The economics of water: environment and development. Introduction to the special issue

This special issue collects research initially reported at two very different fora. The first was the ‘International Symposium on Water Resource Management—Efficiency, Equity and Policy’. This conference was held in Cyprus, and was jointly organized by the University of Cyprus and University College London. It brought together many of the world's leading water resource economists.The editors acknowledge the sponsors of the conference: the Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment of the Government of Cyprus; the European Commission, DGXII; Joannou & Paraskevaides Ltd; Caramontanis Desalination Plants Ltd; and George P. Zachariades Ltd. The research reported at the conference was made possible by a research grant from the European Commission DGXII on ‘Integrated Water Management in Cyprus: Economic and Institutional Foundations’. Individual members of the Commission, especially Dr Panayiotis Balabanis and Dr Irene Gabriel, provided helpful advice and support. The results of this project are forthcoming in a European Commission publication under the title ‘The Watershed Economics Management Approach: An Application to Cyprus’. The second was the 6th Conference of the International Water and Resource Economics Consortium, held in Waikola, Hawaii. The consortium is a group of some 60 economists from the US, Europe, and elsewhere.