Natural Resource Management and Policy – serie

The topics addressed in this book are of vital importance to the survival of humankind. Agricultural biodiversity, encompassing genetic diversity as well as human knowledge, is the base upon which agricultural production has been built, and protecting this resource is critical to ensuring the capacity of current and future generations to adapt to unforeseen challenges. Agricultural biodiversity underpins the productivity of all agricultural systems and is particularly important for poor and food-insecure farmers, who maintain highly diverse production systems in response to the marginal and risky production conditions they operate under. Understanding the importance of agricultural biodiversity in the livelihoods of the food insecure and enhancing its performance through the use of a variety of tools, including biotechnology, is a critically important issue in the world today, where over 800 million people have insufficient food to meet minimum needs. A strong theme that runs throughout the book is the importance of good public policy interventions to promote the provision of public goods associated with agricultural biodiversity conservation and directing biotechnology development to meet the needs of the poor. The book's primary innovation is that it describes the relationship between biotechnology and plant genetic diversity and puts these in the context of agricultural development. Both the conservation of plant genetic diversity and agricultural biotechnology have received extensive examination, but the linkages between the two have not, despite the apparently obvious relationship between the two.

Achieving sustainable agricultural development is at the forefront of the poverty reduction objective of the Central Asian republics - Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Since independence, the countries of the Central Asian region have undergone a series of transition from centrally planned economies to a more market oriented system. Wide-ranging policy reforms have been implemented, although in varying degrees, in the five Central Asian countries. Despite great efforts by the countries and the external advice and efforts of international agencies to help them to follow a dynamic growth path, the progress in policy reforms has been frustratingly slow. Generating momentum to reorient the approach and the sequencing of policy reform packages will require rethinking of the policy reform process. This is particularly so in the food, agriculture, and natural resource sectors. This further requires improved understanding among the policymakers, donors, and international agencies of the impact of policy alternatives so that policy reforms and the speed with which they have been implemented are consistent with the objectives and the social and political realities of individual countries in the region. Involving the local policy research community in identifying critical issues and challenges, setting priorities among them for food and agricultural and natural resource policy research and analysis, and implementing joint research studies is the best way to generate knowledge on the impact of policy reforms and to increase ownership of policy design and implementation.

Most of the books published previously in the field of water resource eco­ nomics focus on particular aspects of water economics such as institutions, pricing or water markets, but none of them have given particular attention to methodological questions. However, the applied methodology within economic research has made some remarkable advances over the last 10-20 years. Some of these advances are of particular interest to the field of water economics. Therefore, we think that a book that focusing on methodological advances within the field of water resource economics and showing how these advances can be applied in economic analysis of water issues makes a nice complement to the existing literature in this field. We identified five areas where we consider the methodological advances to be of particular importance: 1) asymmetric information and game theory, 2) un­ certainty, 3) space, 4) water quality and 5) production and technology adoption. The selected papers for the book fall entirely within these categories. The book ''Frontiers in Water Resource Economics" draws to a great extent on papers which were presented at the 7^^ Conference of the International Water and Re­ source Economics Consortium, June 3-5,2001 held in Girona, Catalonia, Spain, This conference was jointly organized with the 4^^ Conference of Environmen­ tal and Resource Economics by the Department of Economics, University of Girona.

REGULATING AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY: ECONOMICS AND POLICY Chapter 1 REGULATING AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY: INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW Richard E. Just,* David Zilberman/ and Julian M. Alston * University of Maryland, * University of California, Berkeley, University of California, Davis Abstract: This chapter introduces the topic of this book, drawing upon the content of its chapters. An overview is provided on the economics of technological regulation as applied to agricultural crop biotechnologies. Key elements of agricultural biotechnology regulation in the United States are summarized. Key words: agricultural biotechnologies, causes and consequences of technological regula­ tion, overview and synthesis 1. INTRODUCTION Agricultural biotechnologies apply modern knowledge in molecular and cell biology to produce new varieties and similar genetic materials. The use of genetically modified (GM) crop varieties has grown dramatically since they were introduced in 1995, and large portions of the land allocated to corn, soybeans, and cotton are grown with these varieties. The evidence from the United States, Canada, China, India, Brazil, and Argentina suggests that these applications of biotechnology in agriculture increase yield, reduce the use of pesticides, and save production costs.

