<DIV>As we enter a time when human influence is so profoundly shaping the natural world, water is a prime focus for our technologies and victim of our largely unintended pressures. In particular, large dams exert an array of profound effects on ecosystems and the services that they provide to society and this insightful new book argues that there are more appropriate systems and technologies. <br/><br/>Featuring case studies from China, India and South Africa The Hydropolitics of Dams charts its way through these troubled waters by looking at the history, benefits and down-sides of dams and alternative technologies practiced across the world, before exploring political, economic, legal and many other dimensions and concluding with an exploration of international water management policy. </p></div>