1st Edition

Water for the Americas Challenges and Opportunities

Edited By Alberto Garrido, Mordechai Shechter Copyright 2014
    302 Pages
    by Routledge

    302 Pages 28 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    The chapters in this volume are peer reviewed editions of the papers presented at the 7th meeting of the Rosenberg International Forum on Water Policy which was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina on November 15-17, 2010. The theme for Forum VII was Water for the Americas: Challenges and Opportunities.





    This Forum was unique in examining the water problems of the Americas and identifying water management experience gleaned in other parts of the world that might be useful in addressing the problems of the Americas. The sessions illustrated how the water problems of the Americas are common problems, differing only in degree from basin to basin. There was unanimity among the participants about the need for all inhabitants of the Americas to work together to ensure that everyone has access to adequate quantities of healthy water supplies and to appropriate sanitation services.





    This volume’s approach is to identify different responses and policies that address common issues and learn from contrasts and experiences. The value and potential that this approach affords is that it provides critical judgments about what has worked well and what needs to be done to gain a better future for the Americas’ water resources and society. Some issues covered in the volume are so pressing and urgent, chief among them is serving the unserved, that any delays putting out new facilities in many a rural areas of Central America may cost lives and reduce the outlook for children. Additionally, the volume makes clear that the outlook for the poorest and the future of hundreds of growing cities are threatened by climate change. This book looks into the future by analyzing present and relevant data and gains insight from the different developmental stages of the hemisphere.

    Part I. Introduction 1. Introduction and Overview Part II. Water Scarcity in the Americas 2. Water Scarcity in the Americas: Common Challenges – A Northern Perspective 3. Water Scarcity in Latin America and the Caribbean Myths and Reality Part III . Serving the unserved 4. Supply and sanitation: serving the urban unserved 5. Supply and Sanitation: How Are the Unserved to Be Served? Serving the Rural Unserved Part IV. Transboundary issues 6. The La Plata river basin 7. Water Governance in the Mackenzie River Basin, Canada 8. The unintentional and intentional recharge of aquifers in the Tula and the Mexico Valleys: The Megalopolis needs Mega solutions Part V. Indigenous cultures and rights 9. The Role of Indigenous Claims to Water and Indigenous Knowledge 10. Northern voices, Northern waters: traditional knowledge and water policy development in the northwest territories Part VI. Institutional innovations: learning from Asia 11. Institutional response as an adaptation to water scarcity 12. Innovations in Agricultural Groundwater Management: Examples from India Part VII. Conclusions

    Biography

    Alberto Garrido is a Professor of Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics at the Technical University of Madrid Spain.





    Mordechai Shechter is a Dean at the School of Sustainability, Interdisciplinary Center (IDC), Herzilya, Israel.

    Water for The Americas: Challenges & Opportunities is a stunning reading experience for experts and practitioners, one of the best books on water resource management I know’ — Jaroslav Mysiak, Euro-Mediterranean Centre on Climate Change, Italy