The paper provides an economist's perspective on recent conflicts over the use of water in Thailand. This paper surveys a number of the important water resource issues such as the allocation of surface and groudwater within and between river basins; and water quality and the discharge of effluents.

This single greatest cause of species extinction is human activity. The purpose of this paper is not to resolve these issues but to assess briefly some of the scientific challenges we face as we attempt to establish priorities in biodiversity conservation, and to propose a general strategy for...