preface
TRANSCRIPT
This article was downloaded by: [University of California Santa Barbara]On: 18 December 2014, At: 18:22Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK
International Journal of WaterResources DevelopmentPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cijw20
PrefaceAsit K. Biswas , Cecilia Tortajada & Seetharam KallidaikurichiPublished online: 22 Jan 2010.
To cite this article: Asit K. Biswas , Cecilia Tortajada & Seetharam Kallidaikurichi (2010) Preface,International Journal of Water Resources Development, 26:1, 1-1, DOI: 10.1080/07900620903541267
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07900620903541267
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Preface
Asia is a vast continent, containing more than half of the world’s population. The Asian
countries are economically very diverse, ranging from a developed country and the second
largest economy of the world, Japan, to many of the least developed countries. Cultural,
religious and social practices are also often radically dissimilar, as also their institutions,
legal frameworks and governance practices. The Asian countries also have very different
physical and climatic conditions, ranging from some of the rainiest places of the world to
absolute deserts. Thus, it is impossible to define and discuss a common Asian water
management landscape.
Even in one single country such as China or India, it is impossible to define a common
ground for water management. Cities such as Beijing and Shanghai can now compete, and
often exceed, important cities of the Western world in terms of infrastructure and facilities.
Yet, outside the main urban centres, the hinterlands present totally different landscapes.
Thus, it is impossible to define a common water problem for Asia as a whole, let alone
suggest a common solution that will be applicable for the entire continent. As the late
Prime Minister Nehru once said, if one said something about India, it is likely to be
correct. Equally, if exactly the reverse is said, it is also likely to be correct, but at a
different location.
In this special issue, several Asian professionals from the Institute of Water Policy, Lee
Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Singapore, review, assess and analyse different water-
related problems from their own perspectives in their own countries. They come from
different professional backgrounds, ranging from animal husbandry to law, from countries
of different sizes and level of economic development, ranging from China to Singapore, and
Fiji to Tajikistan. The authors were educated, trained and worked at different institutions.
The only thing that binds them together is that they are very bright, and happen to be in the
Institute of Water Policy at the same time. They are all at their mid-careers, aged between 35
and 40. The task that was assigned to them is to look at a specific water issue from their own
countries and from their own disciplinary and sectoral perspectives.
The papers discuss a wide variety of water issues: legal aspects of water management in
China, terrorism and water, water management experiences from Singapore and Fiji,
transboundary water issues facing Tajikistan, and water as a human right from a Nepali
perspective. These diverse papers are important and interesting because they show how
water issues vary from one Asian country to another, and also how different water issues
and their potential solutions appear from the perspectives of different disciplines. We are
confident that readers will find these papers stimulating.
Asit K. Biswas
Cecilia Tortajada
Seetharam Kallidaikurichi
0790-0627 Print/1360-0648 Online/10/010001-1 q 2010 Taylor & FrancisDOI: 10.1080/07900620903541267
Water Resources Development,Vol. 26, No. 1, 1, March 2010
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