Water resources

Taking us on a world tour of the most hotly contested water climates, and introducing us to some of the most passionate advocates to emerge from them, Diane Raines Ward gives us a compelling account of where we've come from, and where we need to go. Why is the Fertile Crescent, historically one of the most lush places on earth, fast becoming a region of scarcity?

Can agricultural water management (AWM) technologies provide innovative solutions that can help to meet this challenge of feeding a growing, mostly disadvantaged, population by producing more food but with fewer resources? This paper reviews the water-food-poverty nexus and examines the role that AWM technologies may play in achieving world food and water security.

Part 1 of this final report outlines current global environmental problems and serves as an introduction to the entire report. Part 2 gives the results of the Conference discussions. Chapter 1 summarizes the data and reference materials that were submitted to the Conference, and demonstrates how serious current environmental problems are by giving actual data on global warming, loss of biodiversity and others. Chapters 2 and 3 summarize the results of the discussions.

Ce rapport passe en revue l'expérience acquise en matière de déplacement des populations touchées par les barrages en Afrique de l'Ouest au cours des 40 dernières années et examine les mécanismes qui permettent un partage plus équitable des bénéfices issus des barrages en veillant à ce que les conditions de vie des populations affectées soient améliorées.

Films included in this compilation are "Mekong: Watch That River!" (2009); "Small Islands, Big Impact" (2009); "South Asia: Crowded Land, Drying Rivers" (2009); and "Yellow River Blues" (2009). Additional information and synopses of the individual films is available from the TVEAP website (www.tveap.org).

Water has become one of the most critical issues of the new century and is certainly of vital importance to sustainable ecosystem management. The objective of the present monograph is to contribute substantially to discussion on water and highlight current issues that are essential of the survival of humankind. Scarcity of water in some regions and abundance of water in others, degradation of water and pollution of entire watersheds have already led to regional – and even global – conflicts.