Water: A Shared Responsibilty [Illustrated] [Paperback]

UNWWAP (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1845451775 | ISBN-13: 978-1845451776 | Publication Date: April 30, 2006 | Edition: illustrated edition

A joint undertaking of the 24 UN agencies comprising UN-Water, and in partnership with governments and other entities concerned with freshwater issues, this volume, covering as it does all regions and most countries of the world, provides an up-to-date global overview of the state and uses of freshwater, critical water-related problems, and societies' coping mechanisms. Drawing on an extensive database, expert analysis, case studies, and hundreds of graphic elements, it is the most comprehensive undertaking to date of freshwater assessment, providing a mechanism for monitoring changes in the resource and its management and progress towards achieving development targets, particularly the Millennium Development Goals. Building on the conclusions of the first United Nations "World Water Development Report", "Water for People, Water for Life (2003)", the 2006 Report confirms the ongoing, serious and growing water crisis - essentially a crisis of governance - and points to a prevalent lack of capacity and knowledge base as today's primary obstacles to achieving the necessary levels of water governance. This volume proposes a more integrated vision of water resources management to respond to changing environmental and socio-economic conditions. This work also includes a CD-ROM.

Product Details

• Paperback: 584 pages
• Publisher: Berghahn Books; illustrated edition edition (April 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1845451775
• ISBN-13: 978-1845451776
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,506,430 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great summary of world water issues, but you needn't pay for it, March 19, 2010

By 

Matthew Garcia (Madison, WI, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Water: A Shared Responsibilty (Paperback)

This is the second World Water Development Report, compiled and published in 2006 by the UN World Water Assessment Programme. This is a public document, so you can obtain it in pdf format for free directly from the UN WWAP ([..]), and if you really want a bound copy (in exchange for a tree or two) just take it to Fed-Ex/Kinko's for printing and binding for far less than the price of the paperback here. This is a public document, compiled with public (albeit international) funding, and should remain free to the masses for education and knowledge development.

Specifically, it's a great document, though not often enough updated (WWDR #1 was released in 2003, and WWDR #3 in 2009, to coincide with the triennial World Water Forum in those years) to account for rapid changes in inter- and intra-continental relations and issues. The Pacific Institute ([..]) develops a biennial report called "The World's Water" ([..]) with a lot of data and a constantly-evolving chronology of water conflict. That is available complete only in paperback from the publisher or on Amazon, though some of the figures and tables are available for free on the web. Together these two publications cover a sizable (though underrated) overview of trends, emerging issues and programmatic development in global water resources, but are not frequent enough to capture non-academic views on the subject.