A lack of cooperation to manage shared rivers, lakes and aquifers is intensifying the impact of droughts and floods, according to a new report titled, Progress on Transboundary Water Cooperation, from the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The organizations are warning that slow progress on establishing partnerships and collaboration threatens to delay joint strategies needed to address the intensifying impacts of droughts and floods as it relates to climate change.

Today, 153 countries rely on transboundary waters flowing across or into other countries, yet only 28 percent have effective agreements to co-manage most of these vital resources, according to the report. The report also warns that, if current trends persist, barely one-third of these countries will have effective co-management arrangements by 2030.  

“The growing momentum for cross-border water cooperation shows we are moving in the right direction, but far greater efforts for joint water management will be needed as countries worldwide face the worsening climate crisis,” said Tatiana Molcean, executive secretary of UNECE. Molcean continued, “Over 100 transboundary cooperation agreements have been concluded since the entry into force in 1996 of the United Nations Water Convention. These agreements are serviced by UNECE, and I encourage all governments to join the fast-expanding global community of parties to this treaty.” 

As many as 41 percent of countries sharing transboundary rivers and lakes (60 out of 148 countries) have operational agreements on their management covering most of these waters, compared to just 25 percent of those sharing transboundary aquifers (37 out of 147 countries), the report said.  

“Only through cooperation with their upstream and downstream neighbors can countries effectively manage their shared waters and mitigate the impacts of floods and droughts, which are exacerbated by climate and biodiversity disruptions,” said Audrey Azoulay, director-general of UNESCO. “While progress has been made, with the number of agreements increasing since 2017, with UNESCO’s continued support, I call on our member states to step up their efforts to sustainably manage these essential resources, whose increasing scarcity has a considerable negative impact on our societies.” 


Some regions have begun to get on board and are developing partnerships. According to the report, significant improvement in shared water cooperation was seen between 2017 and 2023 where cooperation climbed from 23 percent to 28 percent. Additionally, Europe, North America and sub-Saharan Africa show the highest levels of cooperation with 39 out of 84 countries covered by operational arrangements. 

Specifically, in sub-Saharan Africa, the number of countries with a very high level of cooperation increased five-fold from 3 in 2017 to 16 in 2023. According to the report, Sub-Saharan Africa has a long tradition of transboundary cooperation through basin organizations. Recent regional projects have led to sustainable cooperation systems involving local authorities, scientists and Indigenous communities.  

Nearly two-thirds of transboundary river and lake basins include climate adaptation as a task for their joint management bodies. However, today only 14 percent have adopted a concrete strategy to face this challenge, and just 20 percent have adopted a joint strategy for disaster risk reduction, the report said.