One of the most controversial issues of the water sector in recent years has been the impacts of large dams. Proponents have claimed that such structures are essential to meet the increasing water demands of the world and that their overall societal benefits far outweight the costs. In contrast, the opponents claim that social and environmental costs of large dams far exceed their benefits, and that the era of construction of large dams is over. A major reason as to why there is no consensus on the overall benefits of large dams is because objective, authoritative and comprehensive evaluations of their impacts, especially ten or more years after their construction, are conspicuous by their absence. This book debates impartially, comprehensively and objectively, the positive and negative impacts of large dams based on facts, figures and authoritative analyses. These in-depth case studies are expected to promote a healthy and balanced debate on the needs, impacts and relevance of large dams, with case studies from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and Latin America.

This book discusses national development planning in the context of a globalized world economy. National economic development planning, the process of defining strategic economic objectives for a country and designing policies and institutional frameworks to attain them, was popular in many countries in the 1960s and 1970s. Over time it lost its appeal. More recently, with globalization accelerating and economic competition increasing, it is making a comeback in different countries under different forms. National planning in this new era is different than the earlier quantitative planning approaches. It employs different tools, such as strategic visions and action plans, revived forms of physical infrastructure planning, industrial policy, and cluster policy. Built on the research of international scholars with firsthand knowledge of the countries in question, this volume presents and evaluates current national planning strategies and policy worldwide. It will be of interest to both academicians who study and teach globalization and development as well as policy makers who may use it as a reference as they contemplate their own strategies.

Includes special sessions.

An invaluable guide to understanding and meeting the broad professional requirements for QTS, for all primary trainees.