Refine
Document Type
- Doctoral thesis (1)
Has Fulltext
- yes (1)
Is part of the Bibliography
- no (1)
Year of publication
- 2008 (1)
Language
- English (1)
Keywords
- Szenarioanalysen (1) (remove)
Water quality degradation and water scarcity are two serious problems, and water resources management related to those problems usually involves conflicts. In the absence of market and exclusive property rights, those conflicts are unavoidable. Game theory is an appropriate approach to simulate and resolve such conflicts. The overall objective of this research is to develop a practical methodology and mechanism to promote the maximization of public welfare from a socio-economic and environmental perspective using game theory. There are three main goals: 1) to use game theory to illustrate and analyze phenomena of water resources management, 2) to set up non-cooperative and cooperative game theoretic simulation models of water conflicts in a river basin, and 3) to apply the game theoretic simulation approach into water conflicts involved in the Hanjiang River Basin (HRB) in China. In the case of HRB, the Municipalities of Beijing, Hanzhong, Ankang and Shangluo, Shiyan and the Cities of Xixia and Xichuan are defined as the main players. For each main player, industry, households and agriculture are defined as the sub-players. Statistical and econometric regression modeling methods are used to formulate payoff functions of the players. The models are evaluated by forecasting and scenarios analyses. Cost-benefit Analysis (CBA) and demand-supply principle (DSP) are applied to compare the game outcomes. Economic valuation methods (EVMs) are applied to the value transformation. Scenario analysis is also employed to analyze the future risks and uncertainties. The main results prove that the non-cooperative game will cost all players an overall loss, though it yields benefits to some players. However, cooperative game results show that there is an overall benefit, though some players have loss. Comparing with the results of non-cooperative and cooperative games, it finds that cooperation makes all the players better off though some players are worse off. Scenario results illustrate that player one and his sub-players have serious water deficits even in the optimistic scenario. Thus, cooperation with other players is the dominant strategy for this player. The risks of non-cooperation come from some other players and sub-players. The game theoretic simulation approach and results benefit not only different groups of water stakeholders, but also decision makers to make policies on water quantity allocation, water quality protection, water pricing as well as ecological loss compensation.