In this book chapter, Roger Calow explores the increasing pressures on global water resources and argues that there is an urgent need to put water resource management into practice at various levels.

This publication is the outcome of a partnership between the Institution of Civil Engineers in Britain and two international development agencies: Oxfam and WaterAid. In 2009-10 these organisations jointly organised eight public presentations by a mix of academics and practitioners from three continents to an open audience of interested professionals.

The publication is intended for water sector practitioners, policy-makers and donors who wish to improve their understanding of how the global issues of demographic change, environment and climate change unfold at local level, and the role that local water users can play in adapting to the impact they have on water resources. It is for those who wish to learn how trans-national principles of Integrated Water Resource Management and common-property resource management can be put into practice on the ground. Above all it is for those who wish to know how the monitoring and management of water resources at community level can contribute to greater water security for those whose livelihoods and water services are often far from secure.