Asit K. Biswas - Böcker

The contributors study the three major river basins of the Middle East, and address the difficulties faced by the countries in this arid region. They make practical suggestions for a basin-wide approach to international water management. This book is intended for professionals concerned with water resources planning and management; policy-makers.

Singapore´s journey during the past 45 years is an outstanding example that, in spite of multiple hardships, pragmatic policies, clear visions, long-term planning, forward-looking strategies and political will, as well as a relentless urge to improve, can result in strong foundations for sustainable development. This book describes the journey of Singapore´s development and the fundamental role that water has had in shaping it. What makes this case so unique is that the quest for self-sufficiency in terms of water availability in a fast-changing urban context has been crucial to the way development policies and agendas have been planned throughout the years. The authors analyse plans, policies, institutions, laws and regulations, water demand and water supply strategies, water quality and water conservation considerations, partnerships and importance of the media. They assess overall how all these issues have evolved in response to the dynamic needs of the city-state. The study of Singapore shows how a dynamic society can address development without losing its focus on the environment. In the city-state, environmental concerns in general, and water concerns in particular, have played a major role in its transformation from a third word to a first world country. How and why this transformation took place is the main focus of this authoritative book.

Singapore´s journey during the past 45 years is an outstanding example that, in spite of multiple hardships, pragmatic policies, clear visions, long-term planning, forward-looking strategies and political will, as well as a relentless urge to improve, can result in strong foundations for sustainable development. This book describes the journey of Singapore´s development and the fundamental role that water has had in shaping it. What makes this case so unique is that the quest for self-sufficiency in terms of water availability in a fast-changing urban context has been crucial to the way development policies and agendas have been planned throughout the years. The authors analyse plans, policies, institutions, laws and regulations, water demand and water supply strategies, water quality and water conservation considerations, partnerships and importance of the media. They assess overall how all these issues have evolved in response to the dynamic needs of the city-state. The study of Singapore shows how a dynamic society can address development without losing its focus on the environment. In the city-state, environmental concerns in general, and water concerns in particular, have played a major role in its transformation from a third word to a first world country. How and why this transformation took place is the main focus of this authoritative book.

Coffee, as a commodity and through its global value chains, is the focus of much interest to achieve fair trade and equitable outcomes for producers, processors and consumers. It has iconic cultural and economic significance for Colombia, which is one of the world's major coffee producers for the global market. This book examines sustainable coffee production in Colombia, specifically the initiatives of Nestlé to create shared value. It describes the transformation of the coffee landscape by the development of economically, socially and environmentally viable and dedicated supply chains. Suppliers have been encouraged to shift production and quality paradigms, in order to develop long-term and sustainable strategies for higher value and premium quality products. This has been partially achieved by establishing a robust partnership with the Coffee Growers Federation and other public, private and social actors, thereby taking control of the institutional architecture and knowledge base that exists in the country. The book provides an important lesson of corporate social responsibility and the creation of shared value for the benefit of farmers, corporations and consumers.

Coffee, as a commodity and through its global value chains, is the focus of much interest to achieve fair trade and equitable outcomes for producers, processors and consumers. It has iconic cultural and economic significance for Colombia, which is one of the world's major coffee producers for the global market. This book examines sustainable coffee production in Colombia, specifically the initiatives of Nestlé to create shared value. It describes the transformation of the coffee landscape by the development of economically, socially and environmentally viable and dedicated supply chains. Suppliers have been encouraged to shift production and quality paradigms, in order to develop long-term and sustainable strategies for higher value and premium quality products. This has been partially achieved by establishing a robust partnership with the Coffee Growers Federation and other public, private and social actors, thereby taking control of the institutional architecture and knowledge base that exists in the country. The book provides an important lesson of corporate social responsibility and the creation of shared value for the benefit of farmers, corporations and consumers.

Nestlé’s Moga factory was set up in 1961 and comprises of the primary milk collection area for Nestlé‘s operations. Since its inception in Moga, Nestlé has been working with its milk farmers and ancillary suppliers towards improving quality and productivity. The study presented in this book (carried out by the Third World Centre for Water Management, Mexico) highlights Nestlé’s way of doing business through its philosophy of Creating Shared Value (CSV) and how it contributed to the development of the region over the past 50 years through direct and indirect employment, steady income for milk and other suppliers, and technology transfer. The main objective of the study is to learn to what extent has Nestlé contributed to fulfilling the societal aspirations and expectations of the people working in and around its factory in terms of employment generation, poverty alleviation, general improvements in the community’s standards of living and environmental conservation. The study also tried to determine to what extent has the company created shared value for itself, milk farmers, ancillary firms, and the community at large. This effort aims at encouraging more research to be carried out to comprehensively and authoritatively look into the impacts private sector can have on and around the area where their factories are located and that way, contribute to our understanding of social-corporate-government interdependency. An important aspect of this pioneering monograph is the methodology that could be used to study how Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) or Creating Shared Value (CSV) of a large multinational company can be properly monitored and objectively evaluated at a region-specific scale, especially as very few studies of this nature have been carried out anywhere in the world. This definitive book is further enriched by a foreword by Prof. Michael Porter of Harvard Business School and an epilogue by Peter Brabeck-Letmatheand Paul Bulcke, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Nestlé respectively.

