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Transboundary water management – why it
is important and why it needs to be developed
Anders Jägerskog, Stockholm International Water Institute and
United Nations Development Programme Shared Waters Partnership
I
n many aspects water is among the most ‘shared’ resources
on Earth. Close to 50 per cent of the Earth’s land surface
area is comprised of shared river and lake basins. Some
276 river basins cross the political boundaries of two or more
countries, and about 40 per cent of the world’s population
lives in river and lake basins that cross international borders.
1
Globally, about 2 billion people depend on groundwater, which
includes well over 300 transboundary aquifer systems. These
facts represent the basic premise of the transboundary water
management challenge facing the international community.
Therefore, developing approaches that balance interdependen-
cies of transboundary waters is a matter of high importance. The
2006 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human
Development Report
2
acknowledges that “managing that inter-
dependence is one of the great human development challenges
facing the international community.” Even so, about
two thirds of the transboundary rivers do not have
any cooperative management framework. It is clear
that much remains to be done.
States that share transboundary waters are facing
increasing demands for water, hydrologic variability,
unilateral basin development and other conflicts that
could contribute to tensions over transboundary water.
Adding to these challenges, institutions for promot-
ing joint management of shared water resources and
managing differences are often missing. Where they do
exist, they often remain ad-hoc, disparate and underfi-
nanced. Among other challenges are a lack of common
global platforms to advance joint management of
T
ransboundary
W
ater
M
anagement
A bridge in Croatia. Managing interdependencies of transboundary waters is one of the great human development challenges facing the international community
Image: Michael Moore, 2006