Poverty in rural households have deepened in the past two years through world events: unprecedented rises in food and fuel prices were followed by global economic meltdown, all amidst growing climate uncertainty. Balancing water availability within and across growing seasons, water harvesting helps to buffer households against drought. Research on water harvesting in South Africa has focused on rural household livelihoods. Innovative results on appropriate water harvesting technologies and food security facilitation techniques are now being implemented in villages across South Africa.

The River Nile provides an invaluable source of livelihoods to over 160 million of people who dwell in its valley. The river valley is renowned for being a cradle of civilisation. As the populations grew and civilisation evolved, the demand for more water resources took a toll in the region. The more recent visible climate change effects have further compounded water management in the basin. Water and food security in the region is under threat, hence the need for robust transboundary water management. An effective institutional arrangement is a key factor in facilitating this process.

The Himalayan region is not only tectonically active and ecologically fragile but is it also one of the most economically underdeveloped and most densely populated mountain ecosystems on the planet. These natural as well as human characteristics render the Himalayan region highly vulnerable to the impacts of development, degradation and climate change and in particular the impact of melting of glaciers and changes in the patterns of precipitation.