Beginning nearly 20 years ago at the groundbreaking Conference on Water Development and Management at Mar del Plata, Argentina, new principles for water management and planning began to be described and defined. These principles have been evolving as the nature and magnitude of the world’s water problems has become evident. Significant advances were made at the 1992 Dublin conference in preparation for the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Below, we mention these principles, which should be used to guide water decisions into the next century.

• Identify and meet basic human and ecosystem water needs
• National food self-sufficiency should give way to the concept of national food self-reliance
• Water must be treated as an economic good
• Water planning and decision-making should be democratic; ensuring representation of all affected parties and fostering direct participation of affected interests