This paper focuses on India and China as dominant and influential countries in Asia. It compares the way these countries, with different political approaches, are approaching the challenge of harnessing water resources to increase effectiveness, equity, and sustainability under conditions of growing water scarcity and competing demands. The report suggests that where governance and community capacity is weak, it is risky to undertake technologically demanding hardware projects and that small-scale water management solutions are necessary, but unlikely to be sufficient in the face of growing transboundary competition, climate change, and different state capacities for collective action. Three urgent actions are identified:
1.    More reliable and transparent information on the changing nature of hydrological, demographic, and socioeconomic pressures at all levels, and an understanding of their complex and changing interactions;
2.    Empirically based, methodologically sound analyses as an essential input into developing normative policy prescriptions, including integrated water resources management (IWRM) approaches; and
3.    Awareness raising, information, and advocacy campaigns among people and decision makers at all levels.