Transboundary Water Security in a Warming World: Conflict Risks, Cooperation Pathways, and Policy Imperatives

Sep 3, 2025 | Ashok Swain
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Water security—the reliable availability of an acceptable quantity and quality of water for health, livelihoods, ecosystems, and production—has emerged as one of the defining challenges of the twenty-first century (UNESCO, 2021). Unlike other resources, water is indispensable and non-substitutable. Yet, its spatial distribution is highly uneven, and its availability is increasingly undermined by climate change. The melting of glaciers, changes in rainfall patterns, and more frequent droughts and floods are altering hydrological regimes globally.