The authors describe the status of water resource use and water quality in Canada, the US and Mexico at the start of the third millenium. The book summarizes future water use and supply projections, plus the primary challenges currently facing water resource managers. The analysis regarding resource projections and management needs are derived from government reports and position papers published by private resource advocacy organizations. The report is organized to provide general information about North America, its water management infrastructure, water use by sector, water quality, and future infrastructure needs.

This study is a major first attempt to address the many issues associated with the institutional innovation in water resource management comprehensively and in depth. It is a global survey and assessment of the structure, evolution, and performance of water institutions in regional, national, and international settings. It includes: an analysis and discussion of the rationale for institutional innovations, based on case study findings; specific suggestions for sustainable institutional design; and recommendations for implementing institutional reforms. The term "water institutions" in the context of this volume is broadly defined to include water laws and regulations, water supply schemes, water technologies, regulatory practices, and water administration policies, all viewed in light of the prevailing socioeconomic, political, and cultural settings in which they are embedded.

Considerable attention has been given during the past few years to the water crisis that many regions of the world may face in the coming decades. While the mag- tude and the extent of the global water scarcity problems of the future should not be underestimated, a serious analysis of the current trends indicate that the main water crisis in the coming years is most likely to stem primarily from water quality deterioration and lack of investment funds, rather than from physical water scar- ties per se, as is widely expected at present. In spite of the seriousness of continuing water quality deterioration in most countries of the world, water quality management continues to be a somewhat - glected issue in the international water community. Even the magnitudes and - tents of the water quality problems are not reliably known in many developed countries and in nearly all developing ones. Accordingly, in order to assess the current situation in water quality management in the Americas, and to discuss the alternatives available to improve the existing and future water quality conditions in a cost-effective and timely manner, the Third World Centre for Water M- agement in Mexico, the National Water Agency in Brazil (Agência Nacional de Águas), and the Inter-American Development Bank organised a workshop on “Water Quality Management for the Americas,” in Fortaleza, Brazil, 12-13 April 2004.

Since the late 1990s, megaconferences in the water-related sectors have become regular occurrences. The latest one, in Mexico City, in March 2006, is estimated to have cost a total of $205 million, and had 19,000+ participants. In spite of such huge costs and organizational efforts, not a single water megaconference has ever been seriously evaluated in terms of its overall impacts on the water sector. This book is the first pioneering study to assess the impacts of the megaconferences on water policies, programs and projects at global, regional and national levels. The results are bleak. The evaluation indicated that except for the UN Water Conference, held in Argentina in 1977, the impacts of the subsequent megaconferences have been at best marginal in terms of knowledge generation and application, poverty alleviation, environmental conservation and /or increasing availability of investments funds for the water sector.

Water’s role in the nature is very fundamental. As it circulates in the atmosphere, in the rivers, lakes, soil, rock, and in the oceans, it is the major conveyer of va- ous chemical substances and of energy, and it can also be called as the blood of the ecosystems of this planet. But at the same time water is interwoven in the va- ous functions of the nature and the human society in countless ways which makes water one of the most complicated challenges of the mankind today. These ch- lenges call for seeing water in a broad development framework, pressed by a mix of demographic, social, environmental, technological and economic drivers. Human beings are exploiting and enjoying, but at the same time polluting and deteriorating, the waters in various ways and water is equally important to the - man socio-economic system as it is to the nature. It may sound a bit anecdotal to say that water obeys no borders, but that is true; the hydrologic cycle with its r- ers, river basins, lakes, aquifers, rainfalls, oceans, etc., cross administrational b- ders without any passport control. River and lake basins are in most cases very different from the administrational borders that the human beings have set up.

