This paper on Water for Rural Development is divided into two parts. The first part outlines the most important issues from IWMI's point of view on water for rural development, with a focus on developing countries. This part identifies, discusses and provides recommendations for key areas for interventions in water resources development and management in the context of rural development. The second part of the document provides analyses of present and future water resources in the World Bank's defined regions.

Coping with water scarcity and growing competition for water among different sectors requires proper water management strategies and decision processes. A prerequisite is a clear understanding of the basin hydrological processes, manageable and unmanageable water flows, the interaction with land use and opportunities to mitigate the negative effects and increase the benefits of water depletion on society. Currently, water professionals do not have a common framework that links depletion to user groups of water and their benefits.

Watersheds, especially in the developing world, are increasingly being managed for both environmental conservation and poverty alleviation. How complementary are these objectives? In the context of a watershed, the actual and potential linkages between land and water management and poverty are complex and likely to be very site specific and scale dependent. This study analyses the importance of watershed resources in the livelihoods of the poor in two watersheds in the Colombian Andes.