Fig. 1: Hierarchical framework for assessing sustainability of global Golden Inland Waterways (GIWs).

The framework integrates three primary sectors, i.e. GIWs exploitation, riverine ecosystem, and regional development. First, the stage of development for each of the GIWs is primarily determined from the regional development sector. Second, regional development would stimulate waterway transport need and require expansion in bearing capacity of specific GIWs. Third, the exploitation ratio is identified in the GIWs exploitation sector for the goal of regional development, but should not exceed a certain threshold due to ecological considerations. Fourth, ecological pressure from engineering practice is assessed in the riverine ecosystem sector to maintain the fundamental ecological services for regional development. Finally, sustainability of GIWs is estimated in terms of the metrics from the three sectors.