Peter Leigh Taylor is Professor and Chair of Sociology at Colorado State University, USA, and co-Editor-in-Chief of Society & Natural Resources. He has done extensive research and applied work on community-based forest management in Latin America. His current research focuses on environmental flows and agricultural water governance on the Colorado River.

David A. Sonnenfeld is Professor of Sociology and Environmental Policy at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, and co-Editor-in-Chief of Society & Natural Resources. Recent books include the Routledge International Handbook of Social and Environmental Change; Food, Globalization and Sustainability; and The Ecological Modernisation Reader.

Introduction Water Crises and Institutions: Inventing and Reinventing Governance in an Era of Uncertainty Part I: Ecological Crises 1. Crises and Institutional Change: Emergence of Cross-Border Water Governance in Lake Eyre Basin, Australia 2.Scales of Power in Water Governance in China: Examples From the Yangtze River Basin 3. Rescaling Knowledge and Governance and Enrolling the Future in New Zealand: A Co-Production Analysis of Canterbury's Water Management Reforms to Regulate Diffuse Pollution Part II: Crises of State Policy and Law 4. The Practice of Water Policy Governance Networks: An International Comparative Case Study Analysis 5. Building Capacities for Sustainable Water Governance at the Grassroots: "Organic Empowerment" and Its Policy Implications in Nicaragua Part III: Crises of Access 6. Water Crisis and Options for Effective Water Provision in Urban and Peri-Urban Areas in Cameroon 7. Women's Crucial Role in Collective Operation and Maintenance of Drinking Water Infrastructure in Rural Uganda Part IV: Crises of Power 8. When Policy Hits Practice: Structure, Agency, and Power in South African Water Governance 9. Standing Up for Inherent Rights: The Role of Indigenous-Led Activism in Protecting Sacred Waters and Ways of Life Epilogue 10. Crises, Uncertainty and Water Governance for Sustainable Futures