Water and the Future of Humanity: Revisiting Water Security, by Gulbenkian Think Tank on Water and the Future of Humanity; 2014, 241 pages, Springer, New York. ISBN 9783319014562 (print) 9783319014579 (online)

It is not often that one finds today such an optimistic, overarching and prescriptive commentary and way forward for global water resources management. The aim of this comprehensive book is to‘enhance present knowledge on the role of water in the world … (reflect on) water use until 2050 and the state of water resources … and (reflects on) possible creation of series barriers to development, caused by water-related constraints’ (p. ix).

The authors do this by back-casting from the present (in Chapter 8, after several topical chapters) to forecast water scenarios, thus advocating a method to the international water community to plan water resources development and management accordingly. This is not altogether new but is valuable as it seeks to understand the future by learning from the past and how the future can be crafted in such a way that avoids fundamental water planning errors. The authors outline, quite rightly, that back-casting helps to identify …