In recent years, development policy has responded to an increasing concern about natural resource degradation by setting up innovative payment for environmental services (PES) programs in developing countries. PES programs use market and institutional incentives in order to meet both environmental and poverty alleviation objectives. However, their optimal design, implications for the rural poor, and how these initiatives integrate into international treaties on global warming and biodiversity loss are still being discussed. This book addresses these issues by scrutinizing analytical tools, providing policy insights and stimulating debate on linkages between poverty alleviation and environmental protection. In particular, it turns attention towards the role of environmental services in agricultural landscapes as they provide a living for many poor in developing countries. It serves as a valuable reference for academics and students in various disciplines, as well as for policy makers and advisors.This book is a co-publication between Springer and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

This book highlights methodological approaches for the economics of sustainable development and brings together recent empirical work done in India, especially by Dr. Surender Kumar and Dr. Shunsuke Managi. Various chapters in this book use Indian data to show the very wide applicability of methodologies in the theory of production for dealing with many empirical issues of environmentally sustainable development in a developing country. I congratulate the authors for the time and effort devoted to compiling this very useful reference on the subject and the publishers for publishing this volume. The methodologies of cost functions, distance functions, and production fu- tions have been used in many recent studies and in the studies reported in this book for environmental valuation. Environmental valuation is required for designing policy instruments like pollution taxes for sustainable development and for meas- ing green GDP. The UN methodology of integrated environmental and economic accounting provides ways of measuring the cost of maintaining environmental resources at sustainable levels or the maintenance cost for estimating green GDP. Some of the chapters in this book show that the methodology of distance functions could be used for estimating the cost of environmentally sustainable development.

Most of the world's freshwater resources in the liquid state (that is, not in glaciers and polar caps) are underground. As the population grows and demand for water rises, reliance on groundwater increases. In many cases the groundwater underlies boundaries, or is part of a hydraulic system that crosses boundaries. In such cases there is always the danger that the "prisoner's dilemma" will run its course and all parties will compete over who will pump the most water, ultimately destroying the storage potential to the detriment of future generations of all parties reliant on the groundwater. This book explores the options and means for averting this all too realistic scenario by managing these shared groundwater resources. Nowhere is the likelihood of excessive use of groundwater greater than in the water-scarce Middle East, and especially in the Israeli-Palestinian case. Here both sides are heavily reliant on a shared Mountain aquifer. This book is the outcome of a 7-year effort to find ways to manage this aquifer, perhaps the most important resource shared by Israelis and Palestinians.

Knowledge generation and transfer mechanisms are being transformed in important and controversial ways. Investment in research and development has increased in response to recognition that scientific productivity is tightly connected to economic dynamism. Patent protection has been expanded in order to stimulate higher levels of private investment. Intellectual property rights held by public organizations and researchers are now increasingly transferred to private organizations to accelerate the diffusion and enhance the value of knowledge produced by public agencies and universities. Additionally, new institutions such as university offices of technology transfer, venture capital markets, and a variety of consortia in knowledge-intensive industries are being established throughout the US and in other parts of the world. These changes have led to a repositioning of the state in systems of innovation and an increase in the proprietary character of technical information.The purpose of this book is to review and analyze i) contemporary transitions in agricultural knowledge generation and extension arrangements from an empirical perspective, and ii) emerging and contradictory perspectives as to how knowledge systems can be assessed effectively. The authors aim to provide the reader with a better understanding of: the implications of new biotechnologies and new intellectual property rights regimes on public- private relations in science, the extent to which benefits from scientific knowledge are being appropriated by private sector actors; the diversity and possible outcomes of privatization initiatives in extension; and prospects for public goods production and ecological sustainability given contemporary trends. The book presents contrasting views on the degree of complementarity and substitution between private and public sector investments in research and extension. Recognizing that the labels "public" and "private" are incomplete and at times misleading descriptions of the structure and function of coordinating bodies in social systems, the analyses highlight ways in which public and private spaces and modes of functioning combine.

