China’s eight water risks

Abstract

China, as a large and geographically heterogeneous country, is subject to a high diversity and blend of water-related stressors, hazards, and societal conditions. We analysed the exposure and vulnerability of the population of continental China to eight major water stresses (variability, overuse, groundwater problems, floods, droughts, organic pollution, salinity, eutrophication). This gridded high-resolution geospatial analysis employs the multiplicative risk scheme of the Sendai Framework and IPCC (risk = stress × exposure × vulnerability) together with multivariate statistical analysis. The results unveiled five distinct zones in continental China, each with a characteristic risk profile.