This paper served as a background paper to the European Report on Development 2011/2012: Confronting scarcity: Managing water, energy and land for inclusive and sustainable growth. The European Report on Development was prepared by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) in partnership with the...

Indian agriculture is estimated to be consuming about 78 percent of total fresh water resources available in the country. Yet, more than half of the gross cropped area is still dependent on rains. Extremely skewed allocation of scarce irrigation water amongst crops and inefficient use of the...

Although climate change is expected to have major consequences that affect the global environment in its broadest sense, one of the earliest and most direct impacts will be on Earth's fresh water systems. While some regions will experience increased precipitation, others will suffer serious...

Non-profit organizations have been working for the benefit of humanity for hundreds of years. One of the major issues that have been highlighted recently is the long-term sustainability of these interventions. In previous studies most scholars have focused on the individual actions of a single...

Water resources are facing several stresses in terms of quantity and quality. These pressures are closely related to the human interventions in fields like: agriculture, land-use/land use change, construction/management of reservoirs, pollutant emissions, and water /wastewater treatment, among...

Water resources are facing several stresses in terms of quantity and quality. These pressures are closely related to the human interventions in fields like: agriculture, land-use/land use change, construction/management of reservoirs, pollutant emissions, and water/wastewater treatment, among...

As part of a “Regional Initiative on Water Scarcity in the NENA Region”, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has been proposing a practical tool for the assessment of investment projects, called the Food Supply Cost Curve (FSCC). This chapter illustrates the concept of the Food...

As part of a “Regional Initiative on Water Scarcity in the NENA Region”, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has been proposing a practical tool for the assessment of investment projects, called the Food Supply Cost Curve (FSCC). This chapter illustrates the concept of the Food...

The research presented in this paper focuses on the sustainable use of water resources in Russia based on a Foresight study with a 20-year time horizon. The study uses a scenario-planning method to develop four trajectories: economic depression, economic stagnation, visionary future, and...

Water resources are crucial for the continuity of life. Humans and living species need fresh water for drinking and sanitation, while industries in most sectors of the economy need water for some part of production processes themselves. Access to fresh water is a grand challenge at the global...