The chapters collected here explore a number of different issues, including the operation of the tariff-rate quotas established under the Uruguay Round Agreement, the implications of sanitary and phytosanitary restrictions on trade, and the growing controversy over genetically modified organisms. In addition, several chapters analyze the interaction between agricultural trade and environmental concerns. The relative prosperity in U.S. agriculture that attended the passage of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 was followed by a general decline in U.S. agricultural prices from 1998 to 2000. This trend in declining prices continues through the year 2001, despite the movement toward more liberalized agricultural trade. Trade liberalization has been the result of a variety of factors, including the implementation of the Uruguay Round Agreement, and the establishment of a variety of regional trade agreements, such as the North America Free Trade Agreement. Needless to say, in the face of falling agricultural prices and increasingly liberalized agricultural trade, the agricultural policy scene is an extremely complex one, both locally and globally.This volume does not pretend to offer a single, systematic prescription for what the next agricultural policy should be. Rather, the arguments and analyses contained herein are intended to highlight several issues that must be considered in the continuing debates on agricultural policy.

The Jordan River waters are essential for the development and well being of the people of its basin. Plans for the development of its water resources were considered since the beginning of the 20th century, and have long been central to dispute between riparian nations. This volume reviews the roots of conflict over the Jordan between Arabs and Jews and the development of that conflict. It analyzes the positions of Arabs and Israelis and the role of the US in promoting a settlement. The work then presents the development of a negotiated resolution of that part of the conflict related to Jordan and Israel through the Middle East Peace Process. This book approaches the Jordanian-Israeli water affairs in the Jordan River Basin with a wide interdisciplinary perspective. It unfolds the full history of the dispute and negotiation process, beginning in the 1950s and ending with the water accord in 1974.

Freshwater resources are growing increasingly scarce and conflicts over potable water are becoming more common. In order to deal with these problems and to allocate water, managers and water resource planners must have information regarding the nature of competing water demands. This is a comprehensive treatment of economic research directed at understanding the structure of water demands in over a decade. It includes discussions of many facets of water demands, including the economic theory of water demands, econometric and programming models of water demands, the results of empirical models, and the application of water demand information in the design of water management policies. The first section of the book critically assesses the state of knowledge regarding water demands in each of the major water-using sectors: residential, industrial, and agricultural. The second section examines the demand for sewage treatment and wastewater disposal, as well as water demands in low-income countries. The third section of the book considers the valuation of water use.The final section is concerned with the application of water demand information in the management of water and the forecasting of water demands. The book traces the historical development of economic research in each of the sections. At the same time, the book also covers contemporary developments in the literature, including the role of risk in agricultural water demands, the estimation of discrete choice models of supply source choice by households in low-income countries, and use of ecological models to assess in-stream water demands. The text demonstrates the value of applying economic theory and measurement techniques to water demands. The empirical evidence summarized here clearly shows the influential role played by water prices, other commodity prices, incomes, and other economic factors in determining the demand for, and the valuation of, water resources.

After much research, the treatment of risk in agricultural research is far from harmonious - many competing risk models have been proposed, with some methodologies largely untested. Some of the leading empirical methodologies in agricultural economic research are poorly suited for problems with aggregate data where risk averse behaviour is less likely to be important. This book aims to: define the state of the literature on agricultural risk research; provide a critical evaluation of economic risk research on agriculture to date; and set a research agenda that will meet future needs and prospects. This type of research promises to become of increasing importance because agricultural policy in the US and elsewhere has decidedly shifted from explicit income support objectives to risk-related motivations of helping farmers deal with risk. Beginning with the 1996 Farm Bill, the primary set of policy instruments from US agriculture has shifted from target prices and set aside acreage to agricultural crop insurance. Because this book is intended to have specific implications for US agricultural policy, it has a decidedly domestic scope, but many of the issues have application abroad.For each of the papers and topics included in this volume, individuals have been selected to give the strongest and broadest possible treatment of each facet of the problem.

The primary focus of this book is the interaction between quantity and quality in water resource management at various levels and sectors. The chapters cover field, farm, and regional-level water allocation issues, as well as international aspects of water sharing. This book demonstrates the use of economic approaches such as linear and non-linear programming, dynamic programming, optimal control, uncertainty, and cooperative and non-cooperative game theory.

Today the goal of designing highly productive, sustainable agricultural production systems is at the forefront of agricultural research agendas around the world. This text argues the key to designing sustainable agricultural production technologies is in understanding their economic, environmental, and human health impacts. It presents a methodology designed to quantify such impacts and to represent them as tradeoffs. This tradeoff methodology is proposed as an approach to accomplish two elements in achieving agricultural sustainability. First, the tradeoffs method is a key to the design of successful interdisciplinary research projects for assessing sustainability of production systems. Second, the tradeoffs method provides a means of communicating research findings to policy makers and the public.

