The purpose of this book is to present an overview of the latest research, policy, practitioner, academic and international thinking on water security-an issue that, like water governance a few years ago, has developed much policy awareness and momentum with a wide range of stakeholders. As a concept it is open to multiple interpretations, and the authors here set out the various approaches to the topic from different perspectives.

Key themes addressed include:

• Water security as a foreign policy issue
• The interconnected variables of water, food, and human...

The efficient use of natural resources is key to a sustainable economy, and yet the complexities of resource efficiency have not previously been studied in great depth. In this this challenging book, the author proposes a major advance in our understanding of this topic by analysing resource efficiency from the perspective of common pool resources, particularly "the commons" of water resources and its use in irrigated agriculture.

He proposes a novel concept of "the paracommons," through which the savings of increased resource efficiency can be viewed. By recycling, economising and...