Transition in the societal value and governance of water resources in Australia and China

Abstract

The transition of a country or a whole society to sustainability is a long-term goal that involves a society’s willingness to carry out such a change and the governance structure to support it. Understanding the role of the governance structure in enabling or constraining the change dynamics of societal values can more effectively foster desired transitions. This paper aims to reveal the co-evolutionary dynamics in the transition processes of the societal value of water resources and the network configurations of water governance in Australia and China in different socioecological contexts. Newspapers were used to track societal value and structural change in water governance. One mainstream newspaper was selected from each country, spanning a timeframe of 175 years in Australia and 72 years in China. The key finding is that the transition in societal value in both countries followed a similar sigmoid function. The value transition process in both countries benefited from a centralized governance structure, particularly in the take-off stage of the transition.