Climate-driven water variability is a natural phenomenon observed across river basins, but predicted to increase due to climate change. Environmental change of this kind may aggravate political tensions, especially in regions that are not equipped with an appropriate institutional apparatus.

Transboundary watercourses pose a variety of challenges to the management of water resources. Basin-wide management approaches often clash with state sovereignty. Efforts in cooperatively managing shared water resources are therefore of great importance for the sustainable management of transboundary river and lake basins.