Aragon: Forum for Global Debates on Water Water is such a scarce resource, and of such high value, that it merits profound re?ection on its future management. With this in mind, the idea emerged of org- ising a unique international summit in Aragon - because of the issue involved and because it would be the ?rst to which top-level experts from a variety of sectors and disciplines would be invited to debate the future of water management. Accordingly, in November 2006, the newly established International Centre of Water and the Environment (CIAMA-La Alfranca) of the Government of Aragon brought together leading national and international experts on water issues, as well as on population, development, economics, agriculture, energy, health, and techn- ogy, for a workshop entitled "Water Management Beyond 2020." Various probable scenarios for the management of water in the medium and long term were debated. Those who also took part in organising the event included the Mexico-based Third World Centre for Water Management, headed by its President Prof. Asit K. Biswas, who is also a Senior Advisor to CIAMA, and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation of the United States, with its President Mr.Keiji Iwatake. I wish to thank them, as well as Dr. Cecilia Tortajada, Scienti?c Director of the CIAMA and President of the Int- national Water Resources Association, for their dedication and e?ort in conceiving the event and ensuring its success.

In recent years, a greater level of integration of the world economy and an opening of national markets to trade has impacted virtually all areas of society. The process of globalization has the potential to generate long-term benefits for developing countries, including enhanced technology and knowledge transfers and new fina- ing options supporting agricultural and economic development. However, risks of political and economic instability, increased inequality, and losses in agricultural income and production for countries that subsidize their agricultural and other e- nomic sectors threaten to offset potential benefits. Globalization can also have a profound impact on the water sector – in terms of allocation and use of water – and thus on food security as well. Other global change processes, particularly climate change, are also likely to have far-reaching impacts on water and food security, and societies around the world. To discuss these issues in-depth, the International Food Policy Research Institute, the Third World Centre for Water Management, Mexico, and the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE), Costa Rica, held a three-day International Conference on “Globalization and Trade: Implications for Water and Food Security,” at CATIE’s Turrialba, Costa Rica, headquarters under the auspices of the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food in 2005. The workshop set out to identify the major risks and emerging issues facing developing countries related to global economic and environmental change impacts on water and food security.

The authors describe the status of water resource use and water quality in Canada, the US and Mexico at the start of the third millenium. The book summarizes future water use and supply projections, plus the primary challenges currently facing water resource managers. The analysis regarding resource projections and management needs are derived from government reports and position papers published by private resource advocacy organizations. The report is organized to provide general information about North America, its water management infrastructure, water use by sector, water quality, and future infrastructure needs.

This is a global survey and assessment of the structure, evolution, and performance of water institutions -- administration policies and regulatory practices -- in regional, national, and international settings. The coverage includes analysis and discussion of the rationale for institutional innovations, based on case study findings; specific suggestions for sustainable institutional design; and recommendations for implementing institutional reforms.

Considerable attention has been given during the past few years to the water crisis that many regions of the world may face in the coming decades. While the mag- tude and the extent of the global water scarcity problems of the future should not be underestimated, a serious analysis of the current trends indicate that the main water crisis in the coming years is most likely to stem primarily from water quality deterioration and lack of investment funds, rather than from physical water scar- ties per se, as is widely expected at present. In spite of the seriousness of continuing water quality deterioration in most countries of the world, water quality management continues to be a somewhat - glected issue in the international water community. Even the magnitudes and - tents of the water quality problems are not reliably known in many developed countries and in nearly all developing ones. Accordingly, in order to assess the current situation in water quality management in the Americas, and to discuss the alternatives available to improve the existing and future water quality conditions in a cost-effective and timely manner, the Third World Centre for Water M- agement in Mexico, the National Water Agency in Brazil (Agência Nacional de Águas), and the Inter-American Development Bank organised a workshop on “Water Quality Management for the Americas,” in Fortaleza, Brazil, 12-13 April 2004.

Since the late 1990s, megaconferences in the water-related sectors have become regular occurrences. The latest one, in Mexico City, in March 2006, is estimated to have cost a total of $205 million, and had 19,000+ participants. In spite of such huge costs and organizational efforts, not a single water megaconference has ever been seriously evaluated in terms of its overall impacts on the water sector. This book is the first pioneering study to assess the impacts of the megaconferences on water policies, programs and projects at global, regional and national levels. The results are bleak. The evaluation indicated that except for the UN Water Conference, held in Argentina in 1977, the impacts of the subsequent megaconferences have been at best marginal in terms of knowledge generation and application, poverty alleviation, environmental conservation and /or increasing availability of investments funds for the water sector.

Water’s role in the nature is very fundamental. As it circulates in the atmosphere, in the rivers, lakes, soil, rock, and in the oceans, it is the major conveyer of va- ous chemical substances and of energy, and it can also be called as the blood of the ecosystems of this planet. But at the same time water is interwoven in the va- ous functions of the nature and the human society in countless ways which makes water one of the most complicated challenges of the mankind today. These ch- lenges call for seeing water in a broad development framework, pressed by a mix of demographic, social, environmental, technological and economic drivers. Human beings are exploiting and enjoying, but at the same time polluting and deteriorating, the waters in various ways and water is equally important to the - man socio-economic system as it is to the nature. It may sound a bit anecdotal to say that water obeys no borders, but that is true; the hydrologic cycle with its r- ers, river basins, lakes, aquifers, rainfalls, oceans, etc., cross administrational b- ders without any passport control. River and lake basins are in most cases very different from the administrational borders that the human beings have set up.

