The issues surrounding water quality, quantity, and possible future conflicts over shared international water resources may soon overshadow most other environmental concerns. This book, a joint project between the Pacific Institute and the Stockholm Environment Institute, will be a comprehensive guide to the world's fresh water resources, access to clean drinking water and sanitation, the use of water for energy and food production, the quality of rivers, lakes, and inland seas, and the condition of fresh water fisheries and natural aquatic ecosytems. In addition, eight essays by leading specialists will cover such issues as the status of international water law, hydroelectric power, the possible effects of climatic change on water resources, and the state of fresh water fisheries. Using many tables of data specially prepared for this volume this work constitutes a much needed, detailed and critical assessment of the world's fresh water resources.
Dr. Peter H. Gleick is co-founder and president of the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security in Oakland, California. His research and writing address the critical connections between water and human health, the hydrologic impacts of climate change, sustainable water use, privatization and globalization, and international conflicts over water resources.
Dr. Gleick is an internationally recognized water expert and was named a MacArthur Fellow in October 2003 for his work. In 2001, Gleick was dubbed a "visionary on the environment" by the British Broadcasting Corporation. In 1999, Gleick was elected an Academician of the International Water Academy, in Oslo, Norway and in 2006, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C. In 2008, Wired Magazine named him "one of 15 people the next President should listen to."
Gleick received a B.S. from Yale University and an M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. He serves on the boards of numerous journals and organizations, and is the author of many scientific papers and eight books, including the biennial water report, "The World's Water" and his latest, "Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water."
