Water scarcity is a fundamental challenge to sustainable development in arid and semi-arid regions. The problem in ESCWA countries is exacerbated by the fact that most of the water resources are shared and originate from outside the region. (The seven major shared surface watercourses have an average annual discharge of 195 billion cubic meters.) This study reviews case studies in shared water resources management in an effort to improve integrated water resources management (IWRM) in the region--Publisher's description.