This is a work which probes the fundamental concepts concerning the regulation and privatization of water resources, of water pricing, and of public policies concerning the allocation of water supplied to users. It also examines all of the issues involved in a truly market-determined framework. The book is suitable for courses on water-resource management and planning, and economics of water resources, and as a basic reference work on water resources in general. Whilst the underlying data has been expanded and updated for this second edition, the basic division of the book into four parts has been maintained. The first part presents the conceptual framework within which are examined the interacting elements in the management of water resources and the role of market in water pricing and in quality-graded quantity of water. The book then focuses on water-quality control, on the nature and impact of pollution, on water recycling and re-use, and on the prevailing policy instruments.The third part points to the deficiencies of engineering solutions in the choice of public expenditures needed for the construction of water systems, and stresses the role of privatization and of centralization at the level of river basins. Finally, the book underlines the need for co-ordinating all supply programmes, projected demand, recycling and re-use.

Trans-boundary water resources are often a cause of conflict among riparian entities. Increasing demand for water resources and deterioration of existing water sources underscore the need to resolve conflicts over the allocation of consumption and pollution rights among conflicting uses and users. Because economic growth of the entities that share a water resource depends on sustainability of the resource, water has great potential as a basis for co-operation among political entities. However, enforcement of co-operation particularly in international settings is limited. Thus, parties sharing a water resource will form and remain in a co-operating coalition only when economic incentives for each can be identified. This text offers an economic approach to resolution of conflicts by identifying economic mechanisms that encourage sustainable co-operation. The book includes discussions on international, interstate, and intrastate disputes regarding both water quantity and water quality issues. It presents mechanisms for facilitating co-operation among users from agricultural, industrial, domestic, and environmental sectors.It considers the experience and potential in many regions around the world including Australia (the Muray-Darling Basin), Latin America (Chile), the Middle East (Israel and the Palestinian Authority), the US (California, Florida's Everglades, Hawaii, and the Chesapeake Bay), and Africa (South Africa, Lesotho). Part I of the text discusses international experience in forming water coalitions and offers an illustrative model of water quality coalitions. It emphasizes the dependence of sustainability of international agreements on the practical ability to create incentives through economic mechanisms and political linkages that overcome the problem of limited enforcement due to sovereignty claims. Part II discusses management of intrastate US water resources involving competing local jurisdictions or user groups and the US and Australian attempts to facilitate state management of interstate water resources through federal cooperation. Part III explores the expanding scope of trans-boundary water resource issues that contribute to complexity of conflict beyond traditional interests such as allocation and navigation rights.In particular, it analyzes the economic implications of nutrient, land, and airshed management in an environment where the interaction of trans-boundary water resources with the ecological system is considered. Trans-boundary water usage and infrastructure are discussed in the context of privatization and political uncertainty. Part IV examines economic solutions to trans-boundary water allocation including water markets, tradable water permits, contractual arrangements, and co-ordinated management. The interaction between ground and surface water and the interaction between desalinated, recycled, and fresh water is analyzed in the context of optimal water allocation. The book concludes with a critical discussion of the role and potential of the economics profession in contributing to conflict resolution and management of trans-boundary water resources. The strengths and weaknesses of economic analysis are discussed with special consideration of the modern tools of bargaining theory and game theory that go beyond economic efficiency in considering political realities.

In 1981 Chile's military government dictated a new Water Code that radically changed the country's previous water rights system by strengthening private property rights, favouring market incentives, and reducing state regulation. This book presents an empirical and interdisciplinary study of water markets in Chile, which is the leading international example of free market water policies. The book challenges the glowing reports given by neoliberals in Chile and the World Bank, showing that the results of this economic experiment have actually been rather mixed. Within the agricultural sector the Water Code has worked fairly well, although the market incentives to conserve water have been ineffective and water rights trading has been less active than expected. The Code's impact has been more negative at the level of river basins, where the institutional framework has revealed critical flaws in co-ordinating multiple water users and resolving conflicts. The book also combines law, political economy, and geography to analyze the disadvantages, problems, and wider contexts of water markets.

