GENERAL REPORT

摘要

The International Commission of Irrigation and Drainage recognises agriculture as primarily a ruralendeavour with a very large number of stake holders who assume the responsibility of not onlyfeeding themselves but also those who may not be connected with agriculture. The fi erce competitionfor accessing the natural resources of land and water are, however, spread beyond the agriculturalcommunity and it includes industry, domestic sector, recreational sector, hygiene, and the environment.Besides, the current reality is that agriculture is gradually transforming from a village level vocation totrans-boundary participation for making economic gains from agriculture. This requires improving crop,water and land productivity to effi ciently support life on the earth without degrading the resource bases(environment) for a holistic rural development.Keeping the above factors in view, the International Commission of Irrigation and Drainage hasorganised a Special Session during the 22nd International Congress on Irrigation and Drainage during14-20 September 2014 held at Gwangju. The Special Session is entitled: “New Partnership for RuralDevelopment”. The papers invited for this session are on International Cooperation, Strategy for ProjectEvaluation, Case Studies, the Issue of Overseas Development Assistance and the Roles of UN Agencies,the ICID Member Countries and the NGOs.