Geography of Transboundary River Basins

Transboundary river basins are ubiquitous around the world. Countries with no shared basins are either islands or microstates, except for the countries of the Arabian Peninsula where no permanent watercourses exist. The world’s 263 transboundary basins account for about 60% of the global river flow providing home to some 40% of the global population. Although all transboundary river basins differ, yet, based on their hydro-climatic characteristics they can be clustered into large categories that also inform about the fundamental challenges of political cooperation.