Case studies were conducted in five selected Asian countries on their water policy reform initiatives. Of the five countries, China stands out as the country that has derived the most from on-going global efforts in promoting water sector institutional reforms and the concept of integrated water resources management (IWRM). China has emerged as the leader in adapting these concepts to suit the context of the country. Advanced stages of water development in many parts of the country and increased water shortages due to rapid economic development have prompted China to forge ahead in the search for institutional solutions to make the water sector more productive, and the management of water resources more sustainable. In the other selected countries, efforts to replicate the models of developed countries without much adaptation and due reference to their stages of development have generally failed. The dominance of irrigation within the water sector and the informality of the economy related to water in these countries seem to make the application of prescribed IWRM principles rather unfeasible. The lesson to be drawn from policy reviews of the five countries is that effective waterinstitutions are not static systems, but are adaptive and dynamic institutional developments compatible with the local context, particularly with the structure of the overall economy of the country and its water sector.

This book reports research on policy and legal issues, anaerobic digestion of solid waste under processing aspects, industrial waste, application of GIS and LCA in waste management, and a couple of research papers relating to leachate and odour management.

Contributed papers presented at the conference organized by International Water Management Institute, Irrigation Dept., Dept. of Agriculture, and Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training Institute.

The SAGE Handbook of Nature offers an ambitious retrospective and prospective overview of the field that aims to position Nature, the environment and natural processes, at the heart of interdisciplinary social sciences. The three volumes are divided into the following parts: INTRODUCTION TO THE HANDBOOK NATURAL AND SOCIO-NATURAL VULNERABILITIES: INTERWEAVING THE NATURAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES SPACING NATURES: SUSTAINABLE PLACE MAKING AND ADAPTATION COUPLED AND (DE-COUPLED) SOCIO-ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS RISK AND THE ENVIRONMENT: SOCIAL THEORIES, PUBLIC UNDERSTANDINGS, & THE SCIENCE-POLICY INTERFACE HUNGRY AND THIRSTY CITIES AND THEIR REGIONS CRITICAL CONSUMERISM AND ITS MANUFACTURED NATURES GENDERED NATURES AND ECO-FEMINISM REPRODUCTIVE NATURES: PLANTS, ANIMALS AND PEOPLE NATURE, CLASS AND SOCIAL INEQUALITY BIO-SENSITIVITY & THE ECOLOGIES OF HEALTH THE RESOURCE NEXUS AND ITS RELEVANCE SUSTAINABLE URBAN COMMUNITIES RURAL NATURES AND THEIR CO-PRODUCTION This handbook is a key critical research resource for researchers and practitioners across the social sciences and their contributions to related disciplines associated with the fast developing interdisciplinary field of sustainability science.

Water security has received increasing attention in the scientific and public policy communities in recent years. The Handbook on Water Security is a much-needed resource that helps the reader navigate between the differing interpretations of water security. It explains the various dimensions of the topic by approaching it both conceptually and thematically, as well as in relation to experiences in different regions of the world. The international contributors explore the various perspectives on water security to show that it has multiple meanings that cannot easily be reconciled. Topics discussed include: challenges from human security to consumerism, how trade policies can help to achieve water security in a transboundary setting, the potential of risk-based governance arrangements and the ecology of water security. Scholars and postgraduate students in the social sciences working on water-related issues will find this book to be of substantial interest. It will strongly appeal to policymakers and practitioners looking at the strengths and limitations of water security.

Water - and its governance - is becoming a global concern partly because it is turning into a goods in short supply, with devastating effects on literally billions of people, but also because it is the "carrier" of global warming; whether through irregular weather patterns or through flooding, water is how global warming will be 'felt'. The lion's share of the globally available fresh water resources is to be found in transboundary systems. In spite of its significance, the generated knowledge on how to deal with transboundary waters is weak and leaves policy makers with seemingly unavoidable, trade-off dilemmas and prioritizations, often with detrimental effects. In order to disentangle this predicament this volume works with one case: the Lower Mekong Basin and covers state-of-the-art academic and practitioners' knowledge and hence appeals to a wide audience. The topic this volume addresses is situated in the nexus of an IR- (International Relations) approach focussing on transboundary politics and its inclination to remain within the sphere of state sovereignty and national interest on the one hand, and Development studies, with its imperatives on participation, planning, and intervention, on the other. The dilemma, we argue, of better understanding transboundary water management lies in how to understand how these two rationalities can be simultaneously nurtured. Audience: This book will be relevant to scholars, as it provides cutting-edge research, and students, since it covers the primary debates in the field, interested in resource management, regional politics, and development issues in the area. It also addresses the global debate on transboundary water management and presents an in-depth case of one of the globally most sophisticated attempts at pursuing sustainable river basin management. Finally, practitioners and policymakers would benefit greatly because all contributions have explicit policy relevance, launching suggestion on improvements in water management.

The 1996 edition of the Yearbook of the United Nations is the single most comprehensive and authoritative reference book about the work of the United Nations and related international organizations and bodies. Fully indexed and reproducing all major General Assembly, Security Council and Economic and Social Council resolutions, the volume is not only useful for diplomats, government officials and scholars, but also for researchers, writers, journalists, teachers, students and others with a serious interest in international and UN affairs. This volume of the Yearbook details the many activities of the Organization and its organs, programmes and bodies, as they are carried out in all corners of the globe. It gives an account of their endeavours to create better and more peaceful conditions for all mankind and records their efforts to deal with matters of pressing concern in a variety of areas, including peacekeeping and peacemaking, disarmament, human rights, trade and development, control of drug abuse and illicit trafficking, crime prevention, assistance to refugees and other vulnerable populations. Building on the experience of its first 50 years, the United Nations continued in 1996 to confront major global challenges. The observance of the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty can be seen as a benchmark for action to address a plethora of global ills that beset the majority of Earth's nearly 6 billion inhabitants - hunger, inadequate housing, disease, the deterioration of the environment, unemployment. During the year, the United Nations convened two major conferences - the `City Summit' in Istanbul, centering on the two themes of adequate shelter for all, and sustainable human settlement development in an urbanizing world, and the World Food Summit in Rome, whose main goal was food security for all. The Yearbook chronicles these events and many other milestones reached, making it an invaluable tool for anyone seeking in-depth information about the United Nations family. Also available from the UN, Sales No. E.97.I.1 As of volume 51 (1997) the Yearbook of the United Nations will no longer be published by Kluwer Law International. Please contact the United Nations Bookshops in New York or Geneva for future volumes at: UN Bookshop; Room GA-32; United Nations; New York; NY 10017; USA Tel. 1-212-963-7680; Fax 1-212-963-4910 or UN Bookshop; Door 40; Palais des Nations; 1211 Geneva 10; Switzerland Tel. 41-22-917-2606; Fax 41-22-917-0027

What is the one thing that no one can do without? Water. Where water crosses boundaries – be they economic, legal, political or cultural – the stage is set for disputes between different users trying to safeguard access to a vital resource, while protecting the natural environment. Without strategies to anticipate, address, and mediate between competing users, intractable water conflicts are likely to become more frequent, more intense, and more disruptive around the world. In this book, Delli Priscoli and Wolf investigate the dynamics of water conflict and conflict resolution, from the local to the international. They explore the inexorable links between three facets of conflict management and transformation: Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), public participation, and institutional capacity. This practical guide will be invaluable to water management professionals, as well as to researchers and students in engineering, economics, geography, geology, and political science who are involved in any aspects of water management.