the role of forests ependable freshwater supplies and the Technologies exist to deal with water scarcity, ability to cope with the extremes of toolittle and to some extent with the effed cts of or too much water are requisites for sustainable hydrometeorological extremes (Brooks et al, human dev ater 1997). If they are to be turned into solutions, scarcity issued at the end of the twentieth century several constraints must be overcome, including