By the year 2025, nearly 2 billion people will live in regions or countries with absolute water scarcity. Given this global water crisis, how should the planet's water be used and managed? Current international water policy sees nature competing with human use: the task for humanity is to divide the planet's water between human needs and protecting the environment. Hunt takes issue with this perspective. She suggests that nature is the source of water and only by making the conservation of nature an absolute priority will we have water in the future to apply to human uses. It is essential to manage water in ways that maintain the water cycle and the ecosystems that support it. This book looks at the complexity of the problem and provides a wide array of ideas, information, case studies and ecological knowledge - often from the remote corners of the developing world - that could provide an alternative vision for water use and mangement at this critical time.