CONTENTS -- Acknowledgments -- Overview and executive summary -- Progress in ideas and practice -- Scope and methodology of this Strategy -- The main messages of this Strategy -- Notes -- 1. Introduction and development context -- The gloomy arithmetic of water -- Water resources management and development are critical to the World Bank's strategic objectives of sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction -- The World Bank's borrowers face a wide range of water development and management challenges -- Water management must make a series of important transitions -- The scope of this Strategy -- Key strategic issues in the main water-using sectors -- Notes -- 2. Stocktaking and evaluation -- Building on the 1993 Strategy and consulting with stakeholders -- There is broad consensus on what constitutes good water resources management, but all countries are far from managing water resources according to these principles -- A wide variety of water resources challenges in the regions -- World Bank engagement in water resources development and management -- The great challenge is making progress, not achieving perfection -- The World Bank position on the "Guidelines" of the World Commission on Dams -- The comparative advantage of the World Bank and the need to revise business practices -- Notes -- 3. Strategic options and possible business implications -- The additionality and focus of this Strategy -- Developing a portfolio of analytic work that informs management decisions and recognizes differences -- Working with partners -- Finding new sources of financing for water resources infrastructure -- Dealing with risk and developing a more effective business model -- How the World Bank is organized and staffed for water resources management -- Notes -- 4. What the Strategy might mean for World Bank engagement: Some examples from the regions.

Illustration 1: What the new sector Strategy might mean in Brazil -- Illustration 2: What the new sector Strategy might mean in Central Asia -- Illustration 3: What the new sector strategy might mean in India, in particular in the state of Andhra Pradesh -- Illustration 4: What the new Sector Strategy might mean in Nigeria -- Illustration 5: What the new Strategy might mean in the Philippines -- Illustration 6: What the new sector Strategy might mean in Yemen -- Illustration 7: What the new sector Strategy might mean for the World Bank's work on international waters: The Nile Basin Initiative -- Implementing the sector Strategy in the World Bank's operations: What these examples show -- Notes -- Abbreviations -- Annex 1: The World Bank position on the Report of the World Commission on Dams -- Support for strategic planning, and a dams planning and management action plan -- World Bank policies -- Summary.