Dispelling many of the myths surrounding water markets, this text gives readers a comprehensive picture of the way that markets have developed in different parts of the world. It is possible, for example, for a water market to fail, and for the transaction costs in water markets to be excessive. Too often water trading is banned because the water resources have been developed with public funds and the water agencies do not want to lose control over water. There is also a concern that poor farmers or households will be disadvantaged by water trading. These concerns about public resources and the poor are not very different from those that have been voiced in the past about land sales. The problem is that in many cases the poor already have limited access to resources, but this limit is not due to water trading. In fact, water trading is likely to expand the access to water for many small-scale farmers. The text provides an analytical framework for water market establishment. It develops the necessary conditions for water markets and illustrates how they can improve both water management and economic efficiency.Finally, the book gives readers an up-to-date picture of what we have learned about water markets in a wide range of countries, from the US to Chile and India in the late 20th century.

This volume responds to concerns about the loss of valuable genetic resources and crop vulnerability arising from widespread cultivation of genetically uniform varieties. It assembles a series of applied studies focusing on the fundamental economic issues related to genetic diversity in crop species, with special reference to developing countries. By presenting the results of initial economic investigations of diversity in the world's three major food crops (wheat, maize, and rice), the volume aims to further the understanding of the economic context in which crop breeders make use of genetic resources and their diversity. The book offers concrete steps in methods and conceptual development, providing an annotated catalogue of the tools used to measure and value genetic diversity. The book should appeal to international agricultural research institutions, to international development organizations and NGOs, and to students and professors in departments of agricultural and resource economics who are concerned with the problem of biodiversity.

This text identifies and structures flexible economic incentives for the achievement of environmental goals in agriculture. It provides a conceptual framework and presents case studies that analyze how flexible incentives can address environmental problems that are caused by agricultural production. The book brings together economists, agency personnel and political economists for the purpose of exploring how new cutting-edge economic tools could be developed and applied to environmental problems. The goal of the book is to complement and to expand the economic theory of environmental regulation and technology adoption with new research findings. The key theme of this book is the important role technology takes when addressing environmental problems. New technologies and technical development are broadly defined to include economic instruments, innovative ways to commumicate environmental information, new economic institutions, and education. This book is designed for public and private policymakers, government analysts, teachers, researchers and students who specialize in the fields of natural resources, agricultural economics and environmental regulation.It provides a fresh perspective on what types of incentives may be used to lead us to the desired environmental outcomes and offers new ideas about the types of economic instruments that may achieve these outcomes.

Nonpoint-source pollution (PSP) poses a special challenge to society's ability to manage its collective environmental good - especially surface and groundwater quality. Since there is no "point", such as an outfall pipe, from which the pollution is being discharged and can be measured, pollution can reach the ambient environment without being monitored. Since management of air and water pollution requires the definition and enforcement of limits on discharges or the imposition of fees on those discharges, inability to measure limits on discharges or the imposition of fees on those discharges, inability to measure limits our ability to manage this environmental problem. This book presents a state-or-the-art review and discussion of economists' efforts to resolve this major problem and attempts to provide a way of working around it. The book sets forth the theoretical issues, modeling, and the actual programmes set up to confront this issue.

Dedicated to furthering scientific understanding of drought assessment and management and the policy issues associated with drought preparedness worldwide, this work is divided into two parts. Part One emphasizes theoretical aspects of drought assessment, management, and preparedness; it also includes a discussion of the concept of drought. These chapters are aimed at improving the reader's understanding and awareness of drought; appropriate technologies to monitor drought's onset, development and termination; emerging methodologies to estimate impacts; adjustment strategies to alleviate drought effects; and a methodology for countries to follow in the development of a national drought policy and plan. Part One concludes with an insightful examination of how changes in climate may alter climatic variability and the frequency and intensity of extreme events, particularly drought. The successes and failures of previous assessment and response efforts are highlighted in Part Two through case studies in Israel, India, Brazil, South Africa, Australia, the United States, and China.Several of these case studies provide insight into the difficulties inherent in the provision of timely and effective drought assistance by government in both a developed and developing country setting. The lessons learned in these instances provide both an opportunity and challenge to other drought-prone nations to learn from these experiences and avoid some of the mistakes of the past. Some of the case studies in Part Two illustrate remarkable progress in drought preparedness and are examples for other nations to follow.

