- Research title:
- Socio-natural resilience shapes hydrosocial territory changes in the Yangtze program
- Authors:
- Jichuan Sheng, Chen Li
- Institutions:
- Education University of Hong Kong, Hohai University, Nanjing Forestry University, University of Hong Kong
- Publication date:
- 2026-03-10
- OpenAlex record:
- View
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