Chapter 12. Transboundary Water Management: Conflict and Cooperation

This chapter focuses on conflict and cooperation over water, mostly in the context of transboundary waters: rivers and aquifers that cross state or national borders. It continues our discussion in Chapters 10 and 11 of how to share water among different groups, but broadens the lens to include international water bodies. We address questions such as these:

  • Are “water wars” real, and is scarcity making them more common?
  • What rules govern the allocation of shared water resources among different countries?
  • What strategies can be used to shift transboundary water interactions from conflict to cooperation?

To the right you can download resources from the book and access new resources relevant to this chapter.

Chapter 12 Resources

Table of Contents

Highlights

Table 1: Variables that affect the likelihood of international conflict over water

Table 2: Exacerbating and ameliorating factors for hydropolitical tensions

Supplemental Resources

For a discussion of the assessment of transboundary cooperation within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), see Indicator 6.5.2.

Chapters in Part 3