ABSTRACT
Confl ict between and within states over freshwater resources poses an interesting challenge for scholars and policymakers due to competing claims over water and the concept of territorial sovereignty that is broken by transnational rivers. There are 261 transboundary river and lake basins worldwide, which cover nearly half of the earth’s land surface. 1 This accounts for approximately 60 per cent of the global freshwater fl ow, and over 90 per cent of the world’s population lives in a country that shares a river basin. 2 Most of the world’s shared water resources remain outside transboundary agreements between all riparian countries, and some have no agreements in place.
