This book looks at Sustainable Irrigation in a holistic way, considering the multidisciplinary objectives of sustainable agriculture, sustainable water management, sustainable water infrastructure, sustainable irrigation communities and a sustainable environment, the need to reallocate water between competing users, and the need for water and food security in an environment of scarcity. It does this by accepting the links between these objectives, and the need to change behaviour and perceptions when it comes to water and how water is used.
It does not treat sustainable irrigation as a fixed defined endpoint, but rather as a locally defined and constantly changing objective. It provides a comprehensive discussion of the importance of institutions and governance to guide this process and then provides examples from around the world showing how incentives and instruments have been introduced to support this development, how successful they have been and what the factors have promoted or impeded the successful outcomes.