Water resource management throughout the world is a very complicated issue, involving various aspects and dimensions and a well-coordinated set of policies. A well-designed water policy is a multi-faceted concerted intervention, which could be specific to just one set of political and physical socio-economic conditions. A framework to analyse the interaction between policy design and implementation can assist in improving both of these in various physical, economic and political situations.

This book focuses on the interaction between policy making and strategic behaviour of policy makers, water users and other stakeholders, and how policy analysis and other analytical tools from the field of game theory and negotiation can improve policy design. The book presents analysis by high-level policy makers and policy analysts from various countries, to share experience regarding specific policy issues that are relevant to almost any country in the world, but may have been addressed differently in each country.

Ariel Dinar is Professor of Environmental Economics and Policy, and Director of the Water Science and Policy Center, University of California, Riverside, US. He was formerly Lead Economist and Co-ordinator of Climate Change Research in the Development Research Group at the World Bank in Washington DC, US. Jose Albiac is a Senior Researcher at the Agrifood Research and Technology Centre (CITA - Government of Aragon), Zaragoza, Spain.

Foreword

1. Policy and Strategy in Water Resource Management: Can We Do Better When Both Are Coordinated?

Part I: Issues in Water Resource Policy

2. Issues in Water Resources Policy in Jordan

3. Water Scarcity, Quality and Environmental Protection Policies in Jordan

4. Water Management in Urbanizing, Arid Regions: Innovative Voluntary Transactions as a Response to Competing Water Claims

5. Groundwater Management Issues and Innovations in Arizona

6. Water Policy in Australia: The Impact of Change and Uncertainty

7. The Policy Challenge of Matching Environmental Water to Ecological Need

8. Water Management in Spain: An Example of Changing Paradigms

9. Policy Issues Related to Climate Change in Spain

Part II: Issues in Water Resource Strategy

10. Water Confl icts: Issues in International Water, Water Allocation and Water Pricing with Focus on Jordan

11. Good and Bad Forms of Participation in Water Management: Some Lessons from Brazil

12. Issues of Balancing International, Environmental and Equity Needs in a Situation of Water Scarcity

Part III: Interaction between Policy and Strategy

13. Modelling Negotiated Decision Making under Uncertainty: An Application to the Piave River Basin, Italy

14. Strategic Behaviour in Water Policy Negotiations: Lessons from California

15. Strategic Behaviour in Transboundary Water and Environmental Management

16. Climate Change and International Water: The Role of Strategic Alliances in Resource Allocation

Index