ABSTRACT
The increasing demand–supply imbalance of water resources is among the foremost problems of today. This chapter explores water security in its broad dimension and examines trans-boundary rivers and the controversies and contests surrounding the availability and distribution of rivers. Since the sources for water tensions will be more diverse — stemming from a combination of internal and external considerations and of the broader fallout of environmental change, any hydro-diplomatic framework will have to be harmonized simultaneously at the national, regional and local level. River treaties reflect a measure of cooperation and offer states a structure to coordinate actions. There are various propositions that govern river treaties. Water regimes have distinct characteristics such as a set of rules to reduce conflict caused either by use, pollution or diversion of a water resource. The chapter also examines how the earlier observations on treaty formation, power distribution and hegemony analysis play out in South Asia.
