On September 28, 2005, after a year of extensive background research, two conferences hosted in February and March 2005, and collaboration with several experts, the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Sandia National Laboratories released a White Paper outlining the major conclusions of the Global Water Futures project. The goal of the project was to generate fresh thinking and concrete policy recommendations on how the United States can (1) better address future global water challenges and (2) more efficiently leverage and deploy available technologies. The White Paper, "Addressing Our Global Water Future," meets these goals by exploring four themes supported by fourteen main "Findings" that together highlight the core tenets of an integrated, comprehensive U.S. foreign policy toward global water challenges.

U.S. policies on the range of pressing international water-related issues--umanitarian relief, human health, economic development, environmental stewardship, and stability and security--fragmented, underresourced, and insufficiently coordinated. In particular, both the U.S. government's current organizational structure and the resources it now commits to water-related policies are inadequate for meeting the global water challenge in its current form. And when it comes to addressing future trends involving water, the government's structure falls far short of what will be required to respond to the mounting complexities--nd policy challenges--ssociated with the dynamic interactions among water, agriculture, the environment, and energy. To examine ideas on how to reform the structure and procedures of government to address the global water crisis, a working group of individuals representing diverse institutions and perspectives was organized by the CSIS Global Strategy Institute. This report and its recommendations were inspired by the working group and build on many of the valuable comments and reactions that were part of the group's deliberations.

Produced biennially, The World's Water is the most comprehensive and up-to-to date source of information and analysis on freshwater resources. Each new volume examines critical global trends and offers the best data available on a variety of topics related to water. Volume 8 features chapters on hydraulic fracturing (fracking), water footprints, sustainable water jobs, and desalination financing, among other timely issues. Water briefs provide concise updates on topics including the Dead-Sea and the role of water in the Syrian conflict. The World's Water is coauthored by MacArthur "genius" Peter H. Gleick and his colleagues at the world-renowned Pacific Institute. Since the first volume was published in 1998, the series has become an indispensable resource for professionals in government agencies and nongovernmental organizations, researchers, students, and anyone concerned with water and its use.

Over the last decade, water security has replaced sustainability as the key optic for thinking about how we manage water. This reframing has offered benefits (including clear recognition of the link between humans, the environment and the right to water) and also posed challenges (the tendency in some quarters to interpret “security” solely in terms of geopolitical or economic “securitisation”). In this collection, the authors offer a radical repositioning of these debates updated to reflect the concerns of our post-pandemic world. The chapters in this volume examine several different themes including how water security articulates with locality and culture, how it operates across spatial scales and its moral/ethical resonances. The chapters in this book were originally published in the journals Water International and International Journal of Water Resources Development.

This unique, engaging, and highly authoritative volume enlightens readers on changes needed in the way society accesses, provides, and uses water. It further shines a light on changes needed in the way we use food, energy, and other goods and services in relation to water, and offers projections and recommendations, up to 2050, that apply to water access challenges facing the poor and the common misuse of water in industry, agriculture, and municipalities. Written by an unparalleled slate of experts convened by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the book takes on one of the most critical issues on the planet today. In a frank yet optimistic assessment of major developmental challenges, but also opportunities, facing future generations, the author elucidates linkages between water and a range of other drivers from various disciplinary and stakeholder perspectives. Ultimately portraying the belief that Humanity can harness its visionary abilities, technologies, and economic resources for increased wellbeing and sound stewardship of resources, the book presents an optimistic statement stressing actions scientists, policy makers, and consumers can and must take to meet the water management challenges of a warming planet anticipating nine billion inhabitants by 2050. Gulbenkian Think Tank on Water and the Future of Humanity: Benedito Braga, Pres. World Water Council & Prof. of Civil Engineering, Univ. of São Paulo, Brazil; Colin Chatres, Director General of the International Water Management Institute, Sri Lanka; William J. Cosgrove, Pres. of Ecoconsult Inc. & Senior Adviser for the UN World Water Development Report, Canada; Luis Veiga da Cunha, Prof. Environmental Science and Engineering, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal; Peter Gleick, Pres. of the Pacific Institute, USA; Pavel Kabat, Director, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Austria; and Prof. & Chair, Earth Systems Science, Wageningen University, The Netherlands; Mohamed Ait Kadi, President of the General Council of Agricultural Development, Morocco; Daniel P. Loucks, Prof. of Civil Engineering, Cornell Univ. USA; Jan Lundqvist, Senior Scientific Advisor, Stockholm International Water Institute, Sweden; Sunita Narain, Director, Center for Science & Environment, New Delhi, India; Jun Xia, Pres., International Water Resources Association, Chair Prof. & Dean, The Research Institute for Water Security (RIWS), Wuhan University, China.

This is a pioneering study about the relationship between fresh water, peace, and security in Asia from the Middle East to Siberia but with a special focus on South and Southeast Asia. Asia is home to many of the world's great rivers and lakes, but its huge population and booming economies make it the most water-scarce continent on a per capita basis. Over extensive irrigation, pollution, and global warming add to the demographic and economic pressures on Asia's fresh water supplies. The location of the sources for much of South and Southeast Asia's fresh water is in the Chinese controlled Tibetan Plateau, and China's increasing exploitation of these water sources have created growing geopolitical tensions that could boil over into conflict. India is reliant on fresh water from Tibet, which gives the Chinese uncomfortable leverage over India and further exacerbates their unsettled border disputes. Vietnam, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and other countries of the region also find themselves in similarly vulnerable positions where water is scarce and the sources are increasingly being exploited and polluted upstream by the continent's most powerful country. Brahma Chellaney proposes strategies to avoid conflict and more equitably share and preserve Asia's water resources.

In June 2006, seventeen scientists and educators selected by the National Academies, the Academy of Sciences of Iran, and the Académie des Sciences of France held a workshop at the estate of the Fondation des Treilles in Toutour, France, to discuss issues concerning the role of science in the development of modern societies. Science and Technology and the Future Development of Societies includes the presentations made at the workshop and summarizes the discussions that followed the presentations. Topics of the workshop included science and society issues, the role of science and engineering in development; obstacles and opportunities in the application of science and technology to development; scientific thinking of decision makers; management and utilization of scientific knowledge; and science, society, and education. This book also provides useful background for the further development of interactions of Western scientists and educators with Iranian specialists.