Abstract:To address the prominent issues in the governance of interprovincial boundary water bodies, such as inconsistent management standards and uncoordinated planning, and to promote the ecologically green and integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, the two provinces and one city of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai have innovated a collaborative governance mechanism. A joint river and lake chief mechanism centered on joint inspections, joint management, joint governance, joint monitoring and joint law enforcement is established to systematically advance the practice of joint protection and governance of trans-boundary water bodies, and explore the pathways for collaborative governance driven by institutional innovation. The practice result shows that water environmental quality in the demonstration zone has significantly improved, and the proportion of sections of key trans-boundary water bodies classified as Grade III or better has increased from 75% to 98.1%, significantly enhancing the public's sense of gain and happiness. The practice shows that the joint protection and governance mechanism effectively resolves the governance challenges caused by administrative divisions, providing the valuable insights for trans-boundary water body governance in other regions and strongly facilitating the transformation of institutional advantages into governance efficacy.