Aragon: Forum for Global Debates on Water Water is such a scarce resource, and of such high value, that it merits profound re?ection on its future management. With this in mind, the idea emerged of org- ising a unique international summit in Aragon - because of the issue involved and because it would be the ?rst to which top-level experts from a variety of sectors and disciplines would be invited to debate the future of water management. Accordingly, in November 2006, the newly established International Centre of Water and the Environment (CIAMA-La Alfranca) of the Government of Aragon brought together leading national and international experts on water issues, as well as on population, development, economics, agriculture, energy, health, and techn- ogy, for a workshop entitled "Water Management Beyond 2020." Various probable scenarios for the management of water in the medium and long term were debated. Those who also took part in organising the event included the Mexico-based Third World Centre for Water Management, headed by its President Prof. Asit K. Biswas, who is also a Senior Advisor to CIAMA, and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation of the United States, with its President Mr.Keiji Iwatake. I wish to thank them, as well as Dr. Cecilia Tortajada, Scienti?c Director of the CIAMA and President of the Int- national Water Resources Association, for their dedication and e?ort in conceiving the event and ensuring its success.

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.

In recent years, a greater level of integration of the world economy and an opening of national markets to trade has impacted virtually all areas of society. The process of globalization has the potential to generate long-term benefits for developing countries, including enhanced technology and knowledge transfers and new fina- ing options supporting agricultural and economic development. However, risks of political and economic instability, increased inequality, and losses in agricultural income and production for countries that subsidize their agricultural and other e- nomic sectors threaten to offset potential benefits. Globalization can also have a profound impact on the water sector – in terms of allocation and use of water – and thus on food security as well. Other global change processes, particularly climate change, are also likely to have far-reaching impacts on water and food security, and societies around the world. To discuss these issues in-depth, the International Food Policy Research Institute, the Third World Centre for Water Management, Mexico, and the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE), Costa Rica, held a three-day International Conference on “Globalization and Trade: Implications for Water and Food Security,” at CATIE’s Turrialba, Costa Rica, headquarters under the auspices of the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food in 2005. The workshop set out to identify the major risks and emerging issues facing developing countries related to global economic and environmental change impacts on water and food security.

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 pursues a comprehensive approach so as to arrive at a better understanding of the implications of climate change on sustainable development, focusing on the perspective of water.

This book highlights what are likely to be the future megatrends in the water sector and why and how they should be incorporated to improve water governance in the coming decades.

This book highlights what are likely to be the future megatrends in the water sector and why and how they should be incorporated to improve water governance in the coming decades.

This book highlights the likely impacts of climate change in terms of global and national water securities, how different countries are attempting to address these complex problems and to what extent they are likely to succeed.  A major global concern at present, especially after the social and economic havoc that has been caused by COVID-19 in only one year, is how we can return to earlier levels of economic development patterns and then further improve the process so that sustainable development goals are reached to the extent possible by 2030, in both developed and developing countries. Mankind is now facing two existential problems over the next several decades. These are climate change and whether the world will have access to enough water to meet all its food, energy, environment and health needs. Much of expected climate change impacts can be seen through the lens of extreme hydrological events, like droughts, floods and other extreme hydrometeorological events.Chapter 7 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.Chapter 12 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

This book highlights the likely impacts of climate change in terms of global and national water securities, how different countries are attempting to address these complex problems and to what extent they are likely to succeed.  A major global concern at present, especially after the social and economic havoc that has been caused by COVID-19 in only one year, is how we can return to earlier levels of economic development patterns and then further improve the process so that sustainable development goals are reached to the extent possible by 2030, in both developed and developing countries. Mankind is now facing two existential problems over the next several decades. These are climate change and whether the world will have access to enough water to meet all its food, energy, environment and health needs. Much of expected climate change impacts can be seen through the lens of extreme hydrological events, like droughts, floods and other extreme hydrometeorological events.Chapter 7 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.Chapter 12 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

This book pursues a comprehensive approach so as to arrive at a better understanding of the implications of climate change on sustainable development, focusing on the perspective of water. Climate change is one of today’s most pressing global issues and will become increasingly important in the decades to come, as societies will feel its pervasive impacts in many aspects of their lives. Given that the majority of these climate change impacts will be felt through the medium of water, the book explores the interrelationships and inter-linkages between water, climate change and sustainable development.

This book analyses how a water utility from a developing country, Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority, that was totally dysfunctional, corruption-ridden and literally bankrupt in 1993, became one of the most successful water utilities of the developing world in only about 15 years.