Water Policy Reform : Lessons from Asia and Australia

Water scarcity is an issue of great concern in many countries.

Population and economic growth has led to rising demand for water for human consumption, food production and industrial uses, while opportunities for supply augmentation are becoming prohibitively expensive. Because irrigated agriculture is a dominant user of water resource, the level and efficiency of water used in this sector is under increased scrutiny.

Competition with other sectors may imply that less water is available for irrigated agriculture in water-scarce regions, placing increased importance on improved efficiency of water use within agriculture, Demand management policies will become increasingly important as a means of coping with increased water scarity in the future.

The papers contained in these proceedings are the product of an ACIAR Water Policy Workshop held in Bangkok in June 2001.