Government subsidized crop insurance has been used by a number of developed countries as a mechanism to reduce farm income instability by reducing yield risks. This book provides an in-depth analysis and evaluation of government provided crop insurance in developed countries. The book is organized into three sections: Part one presents background material on crop insurance programs in the U.S., Canada and selected other countries. Part two provides some analytical models of multiple peril crop insurance which suggest the possibility of modification of design which could improve performance and which explores theoretical linkages between crop insurance decisions and other producer decisions previously not analyzed. The main part of the book is Part three, where the results of a series of empirical studies using databases particularly designed to answer crop insurance questions are presented. This part of the book tests a number of the hypotheses which were raised in Parts one and two regarding reasons for the view widely held by economists that crop insurance has not functioned well.

The subject of this volume is the human economy and its co-evolutionary relationship with the natural world. This relationship is examined in three broad types of societies; hunter-gatherers, agriculturalists, and modern market economies. A growing body of scientific evidence has made it clear that the current human impact on the environment is far above the level that can be maintained without causing profound changes in the biophysical world to which we belong. The new fields of ecological economics and evolutionary economics can help us understand the relationship between the economy, society and the environment and may help us to formulate effective policies to manage these changes.

This text is about economic transformation in agriculture and the adjustments needed in public and private strategies to facilitate it. The book uses theory from the social and physical sciences and practical experience gained throughout the world to recommend strategies that are generally applicable to new market economies in transition. Bulgaria is used as a case example because it provides an empirical reference of interest as a result of its diversity, its massive restructuring, and its precollectivization history as an efficient sector. The book also provides a means for co-ordinating output from a variety of projects currently active in Eastern Europe.

This work covers the various aspects of the use of pesticides, their behaviour, degradation, and impacts in wetland ricefields, and presents the results of surveys conducted in the Philippines and Thailand. It includes both bibliographic reviews and selected aspects of the experimental results of a research project on pesticide impacts in wetland ricefields. The first phase of the "Pesticide Impact" project was developed in the Philippines from 1989 to 1991. It was a multidisciplinary/collaborative approach involving scientists from IRRI, NRI (England), ORSTOM (France), UPLB (Philippines) who studied the effects of pesticides on the environment and on farmers' health, and the economical aspects of their use.

Growing populations and economies have increased the public's awareness that the world's environmental resources are finite. The issues of global warming and the depletion of the ozone layer have given universal significance to what were once local and regional pollution problems. What is evident from this book is that Coasian negotiations fail to internalize the costs of environmental degradation, often calling for public intervention through the market mechanism. In its consideration of such issues, the book includes contributions on assessment problems, institutional aspects, the need for co-ordination and efficiency, and distribution issues.

This study demonstrates a link between physical models of the environment and policy analysis in support of policy making. Each chapter addresses an environmental policy issue using a quantitative modelling approach. Three general areas of environmental policy are addressed: non-point source pollution in the agricultural sector; pollution generated in the extractive industries; and transboundary pollutants from burning fossil fuels. The book concludes by discussing the modelling efforts and the use of mathematical models in general.

Centralized, top-down management of water resources through regulations has created unnecessary economic burdens upon users. More flexible decentralized controls through the use of economic incentives have gained acceptance over the past decade. The theme of this volume is the increasing efforts throughout water-scarce regions to rely upon economic incentives and decentralized mechanisms for efficient water management and allocation. The book begins with a section of introductory chapters describing water systems, institutions, constraints, and similarities in the following regions: Israel and the Middle East, Turkey, California, Florida, and Australia. Four of these regions face similar climates with wet winters and dry summers. Florida has a more even seasonal distribution of rainfall, yet it uses similar management strategies in controlling groundwater demand and water quality. The book continues with a three-part section on different themes of water resource economics. These chapters provide theoretical models relevant to their areas and address empirical problems relevant to all the regions discussed.While most chapters use a particular region for their empirical analysis, the theoretical models reveal their applicability to other areas. Part I consists of several chapters that illustrate political economic considerations of water resource allocation. Part II looks at water institutions and their role in creating flexible water management mechanisms using economic principles. Part III looks at the impacts of incorporating uncertainty into resource management. The use of uncertainty in models is especially important for water management in regions with high degrees of supply uncertainty. The text concludes with a section on water management case studies. These case studies examine issues of conflict related to both water quality and water quantity. While the case studies address both international and intranational concerns in specific regions of the world, they portray broad principles that are applicable to many regions.