Kai Wegerich was at the time of the book preparation an Assistant Professor at the Irrigation and Water Engineering Group of Wageningen University, the Netherlands and currently holds a Researcher position at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Central Asia office. He gained his PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He previously worked as a researcher for the Centre for Development Research (ZEF in Bonn, Germany), as a development worker for the German Development Service (DED) in Khorezm, Uzbekistan. His research interests are social and political aspects of water management in Central Asia, on which he has published in various journals. He has conducted fieldwork in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan. He co-edited the special issue on ‘Emerging issues on land and water in Central Asia’ in the journal Irrigation and Drainage Systems (with Jochen Froebrich and Marinus G. Bos). Jeroen Warner, PhD, is a political scientist working on domestic and international environmental conflict and participation. He is especially interested in the politics of water risk and security. Since coining the phrase ‘hydro-hegemony’ in his MSc thesis on water conflict in the Middle East, he has published on hydropolitics in various journals. Dr Warner edited Conflictos y participacion (with Alejandra Moreyra, 2004) and Multi-stakeholder Platforms for Integrated Water Management (2007). He is Assistant Professor with the Disaster studies group at Wageningen University and at the time of the book’s preparation, was a researcher with Centrum voor Schone Technologie en Milieubeleid (CSTM – Centre for Studies in Technology and Sustainable Development), Twente University, the Netherlands. He has taught and delivered training and presentations around the world, and has made national and international radio and television appearances.