Abstract: Based on the analysis of the historical changes in the hydroecological environment management methods for China’s large river basins, this study investigates the new national demands for ecological civilization development, expands the current management framework by designing new water functional zones, adjusting the functional roles for basin units, and highlighting the integrity of the basin, which is to propose the new management framework based on the concept of country-basin-zone-unit-administrative division. The study also designs a set of metrics to measure the status of water ecology, water resources and water environment to clarify the ecoenvironment controling measures and policy implementation methodology in large river basins. The study could be a valuable policy reference for designing large-scale land planning strategy for land use planning in China’s large river basins under the new situation.

Key words: large river basins, territorial space use planning, water resources, ecological civilization